If you had to explain your current situation to yourself from five years ago what would you say?

I woke up Wednesday morning still half asleep. The first thing I did was feel around frantically for wherever my phone wound up from the night before. I checked a couple text messages and scrolled through Twitter with my eyes half shut just like any other day.

Until something jumped out at me. It was a retweet of a screenshot of an old Tumblr post by Frank Ocean. One of Frank’s fans asked, “explain your current situation to your five-years-ago self.”

It fascinated me. I was so enthralled that I went straight to his Tumblr page and scoured through it. I started with his latest post and ended up going all the way back to his very first. By the time I finished over two hours had passed.

There was a ton of interesting content throughout his page and I’d recommend checking it out. Even after reading through his whole page I still couldn't get the post about what would you say to your five years ago self out of my head.

So I had to write one myself.

Hey Will,

I want to ease your mind right away and let you know you never turned into one of those kids that graduated high school and became a local bar rat. I know so many before you had taken that route. I know it even got to the point that one of your biggest fears was to end up spending five nights a week at The Tradesman, The Brew Garden, or Barely House.

I know how badly you never wanted to partake in any of those weekly high school reunions. You never did. You stayed true to yourself and your beliefs. I feel like that was really important for you to hear before anything else was said.

Lets get to your current situation. You're 18 and two of your best friends just went away to school. You and your first real girlfriend just broke up and you're about to drop out of college too. You're in a real bad place but your friends are amazing. Tom consistently stays up on the phone with you until 3 a.m. talking about all the stupid stuff you guys did in high school. He does this even though he has to be up for cross country practice in a few mere hours.

Justin makes a two hour drive back and forth from school every week so you guys can kick it on the weekends. Danny comes over after he gets off work everyday and brings you Monster. Mike sleeps at your house every other night, staying up with you playing video games and watching old cartoons. There are plenty of others that are there for you too but you get the point.

You're working at Abercrombie & Fitch. Get use to it because you’re going to be there awhile. It'll seem crazy at first but you make so many friends there. Some of whom become extremely important to you. A couple months later you'll meet a new girl. You guys will be in and out of a relationship for the next year. You finally end things a couple weeks before your 20th birthday. At that point you're going to be extremely lost.

You've met a lot of people that went to college and got their degrees in business, psychology, history, art, etc. They all ended up being Abercrombie managers. You're going to question going back to school even more than ever before. The thought of going to school for four years and majoring in something that you don't feel passionate about scares you.

The next couple months will pass by and you'll float through them wondering what exactly is next for you. Then it happens again. You meet a girl. This time it’s different. You fall in love, and it makes you realize the other times you were “in love” you really weren’t. She’s going to have this gummy smile. It’s going to be your favorite sight probably ever. Her smile won’t normally be gummy but its going to get this way whenever she is extra happy and she can’t control how big she's smiling. She’s going to introduce you to a variety of new things.

She puts you on to guac which you now get every time you go to Chipotle. She’ll take you to Urban Outfitters which will become your go to clothing store. She gets you Bath & Body Works candles which you are now addicted to. She shows you music that you probably never would have listened to by yourself like Oasis and Nirvana. You're going to carry all those things with you and more. All those things pale in comparison to the way she’s going to make you want to be a better person. You're going to want to do more with your life and she's going to bring out the very most of you in every way possible. You're going to feel so alive. She’s going to play a huge part in you quitting Abercrombie and starting work with your brother.

Randy is going to be your boss. He's going to teach you so much and not just work related things. He’s going to teach you about life and growing up. Over the next few months he becomes your best friend and you will be able to talk to him about anything. But back to this girl.

She’s going to do a million different things for you but the most important thing she ever does is praise your writing. She's going to tell you all the time how much she loves it and encourages you to get back into school to pursue it. This will mean the world to you. She's the first person you'll feel this comfortable sharing your writing with. She inspires you to write more. You've never been so in love.

Unfortunately all love stories don't have a happy ending.

When she breaks up with you you're going to be utterly devastated. To say that you're heart is broken does not do the type of sadness you'll feel justice. Your friends are going to be right there to pick you back up like always. Your family will be there too.

You know that mom and that dad that you're always arguing with? They’re going to be your biggest supporters. They're going to help you so much along the way and you're never going to be as appreciative to them as you should be. Your little sister, the one that you fought with and “hated” your entire life, well it turns out that she's actually pretty cool. She's going to have your back when you least expect it and most need it. You guys are actually going to become really close as hard as that is to believe.

Even with all of these people supporting you, you're still going to be miserable after the break up for at least the next year of your life. Maybe even a little longer. Hang in there, it gets better. You go back to school and you get really good grades too. Your younger cousin is going to text you out of the blue just to tell you how much he looks up to you and how proud he is of you. He is going to tell you how he got his grades up because he wants to be like you and how all the talks you had with him really helped him. His text is going to motivate you even more. It’ll make you feel like everything you're doing really matters.

You’re not going to work with Randy as much because of school. This ends up leading you back to Abercrombie, working nights and weekends around your school schedule. You make a bunch of friends at work again and you make a bunch of new friends outside of work too. You're not going to find another girlfriend but you do meet a couple girls along the way that mean an awful lot to you.

You're going to move in with grandma for a year when she gets sick. Don't worry she's doing better now. She's living with Uncle Brad and Aunt Kathy. You're going to talk to her on the phone every week and she seems happy. She always tells you about the casino. That lady will be gambling until she's 100.

You’re going to go through some tough times but you survive. You're doing great now. I know how badly you've been wanting to get out of Parma. You did it. You're out in California now just like you always wanted. You know that car you've wanted since you were 16? You got it. And every morning when you wake up you can see palm trees outside your apartment window. The ocean is only a ten minute drive away. You're learning how to surf and speak Spanish. You've already met some really cool and creative people that have taken you in as one of their own. You're writing and you're loving it. You're happier than you've been in an exceptionally long time. You haven't made it yet but you're better off than last year.

How would you explain your current situation to your five years ago self?