On your graduation day I have no advice…..

*Couldn't find a graduation pic... so insert Prom Pic. I graduated 3 weeks after this, so we looked basically the same.

On your graduation day I have no advice…..

Maybe it’s because I am at a weird time in my life. Or maybe it’s because I think life is completely situational. Sure there is cliche advice, “Live your life to the fullest.” “Tomorrow is a new day” all that BS. And they all exist for a reason. So I am sure they are great advice for you and you should take all of them. Just type into google “Inspiring life quotes” and you are good. Or just scroll through your Facebook, I am sure you will see 1 or 10 of them posted.

My high school graduation was 10 years ago. It is now a running joke because Jenny who gave our speech in front of our class of 1,000 kids used the metaphor “life was like a shopping cart.” I laughed at the time. Her speech was long and seemed weird. I don’t really remember the EXACT message but I still joke and tease about it to this day. But you know what, she was RIGHT. Life is like a shopping cart. In that no two carts are exactly the same in the grocery store. What one person NEEDS or WANTS for their home to FEED themselves is different. You fill your cart, I fill mine, and in the end we both probably go home and feel “full.” And we both probably forgot something and will have to go back and get more. And we both probably stare at things that we want but can’t have and will have to go work for. And we will both fill our carts with useless things that we probably don’t need and will never use. Come to think of it, she nailed that speech.

Graduation speeches are so funny, they are filled with the same crap about go out and change the world. Filled with HOPE. I still believe I am surrounded by people that will one day change the world. Or in some sort of ripple effect already have. Take Katie for an example, her therapy changes kid’s lives whom were once set on a path of destruction. She changes their life path and then they change other people’s lives and so forth. Maybe one of those kid’s or the lives those kid’s change whom they would have normally never have met, make a life altering discovery, or breaks this circle of violence, abuse, and poverty and becomes president. All because Katie changed one kid’s path. I believe that. I might sound crazy. But I believe that with every once of me. With that said, I still don’t want to fill people with sunshine and rainbows. Life is hard. My favorite quote from Rocky “You, me, or no one is going to hit as hard as life. But it’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward.” TRUTH.

So as this week concludes all the graduation non sense. I have no advice. Do you. Put what you want in your shopping cart. And you will be OK. Even when you think you are not, you probably are, and if you aren’t OK then CHOSE to be OK. If it’s not a choice, ask for help. There is no game plan for life. There is no grocery list. Everyone’s list is different. There is no advice to give because life is situational. No self help book that can completely understand your situation. There is a million stories about walking in someone else’s shoes. Get your own damn shoes, walk your journey, and don’t worry about someone else’s shoes.