Happy Graduation......s!

Hi! 

The time of year is upon us that celebrates graduations. 

Graduating from pre-school to big kid school, graduating elementary school to head into the experience of high school, graduating high school to either enter the work world, or go on to some sort of secondary education, graduating from that secondary education into the working world... for the most part this marks the end of the 'graduations' that get marked with any kind of flourish. 

They are amazing milestones, but, by no means the last that deserve celebration.

Life is a neverending series of graduations. Personally, I think we should get better at celebrating more of them. 

If we live it right, we never stop graduating.

So......

Dear Grads...

Sit in what brought you this far. Some had to work harder than others to get here. 

Some sail through, excelling easily in pretty much everything thrown their way, receiving awards and accolades for their efforts. 

Others grit through, struggling with learning challenges, neuro-spicy tendencies, social adversities, and receive little or no recognition for the hurdles they had to clear to get where they are.

Still others ride in the middle, getting through, but not without obstacles. 

Some do everything right, doing their very best, but miss the mark, leaving without any brass ring.

Some suffer circumstances, through no fault of their own, that make reaching these first milestones impossible.

It's not about who gets the awards and scholarships. Not in the long run. It's not just about grades, or athletic accomplishments. It's about learning how to learn... and not just what's in the textbooks. 

It begins by learning how to interact and take instruction with people outside of our family home. Teachers, other students, unfamiliar people. We begin to learn about what vibes we gravitate toward, see how others react to different situations, we begin to understand the concept of collaboration. 

We learn to put some trust in our instincts about people. We start to develop likes and dislikes of different subject matter. Learning too, that not particularly enjoying a subject, by no means excuses you from learning said subject. 

If we are very lucky we make great friends, learn how to be one, and find things that light us up even if only for a while. But, again, if we are very lucky, we find things that carry on throughout our lifetime. Things like music, drama, writing, math, chemistry, art and/or some combination thereof. 

We learn to work with people who don't like to do much, but enjoy taking credit. We learn the difference between leading by being an asshat and leading through actual leading. 

We learn about building relationships, the diversity of personalities, and how it all fits together in a chaotic mosaic of beautiful humanity. 

We graduate from student, to part of the workforce.

Graduate from child to adult.

Graduate from things that don't work for us to things that do.

We graduate from a diploma in self-consciousness to holding a Masters Degree in indifference toward the opinion of others.

We graduate from thinking we know everything to understanding just how little we do.

Then, if we are smart, we graduate into the understanding that we are never finished. 

None of us get to where we are without scars. Walk gently through this life, some are better at hiding their scars than others, but they are still there. 

Graduations!

Celebrate all of them, all of it, you deserve it!