Here’s a commencement address to myself:
Stop reading commencement addresses. Those speeches just give you more unrealistic expectations, whether for success (most sound like a Nike ad, “You can do it! You can make the world a better place! You can cure cancer, maybe if we keep saying it, someone actually will.”) or failure (“You’re a useless Millenial, just give up now, you spoiled impractical liberal arts major.”). And wasn’t one of your biggest undergrad revelations that expectations AREN’T reality (if anything, they make reality harder to achieve and less real) and furthermore, you make your own reality. So here’s the most real “real talk” speech you’re going to get: Your life is your life. You’re going to avoid many mistakes commencement speakers have warned you about, but you’re also going to make just as many that even these speakers aren’t aware of. And that’s a good thing, because no one should be able to write your future in a 20 minute speech and if they can, you need a better future in mind.
