This is a love letter/unsolicited advice that I want to send to all of the people who have wriggled their way into my life these past two years who are graduating today who I consider to be my good friends...
I say "wriggled" because "we" were not supposed to be friends.
I say "not supposed to" because:
- You are so much younger than me. How could we possibly relate?
- You are older and more established than I am. How could I even try to understand your life?
- You were my employee and being friends with boss-type-people just screams trouble" around here.
- You never interacted with the people in the stories that it takes me ten minutes to tell.
But, thankfully, we did become friends.
And now you're graduating and positioned to do some pretty awesome things. You guys have such a better perspective on life than I did when I was in your spot six years ago. You're not so focused on "right now" and seem to have this great long term vision on things.
Keep that. That's what will get you through when times will inevitably get tough.
Second thing:
Those tough times suck. And now that you're leaving this happy little cocoon of college the tough times may seem more raw than they have before. Just remember, you're tough too. I've seen all of you do things that you deemed "impossible" at the beginning of the semester. You'll be fine.
Don't bother with being overly humble.
There is absolutely nothing wrong at knowing your strengths and being able to tell people what you are capable of doing. People will be drawn in by your confidence and you will be able to have them stay because you are good people.
Lastly- Know that there is always something new to learn and go learn it.