Open letter to my friends

Hi everyone,

Friends come and go throughout the years, and one's friend circle is always changing. If you're reading this right now, you're involved in my life to some degree. Maybe you're one of my childhood friends, a close friends, an acquaintance, a fellow poet, a twitter friend, family, a mentor, a client, or even a teammate. Either way, this post is meant for you.

The last couple of years for me have been rather interesting. I've loved, and lost, hard. I've grown, and learned a lot in the process. I've launched myself into new business, and gained new skills. I've played the highest level of sports that I ever will, and beat out many people's expectations of me. I've lost some important people through break-ups, falling-outs, and even death. I've gained a lot of new important people as well.

I'm 23 years old, a month from being 24. I'm in good health with the exception of my broken leg, but it's healing well and relatively painless now. I'm at an interesting crossroads in my life at the moment, and I wanted to take the time to discuss it with all of you. First of all, I should discuss the meaning of this post.

I wanted to write this post for a couple of reasons. First,  I wanted to reconnect, to an extent. I feel like there's a great disconnect in communication amongst people. I think the prevalence of social media has increased this divide in some ways. Social media has made it easier to get in touch, but more difficult to get close. It brings with it a lot of distraction, and an automatic distance in communication. Social media lets us extend the amount of people who we can keep in touch with to an extent that is impossible to manage.  I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten about you, even if we don't talk often.

Second, I wanted to let everybody know that I'll be making some major changes to my life in the next couple of years. Next year is a question mark. Will I start a master's degree? Will I move away for part of it if I do? Will I start my business before my master's degree? Will I juggle both, if so? Will I even start my business? What if one of the careers I applied for hire me? You get the point. The next couple of years will be a time of dramatic change in my life, and I hope you will follow along with me and offer advice.

Most importantly, I wanted to say thank-you. Sincerely, thank you. If you're reading this, you're here for a reason. Life is fragile. It can leave us unexpectedly and suddenly. I never see people take the time to thank their social net, despite how important it has been. I would not be where I am now without all of the wonderful people that have pushed me, and picked me up when I fell. You're great, and I've been fortunate to be surrounded by such positive influences in my life. Thank you all, I look forward to being in your corner and encouraging you all to accomplish the wonderful things many of you will be doing. Never give up.

7 thoughts on “Open letter to my friends

  1. Andy… glad to see someone appreciates the finer thing’s in life. Very wicked awesome write-up, good luck in all of your endeavours and no matter what –> anything is possible –> always. Cheers.

  2. This felt good to read 🙂 Inspiring, truly so.
    I hope you know I’m here to offer advice aswell.
    And I believe you will connect with your ultimate path in life,
    discover and rediscover everything you have in front of you;
    awaiting your arrival and application.
    Best of luck on that winding road.
    We’re all on it together… but for mildly different reasons 😉

    • thanks Em. I hope I can connect with my ‘ultimate path’ in life as well 🙂 we are definitely all in this together!

  3. Fack offfff Andy. You’re a superstar. No doubt, no guesses, no question. You’ll do a good thing or two when it’s all said and done. I think the only real question you’ll face is whether to tackle hunger or world peace first.

  4. Very cool letter. You’re a great writer with some serious amount of passion. Normally… I’m a bit bored with other peoples’ blog(human nature… right?!?!?) but I really like what you have to say. It’s cliche- but sometimes it seems like people have forgotten how to be “real”. Glad you aren’t one of them.

    Keep up the awesomeness, and would love to add you to our “Friends of the Dudeship” page on our blog once we finally get one!

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