Dear Eli,
Although you may not get this, there are many very important things I need to share with you. The first one is to never ever give up. This goes for everything, whether it’s getting a bad grade directly before the end of the trimester, continuing research for a subject even after getting bored or playing baseball. Do not give, especially just because it’s inconvenient to you. In the future you will be tempted to give up, and you will. This will always be the biggest mistake you make no matter the circumstance. Just because it is inconvenient to you does not mean it isn’t good for you. I emphasize this especially with baseball. On your local team, you will make friends that will change your perspective on life and sports. Unfortunately I made the mistake of leaving them too early and quitting the sport just because it was inconvenient to me. I, as your future self, refuse to let you make the same mistake that I did.
Secondly, in order to efficiently get through your upcoming school years, you have to know when you are comfortable or uncomfortable with a challenge. This includes knowing when to challenge and not challenge yourself. Eventually you will come across challenges you aren’t comfortable with but will do anyway because your peers convinced you to. Do not give into the temptation. Sometimes it is alright to miss out if you aren’t fine with it. Keeping this in mind though: at a young age you will find out what you are comfortable with. These are the areas you should always challenge yourself in. Whether it’s basketball, baseball or even geography games. Do not be afraid to realize that you are not the best in the world at every activity that you participate in. Very unfortunately, there will always be someone better than you in life.
Although you will become good at many things, and even unbeatable in some, do not let this knowledge get the best of you like I did. This will lead to ignorance and even ignoring advice from your friends and family. This leads me to my next piece of advice: take your peer’s advice always. It doesn’t matter if it’s about high school, sports, daily habits, and even grades. I put heavy emphasis on grades because in seventh grade you will receive a big piece of advice that will change your view on the entire school system if you take it to heart like I did. It took multiple months to put my gained ignorance aside. I won’t reveal the information here, you will have to figure that out for yourself, but be sure to keep this in mind when you feel the time comes.
Now, there is one last thing you must remember to do before you reach middle or high school: that is to learn important skills such as how to take notes, speaking with confidence, and believing in yourself. Knowing these will make the rest of your academic career ten times easier. I will go on to learn these skills much later than I should have. I also realized that these skills were key to a successful life much later than I should have.
I hope this letter will eventually reach you well and I hope you do better in your first thirteen years than I did.
Sincerely,
Eli W. Moland
Eli Moland – Deerfield Academy – DMSF Class of 2030
Photo Credit: Klara Kulikova – Unsplash