Commencement Speech- Moving too Quickly

Class of 2020,

Here we are, four years of our lives later. We made it. Through these last years we have grown as individuals, made friends, lost friends and discovered who we are. We are all about to take the next big leap in our lives. Whether it be college, work force, or into the  military. Whatever your journey is, it is the next big milestone on our life timelines. We create timelines for ourselves of when we will accomplish things, when we will graduate, and when we will reach major life milestones. But sometimes I wonder if we always pay attention to our journey, or if we have become accustomed to focus on the end destination?

Standing here as a Senior, looking back on the four years that have passed, they truly have flown by. Ever since Freshman year I have always had a plan for myself – a timeline of when I would complete each year of high school and hit goals in my high school career. My focus was always finishing the semester with honor roll grades. Although I ask myself, do I remember anything that happened Freshman year, other than my goal of ending with the grades I wanted? Sadly, the answer is not vividly. I remember feeling scared about my first day, and wondering how I would memorize my schedule, and trying to find my classes. However, I could not tell you how many friends I made Freshman year, or what place we ended in for Homecoming or spring fling. Though these details may not be life changing, they make me realize that I moved too quickly. I didn’t stop to smell the roses, because they weren’t part of my end vision. My focus since freshman year has always been graduation.

If high school has taught me one big life lesson, it would be that things don’t always go to plan. I made my timeline that included starting high school, ending every year with honor roll so I could get a plaque for having 8 semesters of honor roll senior year, graduating high school and then moving on to college. But, life got in the way. I had family deaths, personal sickness that kept me out of school and a host of other personal hurdles. I hadn’t planned for any of this when I made my timeline for myself. I hadn’t set aside time for my personal life when I thought about my high school years because my end goal was graduating as the best student I could be, and that’s all I thought about. Then, when graduation would not be as it had always been for other classes as we all expected it would be, I felt empty. I felt as though everything I had done was meaningless. But I soon realised that there was so much more to what I had done than walking the stage. I am still the young woman who wants to help people. I am still going to accomplish my goal of working in healthcare.  I still have everything I have accomplished in high school. I may have moved too quickly through these 4 years, but I am still the person I wanted to be when I walked across that stage. We may not have a traditional graduation, but we will be the class that everyone thinks about for years. Our class will be unique for years to come. Our graduation will be like no others in the past, we have overcome many obstacles of distance learning, and we have adapted to the changes of our graduation. That is something we should be proud of. With the change of graduation plans, it has made me realise to find the good in anything life throws at us and to move through life with a positive outlook. 

Class of 2020. My advice to you is to slow down. Everyone always says “take your time” “don’t rush” and “stop to smell the roses”. But I never listened to those people. I always wanted to believe I was the person who took in every ounce of sunshine and enjoyed every minute I had, but truthfully, I was that person in high school who just wanted to get through it to get to graduation. I never realized how fast the four years of high school would go by because every essay I wrote felt like it took forever, or every minute of membean felt like it wouldn’t end. However, everything comes to an end. And if you don’t’ stop in the moment to soak it in, it will fly by and you will no longer have that moment, only as a memory. So, class of 2020, I invite you to join me in remembering to slow down, and enjoy life while you live it in the moment, so that you don’t have to look back and wonder what you did the summer before college. Store every memory you can as you are in the moment so you will remember how you lived your life and what your journey was like, instead of only focusing on the destination. 

Photo on Foter.com