Here is my graduation speech, from one decidedly not-famous speaker to my decidedly wonderful soon-to-be graduate.<\/p>\n
Congratulations, Graduate.<\/p>\n
You’ve accomplished one of your life goals and now you have the wonderful and enviable opportunity to ask yourself the question: What comes next?<\/p>\n
Recently you told me that for the last 15 years, you’ve had one clear goal: Get a college degree.\u00a0 And you’re about to accomplish that!\u00a0 Now, though, as you said: What do you do now?<\/p>\n
For the first time since you were able to form goals and set expectations for yourself, you’re left to ask the question that all adults have to ask and answer: “What comes next?”<\/p>\n
I hope you don’t get too hung up on that question.\u00a0 That’s a “missing the forest for the trees” kind of question.\u00a0 More important than “What comes next?” is the more important question: What Makes Me Happy?<\/p>\n
One of the main reasons that I wanted you to go to college and get a degree was choices.\u00a0 As I’ve told you before, a college degree increases the number of choices you have.\u00a0 Which is not to say, by any means, that someone cannot be happy or cannot be successful without a degree.\u00a0 Of course they can.\u00a0 The difference is, you will have more choices, more options as a result of having your degree.<\/p>\n
If you never work a day in your life in a job that depends on your degree, at a bare minimum you will have learned how to learn.\u00a0 And this, my Graduate, is one of the most useful skills you will ever possess.\u00a0 You have demonstrated to your teachers and, more importantly, yourself that you can take in many different kinds of information and you can learn it and integrate it and demonstrate your ability to apply that knowledge.\u00a0 This, I believe, is one of the most critical skills to be learned in college.<\/p>\n
This skill will be incredibly helpful as you figure out what you want to do next because you know now that you can learn whatever is necessary for whatever you choose to do next.<\/p>\n
There are other lessons, of course.\u00a0 One is the ability to figure out what a teacher wants and figure out how to give that to them.\u00a0 As you enter the adult world, you will enter a world where people expect things of you.\u00a0 And the quicker you can figure out what, exactly, is being asked of you and how to deliver it, the quicker you will learn to adapt to a new situation and be successful.<\/p>\n
You’ve been away from home for most of the last four years since you graduated high school because it was important to you to learn how to live like an adult.\u00a0 This, also, is an important skill.\u00a0 I’ve used the analogy in the past\u00a0 that this is like the message they give you when you fly on an airplane.\u00a0 In case of an emergency, the air masks will come down.\u00a0 Put yours on FIRST, before you help someone else.\u00a0 At first, this seems counter to your instincts, especially if you are a parent.\u00a0 Of course I’m going to help my child first!\u00a0 That’s the right thing to do!\u00a0 But, the reality is, if you don’t help yourself, you may not be ABLE to help someone else.\u00a0 This analogy holds for learning how to care for yourself, emotionally, physically and intellectually, before you think seriously about caring for someone else.\u00a0 You can’t be there in all the ways you need to for someone else if you don’t look out for your own needs, too.<\/p>\n
One of the question that I think gets asked by many graduates is this: Now that I’ve graduated, what do I do to make the money?\u00a0 This is, I think, almost entirely backwards from the correct way to approach where you are now.\u00a0 The act of asking how you make the money means you’ve put that question before the more important question which is this: What will make me happy?<\/p>\n
It is my belief that starting from the money question will almost inevitably lead to a compromise on the second question of what will make me happy.\u00a0 Doing things in that order will almost certainly lead to someone who gets paid well to do a job they hate.\u00a0 I do not wish this on you.\u00a0 I do not wish it FOR you.<\/p>\n
I was asked recently how I would feel if you took a job at minimum wage but were happy.\u00a0 The answer is, I’d be happy for you.\u00a0 Money is nice.\u00a0 It’s another enabler of choices and more money means more choices.\u00a0 But, too often it also means more stuff and more stuff does not and never will equate to happiness.\u00a0 As I’ve watched you learn to live on less during your college years, being on a budget, having to make trade-offs, learning to put away a financial buffer even when you weren’t making much money, I think you’ve figured that out.<\/p>\n
So, do what makes you happy.\u00a0 That path is the path you should walk.<\/p>\n
You and I have talked about you getting an advanced degree and you know my opinion on that: Do it if you want to.\u00a0 More education means more choices and more choices is what I want for you.\u00a0 Education has already broadened your mind and your ability to embrace a much wider world than you had when you exited high school.\u00a0 More education will broaden you further, expose you to more choices and a wider range of possible futures.\u00a0 That is a good thing.<\/p>\n
I don’t know whether an advanced degree is the right thing for you because you are an adult now and only you can answer that for yourself.\u00a0 But, I do know this: You will never be less encumbered by debt, less encumbered by relationships and demands on your time and energy than you are now.<\/p>\n
Your life to date has been as if you are riding on a tube down a river.\u00a0 Sometimes there are rapids which have tested you, sometimes you’ve been able to float and just enjoy the slower pace and appreciate your life and the scenery.\u00a0 But, fundamentally, as you’ve chosen, there’s only really been one path: Get a college degree.<\/p>\n
Now, though, the river forks.\u00a0 And it doesn’t fork just once.\u00a0 It forks infinitely.\u00a0 Some paths may look easier, some may look more appealing, some look scary and dangerous, but they all have different appeals.<\/p>\n
Whatever you do, choose.\u00a0 Choose and commit.\u00a0 Don’t get stuck at the fork.\u00a0 Figure out what the life you want looks like, what it smells like and feels like.\u00a0 Figure out your perfect life and start taking steps towards that life.<\/p>\n
You will make mistakes, you will choose wrong occasionally but you are equipped to survive those choices.\u00a0 You are educated more than you have been at any other point in your life and so you will hopefully use that and choose wisely more often than you choose poorly.<\/p>\n
One of the other messages I’ve had for you through you life is to be actively engaged in living your life.\u00a0 Be in charge of your life, don’t let your life happen to you.\u00a0 Do not be passive in your life or your choices.\u00a0 Be an active and engaged participant.<\/p>\n
I’m going to steal this bit from Commander Chris Hadfield, currently in charge of the International Space Station.\u00a0 Here was a piece of his advice:<\/p>\n
“Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you and start moving your life in that direction.\u00a0 Every decision you make from what you eat to what you do with you time tonight turns you in to who you are tomorrow and the day after that.\u00a0 Look at who you WANT to be and start sculpting yourself in to that person.\u00a0 You may not get exactly where you thought you’d be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in.”<\/p>\n
And, “Don’t let life randomly kick you in to the adult you don’t want to become.”<\/p>\n
Finally, whatever you choose, know this: I will always have your back.\u00a0 Just as I was behind you when I was teaching you to ride a bike, I’ll be back there to support you now and forever.\u00a0 As time goes on, if you look over your shoulder, it might look like I’m farther away than I’ve been in the past but that’s only because I believe you are ready to do this, ready to do it on your own and take that credit for your life.\u00a0 But, should the bike fall over, should you crash and scrape your knee, I’ll be there to help.\u00a0 Your brother will be there to make you feel better.\u00a0 Your family, ALL of it, will be there to cheer for you when you succeed and cry with you when you stumble but will alway be there behind you to support you and love you.<\/p>\n
So, enjoy the moment as this phase of your life comes to a close.\u00a0 Spend time to appreciate how far you’ve come, how much you’ve changed, how much more you are than when you started down this path by your choice.\u00a0 But, don’t linger.\u00a0 Don’t get stuck.\u00a0 Get ready to figure out what comes next for you, how next you will challenge yourself, what you will choose next towards your goals.<\/p>\n
Now, go out there and kick ass, whatever that means for you, and know that I love you and am terrifically proud of you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is my graduation speech, from one decidedly not-famous speaker to my decidedly wonderful soon-to-be graduate. Congratulations, Graduate. You’ve accomplished one of your life goals and now you have the wonderful and enviable opportunity to ask yourself the question: What comes next? Recently you told me that for the last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"darrin","author_link":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/author\/darrin\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mossor.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}