I learned of a book called Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self. In the book, various celebrities write letters to the sixteen-year-old version of themselves, guiding them with a tender touch of advice from their current state in life. Although I haven’t read the book, it made me question what I would write to a young, thin, active, healthy version of Patrice for overall wellness. This is what I came up with.
Dear Me:
They say if you find something you love to do for exercise, you won’t workout a day in your life. So, congratulations, you’ve already found something you love to do and coincidentally, you will make your livelihood based on health and fitness. You swim, bike, run, ice skate, save your pennies and love to cook. All these things positively fostered will prove to give you healthy, happy, active life long skills free from fad diets, roller coaster weight and the revolving door at the doctor.
I know you think eating a bag of Doritos after swim practice is awesome, but make time to look at what you are eating. You don’t need the bag. Learn to portion and only eat until you are no longer hungry, not full or stuffed. Eat carbs before you exercise for fuel and protein after for repair. Brag to your friends about your six pack, not how much you can eat without gaining a pound, because rest assured that habit will catch up to you. While you’re learning new things, learn how to cook using nutritional balance (carb, fat, protein). Your palette is trainable, don’t over salt, over sugar your foods and eat natural whole foods when ever possible. The more processed the food the more toxic to you and your performance. When ever possible chose decadence over common foods, and slow down, saver each bite. Your stomach is the size of your fist and can stretch 10 times that, think about that when you look at your plate or the bag of Doritos.
Don’t give up. Some days will be tough. Training for track, dance, cross country and swimming is tough. You will wonder why you have to do this twice a day and so hard for so long, in the end it will pay off. You will be slim for the foreseeable future, you are NOT fat. Muscle fibers are also trainable; being a young athlete makes it is easier throughout life to maintain health. Trust me, eventually you’ll be training for a half marathon, duathlon, adventure races and you’ll love it. Not only that, but you’ll try other sports like mountain biking, golf, softball, broom ball, snow shoeing, down hill and cross country skiing, snowboarding, wake boarding, paddle boarding, canoeing, water skiing, jet skiing and snowmobiling.
Speaking of competitions, three things: (1) When you say you can’t, you surely won’t. Your attitude will determine your successes in life, love and career. (2) Nothing worth doing comes without a significant amount of effort, it will be hard now, or even harder later (3) Focus on and dedicate your competition to someone or something. You’ll feel the inspiration moving you when you feel you can’t go on.
Learn how to budget your money. When you’re living is subsidized or you make minimum wage, suck it up, you’re suppose to be a poor kid. This builds character and great stories when you’re old. Use your credit card, but hear this…pay it off every month and build credit. If you can’t pay for it in full, you don’t need it, you haven’t earned it and a balance becomes exponentially harder to pay off. This can trump wellness and trigger depression, poor eating and a spiraling sense of failure. Your mind controls your body; your finances can control quality of life and your spirit.
Your mom and dad are great; after all, you wouldn’t be where you are without them. Every person you meet influences your life and you will meet a lot of them at competitions…be interested in them, they will make your life interesting. Ask great questions that show your interest, it takes the edge off shyness when you meet new people. These new people may introduce you to the new life experiences you never thought possible. You can never have too many friends, but make at least two close friends you will need them.
Finally, say yes and motivate people to say yes often. You’ve got some really great friends who do a lot of cool things and they’ll invite you to participate. Do it. Don’t be afraid of adventure, embrace it. You won’t always be the best, its ok you’ll have earned the right to brag you did it anyway. Have fun and enjoy those moments in life that take your breath away.
Your overall well being depends on you kid, it’s your life we’re talking about.