A Letter to My Younger Self
Dear Plebe Justin,
You are probably reading this in the little free time you have during your busy weeks at The Academy. This place isn’t anything like junior hockey. I know it’s hard, being a 21-year-old freshman and being told what to do all the time. It isn’t really what you thought your college experience was going to be like huh?
Growing up, all you wanted to do was play sports. It didn’t matter what it was. When high school began, that is when you fell in love with hockey. It opened doors you never thought were imaginable. Well, just like hockey opened the door for you to get to West Point, West Point will open doors for you to go further than you ever thought you could imagine.
Up until this point in your life, things have been pretty easy. Beast was a wake-up call for you, that’s for sure. Over the course of your next four years, you are going to have a love-hate relationship with West Point. However, talking with other upperclassmen in your company and on the hockey team will tell you “If you don’t have that relationship with West Point, you aren’t doing it right.”
The days, weeks, and months are long, but the nights and years are short. Before you know it, the whole world is going to change from something you can’t control. Yet, in the struggle that happens after spring break of 2020, you will find out, that there is so much good in the hard times.
Over the next four years, you will want to quit at times, but you’ll also think this place is the easiest thing in the world. Don’t sweat it, anytime you think it gets easy, this place will knock you off your pedestal faster than you can blink. I think that is how it’s supposed to be. You will grow the most in the hardest of times. You will grow in hockey, in your schoolwork, in your time management, in your relationships, and in your faith. God is constantly moving mountains and making miracles for you every day. Although you don’t know a lot of the guys on the team yet, or even around your company, they will turn into some of the best people you could have ever hoped for.
There are days when you wish it was easier, but I’m promising you, you would regret it if they were. You have become someone that you only ever dreamed of. You accomplished all of your goals. You played your sport at the highest level you could have dreamed of, even when everyone else counted you out. Oh, that reminds me… Remember when everyone counted you out? They said you couldn’t play Division 1 college hockey; they said you couldn’t make it through 4 years at West Point. Well, I’m here to tell you that you did. You have proved people wrong every step of the way. You proved you could play at this level. You proved that you could overcome whatever adversity came at you.
Even when you face that adversity, don’t forget you have so many people in your corner. Mom and Dad, Alex and Ryan, and countless others. And not to mention your now fiancé, Grace! Time and time again you prove people wrong, and they are the biggest reason for that.
Remember that article you wrote during your last months of junior hockey called Everything Happens for a Reason? Well, this is your prime example right here. These next 47 months are going to have plenty of those moments along the way. I know you think that you can do it all, but you can’t. Don’t forget to ask for help, take time for yourself, and never forget your faith. You will grow more in these next four years than you did in your previous 21. It won’t be easy, but I promise you, it will always be worth it in the end. Stay true to who you are. It is the honor of a lifetime to go to West Point, to represent this Academy when you put on that hockey jersey, and, above all else, it is the honor of a lifetime to serve this country.
You are better than you think you are.
-Justin Evenson, West Point Class of 2023