A Letter to a Young Dustin Valencia
Thanks to some inspiration from new friends Ben and Kevin, I decided to participate in writing a letter to my younger self. In this case, this letter goes out to to my senior year, high school self. Enjoy!
Dear Dustin,
You are a senior in high school right now, which means two things: you thought Gladiator was the best movie of all time (not a bad thing) and you thought at one point Tom Green was funny (bad thing). To help you decipher what you’re about to experience next in life, here are a few tips that I thought you may find beneficial:
- For the love of pete, please stop wearing white undershirts underneath every article of clothing. No one thinks its cool.
- Embrace your inner ska-head. It was something that set you apart.
- Try not to fall asleep so much in your high school classes. You’ll soon learn about the great beauty of mid-day naps in college.
- Be more decisive. Form opinions. People pleasing is tiring.
- Be careful trying to run down your parent’s basement stairs as fast as you can. That is, unless you want to fall on your face and have a right foot the size of a watermelon for a month.
- Cherish your time at Cornerstone music festival that summer. You’ll make lasting memories and hear lots of good music. Plus, you’ll take a wicked sweet “beans picture”.
- People (read: family) will make fun of you for spending most weekends at friends houses doing “LAN Parties“. Embrace these times. You’ll make lasting friends and learn a ton about computers (which will make sense later in life).
- Don’t limit yourself to what others may expect of you. Step out of that box. You are unique and God wants to use you in ways you wouldn’t think possible.
- Don’t stop playing ultimate frisbee. You’ll look like a tool when your dorm mates in college ask you to play a game and you stink at “tossin’ the B”.
- Tell your mom and dad thank you (often) for your graduation gift. You’ll wear that guitar out over the next year. It’ll will usher you into experiencing worship in a new and fresh way.
If you had to write out a note to your younger self, what would you include?
Moe
February 11, 2011LOL. Nice picture there buddy.
I am going to join the crowd and do this in a blog post (in the near future). I will surely warn myself from many of the bad decisions I made.
Ultimate frisbee? Really?
Dustin
February 11, 2011Do it, Moe! We are all waiting…
And yes, Ultimate Frisbee. :) I played a ton in high school… then went through a period where I didn’t toss it at all. First week in college, guys in the dorm were like “hey want to play?” I said sure and made a fool of myself. To top it off, I was on the “skins” team and had to display my pasty/lanky self.
Moe
February 11, 2011LOL. Man, if I showed up to school with a frisbee, they would have beat me up and laughed at me.
Did you at least flex your triceps when a pretty girl passed by?
Dustin
February 11, 2011Are you serious? I was so awkward around girls. If I would have flexed my “triceps” (what triceps?) I probably would have ended up in the emergency room due to a muscle tear (due to the sudden use of a muscle I never used).
Kevin
February 11, 2011Your photo is amazing.
I would also tell myself that playing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG with your secret friends, is the same as playing Dungeons and Dragons with anyone.
Dustin
February 11, 2011Ha, that is awesome!
Ben
February 11, 2011LOL
Jim F
February 11, 2011Love the post!
I would write to myself – for the love of all that is good and holy please cut off the mullet – it is embarrassing!
Also take school a little more serious – you will need that information.
Good Job Dustin on this!
Dustin
February 11, 2011Oh man oh man… we need to see a picture of that.
Michael
February 11, 2011I so want to see you rocking the mullet.
Brandon
February 11, 2011Haha! This was good! I have to say that I would include the white undershirt thing. I am guilty of that! haha… Probably because I am still in high school!
Dustin
February 11, 2011It’s all good, Brandon. I’m sure you can pull it off! :) (looking back at my pictures, I think I looked like a doof)
Melissa Brotherton
February 11, 2011When we were dating in high school, my husband wore a “beater,” then a white undershirt, then his t-shirt. Haha! I always made fun of him for wearing three shirts. :) It’s kind of amazing he married me after all the ridicule. :)
Brandon
February 11, 2011I guess I can pull it off because I am so cool! haha. Just kidding!
Adam
February 11, 2011Good stuff! I did one a while back. Interesting what we come up with. If we only know…
http://bit.ly/aepqej
Dustin
February 11, 2011Yours was great, Adam. Some really honest advice.
Donald Borsch Jr
February 11, 2011LOL! D, this is classic! I appreciate your easy-going sense of humor.
C-Stone Fest has good memories with me, as well. Btw, love the Project 86 shirt.
Thanks for some laughter this Friday morning!
Dustin
February 11, 2011You’re very welcome! And yes, I still have that P86 shirt. It’s tight on me now, but I still love it. (Mostly for bringing my back to the very instant of that beans picture)
seekingpastor
February 11, 2011What?!?! Wearing a white undershit under everything isn’t cool?!?! I beg to differ.
My letter would include something about not watching Baywatch so much.
Dustin
February 11, 2011LOL, maybe it was just me Matt… like I mentioned to Brandon, I’m positive you can still pull it off. :)
Brandon
February 11, 2011The best thing is to wear knickers! Everyone is digging those now days!
Keri
February 11, 2011Those aren’t knickers…they’re manpris (man capris!) and women don’t dig them.
HarryClayman
February 11, 2011I often think about this. I’ve been down some very dark roads – to the point where a Navy Chaplain once told me “Jesus doesn’t want people like you.” And I think to myself:
“What if I hadn’t taken that first drink and enjoyed it?”
“What if I hadn’t fallen in love with heavy metal?”
“What if I hadn’t become promiscuous?”
“What if I hadn’t inhaled?”
“What if…?”
Truth is, all of those indiscretions have made me who I am today. It has helped me to reach out to those who:
– Are addicted to alcohol and drugs
– Are hardcore metal fans and want a positive alternative
– Are facing issues brought on by premarital relations
Without those experiences in my life, I would not be able to walk with people in need. But, more importantly, I would not be able to demonstrate God’s grace in my life – a grace that is available to all who ask.
Dustin
February 11, 2011Harry, thanks for sharing that. That is really great that you have so powerfully experienced God’s grace in your life. Like you said, through those painful, dark experiences you are now able to speak truth and life into other people’s lives.
Tom Raines
February 11, 2011Thanks for sharing. Good exercise as we look back to speak with our our children and those we can guide.
Dustin
February 11, 2011You’re welcome, Tom!
John
February 11, 2011I would tell my high school self – shave off that ridiculous mustache. It’s not cool and you look like a creep. And also the white T shirt thing. THat was totally me. Today, I wear different colors – sometimes green, sometimes brown, sometimes black. White T’s are for church!
Dustin
February 11, 2011John, ha! “white t’s are for the church” (gotta save your sunday best!). I’m with ya on the mustache. If I grew one out it would look like Pedro from Napolean Dynamite… and I would forever be called a creeper.
Michael
February 11, 2011lol. I still laugh at Tom Green. “Daddy would you like some sausage?”
Do not urinate in the fountain downtown. People will get mad.
Dustin
February 11, 2011LOL, and then with the piano. Okay, maybe you’re right. I still laugh too.
Ben
February 11, 2011Michael’s just full of surprises. First its the “oops I crapped my pants,” and now it’s the downtown fountain urination.
Awesome. LOL
Michael
February 11, 2011I wasn’t a very good kid growing up.
mo
February 11, 2011yeah tom green has a certain timeless quality for me too. the word “bum” has never been the same.
Dustin
February 11, 2011Ha, nearly forgot about the Bum Bum song… lol.
Jon Malstrom
February 11, 2011I should prolly do this. Not sure I have the energy. Plus, I think I was really cool at 18. Maybe I don’t need any advice?
Dustin
February 11, 2011Didn’t we all think we were cool? (at least a little bit)
Jon, you should do it! And send me the link when you do… would love to read it.
Donald Borsch Jr
February 12, 2011D,
In high school I thought I was so cool that I should have been deemed “legally dead”.
Get it? “Cool”? Body temp? “Legally dead”? Body temp, and..forget it.
It was so much funnier in my head…
Ben
February 11, 2011This is awesome man, thanks for the shout-out and I’m glad you did one. I love these, they’re so freakin hilarious.
Falling asleep in class was huge for me, what gives? I so wish I got into coffee back then…
Dustin
February 11, 2011Yeah, I’m with you – not sure why it took me so long to drink coffee in the mornings. Seems like nowadays 7 yo kids are stopping by Starbucks for a Venti dark roast on the way to their 1st grade classes…
Brandon
February 11, 2011True… now they might get the 31 once size (Trenta!)…bigger than their stomachs can hold! haha…I guess it is the more caffeine the better?! :)
Melissa Brotherton
February 11, 2011Wouldn’t doing this imply that I’m old now? Aren’t I still “college age?” haha!
This was hilarious and I love the picture. Maybe I’ll do one to a newlywed self for my anniversary in a couple weeks.
Dustin
February 11, 2011Yes!! Do it and send me the link. Posts like these always seem to make me laugh.
Funny story- right now, we live about an hour away from where both my wife and I went to college. We still have a couple friends who live in the town, so we’ll go back and visit them from time to time. The thing is, I always feel old because we’ll walk around campus and I say to myself, “wow… you are sooo young. and I’m sooo old!” :)
Melissa Brotherton
February 11, 2011Funny story? My husband is the Director of Campus Dining at the college we attended. :) Haha! It get that strangeness…never once when I was a student there did I anticipate that I would one day be chasing my four small children around the campus. Haha!
Keri
February 11, 2011A letter to newleywed Melissa is an awesome idea!!! I would love to read that one.
mo
February 11, 2011ahh…LAN parties. I’d add something in there about a wallet chain. Something like, “don’t.”
Dustin
February 11, 2011LOL, love the wise (short) advice right there.
KC
February 11, 2011This is a great idea.
Gonna have to try it out next week.
Dustin
February 11, 2011Do it!
kevin
February 11, 2011White undershirt under everything = guilty. I blame it on being skinny and not wanting to look like an Ethiopian (a nickname I would get in college) everywhere I went.
Brandon
February 11, 2011Partly why I do it, but mostly because I am just so cool! haha…
Dustin
February 11, 2011Yikes. Now that I think about it, I probably did it partly for the same reason. I was tall, skinny, with no meat at all on me. Kinda sickly at times.
By the way, Brandon. You may want to check out http://en.gravatar.com/ – that link will show you how to get your own Gravatar (picture that shows up when you comment on blogs).
Kyle
February 11, 2011I don’t care what all your other family members say – LAN parties are where it was at. FRIENDLY UNICORNS!
Agreed on the ultimate Frisbee. played 3-4 times a week in college.
good letter bro!
Dustin
February 11, 2011…and a family member chimes in on my LAN party bidness. LOL. Annnnnnnd, you had to bring up the Friendly Unicorns. Now, that was something I forgot about. HA!
Keri
February 11, 2011This is a super post idea, Dustin!
I just got the idea that perhaps for my upcoming sex series I could have a blog carnival where people write letters to their high school selves about sex. I don’t know if everyone would actually do it. Not sure I would do it for the blogosphere, but maybe it could work without being toooooo incriminating. You know, some people’s parents do read this stuff! LOL
Dustin
February 11, 2011…now that would be interesting. That is an interesting topic, especially in the Christian blogosphere. Thanks for commenting, Keri!
Alex Humphrey
February 11, 2011That was really awesome, Dustin!
What about your wife and kids? Didn’t want to tell your younger self about them yet?
Dustin
February 11, 2011Alex, you know… when I was typing this up last night that came up (when I was showing my wife). I guess the whole area of relationships is a whole ‘nother bridge we can cross at another point. :)
Jason Vana
February 11, 2011I really like this idea and I’m gonna have to get on the bandwagon and do this sometime soon.
As far as what I would add – probably tell my younger self two main things:
1. Enjoy the present and don’t always keep looking toward the future
2. Be flexible and know that things don’t always turn out the way I think.
Dustin
February 11, 2011Yes, do it Jason. Would love to read it.
I love those two pieces of advice.. but especially the first. With kids I want to have that mindset all the time as well. They grow so quickly and it’s so easy to say “things will get better when they ______” fill in the blank with: walk, eat by themselves, are out of the diapers, etc.
Larry Hehn
February 11, 2011Ok…definitely going to make a post out of this topic. Thanks for the inspiration, Dustin!
Dustin
February 11, 2011Yes!! Can’t wait to read it.
Nathan
February 12, 2011Haha, LAN parties. I remember those – the ones my friends did were usually Age of Empires related.
And what’s the backstory on that bean picture? I’m curious…
Dustin
February 12, 2011Yeah LANs bring back loads of memories. We were mostly 1st person shooters and strategy games.
Re: the beans picture…nothing too special. Except for some reason it was “so epic” (not my words) according to some people. I suppose it was just a funny picture. :)
kristinherdy
February 12, 2011This was funny, Dustin. I love all the advice.
I wish someone would have told younger me that bigger hair did not necessarily make one closer to God. Finding a photo of me without gigantic country-singer hair is nigh on impossible.
Donald Borsch Jr
February 12, 2011Kristin. Come on now. You mentioned it. Let us see your country-hair from the high school years. Come on.
Dustin
February 12, 2011Yes yes yes. Now we need to see a picture!
Bryan Thompson
February 12, 2011Dustin, love this:
“Be careful trying to run down your parent’s basement stairs as fast as you can. That is, unless you want to fall on your face and have a right foot the size of a watermelon for a month.”
Dude, I think you stole memories from my childhood. Ha ha. I did this kind of stuff often and I would almost kill myself. I’d write this to myself. In fact, I might repeat this idea for my own blog if you don’t mind. If it helps, I promise not to steal memories from your childhood.. :)
Dustin
February 12, 2011Let’s just say I was a tad clumsy (and reckless) at times…. Which is no different than how I am now sometimes. :)
You definitely should write yourself a letter. I’ll be waiting!!
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jenn
February 13, 2011This is a fun idea for a post. I may have to do the same thing at some point. Oh, and if it makes you feel any better, I used to think Tom Green was cool too. (Now I have NO idea why.) :)
Dustin
February 13, 2011Yes, do it! And, I’m with ya on Tom Green. I mean, he’s funny… but I’m always like “wha?? really???” :)
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Tony Alicea
February 14, 2011That is one epic picture my friend. Love your list!
Dustin
February 14, 2011Ha, thanks friend. Now we just need to see a Young Tony!
Kyle Reed
February 15, 2011Love this idea, and yes embrace more ska and more halo.
And Tom Green was never funny
Dustin
February 15, 2011…and now Kyle is on the clock. Waiting on yours!
Michelle
February 15, 2011I’m not sure how I missed this! ha ha “Lan Parties” Oh boy! And my husband still wears white t-shirts under his shirts. Annoying, but I still love him anyway. He’s just not cool like you Dustin. He’s got his own idea of cool going on.
Dustin
February 16, 2011Michelle, truthfully all us guys have our own idea of cool going on. :)
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