This graduation season has got me thinking back to my own high school graduation… 16 years ago… damn.

That day we were told the world was ours to change. We were told we could be anything we wanted to be. And we were told to never stop learning.

Some off of us went off to college, some to work and others joined the military. Whatever we chose to do, we were all taking the first steps in shaping our future.

What we weren’t told then, is that the path to our future wouldn’t always be easy. That it would occasionally be filled with a million twists, turns and curve balls. We weren’t told that it’s OK to be a realist and not see everything through rose-colored glasses. And we weren’t told that 16 years later we might still be trying to figure out what it is we want to do and who we want to be when we grow up… and that it is A-OK.

The world is still ours to change. We can still be anything we want to be. And we should absolutely never stop learning. Sometimes we just need an 18 year old’s commencement speech to remind us of that.