What should I do with my life?
Round about the end of grade twelve many a student has been known to wonder - what should I do with my life? Should I go to college or university, travel or work, get married, have kids, start a business, or see how long my parents are willing to cohabitate?
I am hardly an expert on this topic - and as a person who exhausts his hours in the pursuit of a myriad of childish interests with the intenstity of a life long card carrying member of the club ADHD I am pretty sure you should not take my advice... Or anyone's advice for that matter because the ugly little secret is that it is your life and you should "do" with it what you believe to be right.... I do however like this advice given to college graduates:
I am hardly an expert on this topic - and as a person who exhausts his hours in the pursuit of a myriad of childish interests with the intenstity of a life long card carrying member of the club ADHD I am pretty sure you should not take my advice... Or anyone's advice for that matter because the ugly little secret is that it is your life and you should "do" with it what you believe to be right.... I do however like this advice given to college graduates:
If I wrote a Commencement Address:
Here is my version of a commencement address for graduation…
anticipation of this address is also probably why I never get asked to make
commencement addresses for graduation… and yes I know there is historical
controversy over what Cortes said but it works better this
way:
Dear Graduates... Burn The Boats
In 1519 Hernan Cortes, with 600 men, and against all odds,
invaded and conquered what would become Mexico. As he marched inland to do
battle with his enemies he looked to his men on the beaches and muttered three
simple words “Burn The Boats”.
Cortes was not the first general to burn the boats – as far back
as Antiquity we know Alexander the Great began his conquest of Persia by
destroying his invasion fleet – leaving his vastly outnumbered army – and
himself only two choices – succeed or die
trying.
Now my advice to you is not to “invade Mexico” unless you are
going for a holiday… but I do hope you will commit so forcefully to the pursuit
of your goals, your aspirations, your hopes and your dreams as to leave no
option but succeeding.
Trust me when I tell you that you do not need a backup plan – you
need to commit to that thing inside of you that you desire to accomplish
unconditionally – and to pursuit that goal single mindedly until you have
exhausted all possibility of success or until a new goal appears.
In the words of the immortal Obi Wan Kenobi – “Trust your
Feelings Luke” – and this is good advice even if your name is not Luke – you
know what you want to do next – the only thing that is keeping you from your
destiny – whether that destiny is conquering Persia or defeating an evil
galactic empire by using the force to shoot a tiny missile into a ventilation
shaft and destroying the death star in order to impress a chick who later turns
out to be your sister – is fear. And we all know what Yoda had to say about
fear. “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to
hate, hate leads to suffering”. And while that sentence has both grammatical and
logical issues I think we can all appreciate what Yoda was getting
at.
I will leave you with a prayer.
It is not a Catholic prayer – but a prayer used by The Bene
Gesserit Reverent Mothers in Frank Herbert’s science fiction epic
Dune:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total
obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through
me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its
path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
anticipation of this address is also probably why I never get asked to make
commencement addresses for graduation… and yes I know there is historical
controversy over what Cortes said but it works better this
way:
Dear Graduates... Burn The Boats
In 1519 Hernan Cortes, with 600 men, and against all odds,
invaded and conquered what would become Mexico. As he marched inland to do
battle with his enemies he looked to his men on the beaches and muttered three
simple words “Burn The Boats”.
Cortes was not the first general to burn the boats – as far back
as Antiquity we know Alexander the Great began his conquest of Persia by
destroying his invasion fleet – leaving his vastly outnumbered army – and
himself only two choices – succeed or die
trying.
Now my advice to you is not to “invade Mexico” unless you are
going for a holiday… but I do hope you will commit so forcefully to the pursuit
of your goals, your aspirations, your hopes and your dreams as to leave no
option but succeeding.
Trust me when I tell you that you do not need a backup plan – you
need to commit to that thing inside of you that you desire to accomplish
unconditionally – and to pursuit that goal single mindedly until you have
exhausted all possibility of success or until a new goal appears.
In the words of the immortal Obi Wan Kenobi – “Trust your
Feelings Luke” – and this is good advice even if your name is not Luke – you
know what you want to do next – the only thing that is keeping you from your
destiny – whether that destiny is conquering Persia or defeating an evil
galactic empire by using the force to shoot a tiny missile into a ventilation
shaft and destroying the death star in order to impress a chick who later turns
out to be your sister – is fear. And we all know what Yoda had to say about
fear. “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to
hate, hate leads to suffering”. And while that sentence has both grammatical and
logical issues I think we can all appreciate what Yoda was getting
at.
I will leave you with a prayer.
It is not a Catholic prayer – but a prayer used by The Bene
Gesserit Reverent Mothers in Frank Herbert’s science fiction epic
Dune:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total
obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through
me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its
path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.