4/30: Letter to me circa 2001

Hey Hales-

You don't really go by that name right now but after college it will be your nickname and you'll love it.  Here's a little list of things that you should know now when you have YEARS of growing and amazing experiences ahead of you.

1. Don't make your life about what other people think about you. Do the things that you want to do and try your best.

2. You're going to fail a couple of times, get over it. Failure is a part of life and the only way to get better is to fail trying your hardest and learn what you did wrong so next time you'll be even better.

3. Boys suck.  They suck at 16 and they suck at 27.  One day {we both hope} you'll find someone who loves the fact that your extremely passionate about certain issues, sometimes to a fault.  They'll love the fact that you are very independent, but wear your heart on your sleeve and love so deeply {don't stop doing that even though it will get your heartbroken more than once}.

4. Take in every single moment of the Olympic games in Salt Lake in 2002...  You will not understand at the time but performing in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies will be a turning point in your life and will shape your future even now...

5. Keep skating.  In a year or two you're going to take a break from skating after you don't pass a skating test for the 5th time.  You decide to play softball instead which was a good decision and helped you make more friends at school.  You need to go back because skating in college at the University of Michigan is one of the best experiences of your life.

6. Be open to people. Sometimes you close yourself off to new people because you are afraid of being hurt.  You'll never know how great people can be until you let them know you.  You'll have this internship and you'll prepare yourself to not have any friends, to just do your job and make it through the summer.  You'll meet some of your best friends so far in your life and they will be the people that you need to talk to when things are bad and when things are great.

7. Learn to be ok with what you have.  It's important to not stop pushing for the things you want but at the same time be ok with what you do have in this life, because there are far more people who are worse off than you are.  Do all that you can to help those who have less than you do, it's quite rewarding.

8. When you know something is right, do it, even if you struggle with the way others perceive you.  Fight for those things that are important to you, and don't back down.

9. Make sure you tell your parents and brothers that you love them, every single day.

10. Always say what you actually think, but don't say it immediately, take sometime to make sure speaking is actually necessary.  You're quite quick to be argumentative and it often makes situations worse.  Keep a cool head and you will come out of whatever situation on the high ground.

PS- Don't forget to have fun.  Life goes by in a blink of an eye and you don't want to miss anything!