Every minute of every day is a transition for someone, somewhere on the planet earth. The next 5 days are each and every one going to be big days of transition for many members of my own family and my extended family. How do you handle your transitions?
For our family there are going to be many happy moments of educational completion on many different levels. These are moments filled with pride and tears as those in the family realize that a child is no longer a child and that they have just graduated from High School and in a few short weeks will be moving far away from home. For others their chests will fill with the fulfillment of a dream of going to college, graduating, making an impact on the community and the world and having a very good job waiting to utilize that talent that they just hired. Still for others there is the complete joy that a young person who was adrift is now walking on the stage to receive one of the most coveted degrees of all; a PhD in engineering. This shows real vision and fortitude on the part of the young person who saw value in sticking around and working hard long after his peers left undergraduate school.
Each of these young people are filled with joy, pride, they know what their next step is and several of them have their lives mapped out for the next 4 to 5 to 10 years. They have a bigger picture. How about you? Close your eyes and let your mind drift back to your High School or College or Graduate School graduation. What do you hear around you? What does the place smell like? What were you wearing underneath that graduation gown? Do you remember who spoke? What did they say? Now…..right in this moment, what were your dreams and goals for your future?
Take a moment and just jot the first things that come to mind. Keep going forward now. What was the first step to acheiving any one of the items on your dream list or goal list? Where are you on that? If you gave up somewhere on the road; what was the incident, words, person or event that took you off course? Do you remember it? Is this item still a dream or goal for you? You are older and much wiser now. Write down 3 things that you can do in the next week to put that dream or goal on the front burner again. Work the 3 things diligently this next week.
Dreams do not die. We push them down deep inside us in the depths of our souls and we sometimes sigh when we get a glimpse of them in someone else’s life.
Tomorrow, there will be a transition for me and one for you too! Our attitude and our frame of mind, our perception about the day and what happens will all play into how well we transition. Our eyes will fill with tears and we will have a lump in our throats as the realization that our youngest will soon be totally out of the house and livng and working very, very far away from us; and yet we will be full of pride for the acheivement and the glorious celebration of these 4 years of hard work. For her father and I, it has been 22 years of hard joyous leadership to mold her and equipt her will the skills for her global life.
Do you know someone who is graduating over the next few weeks? Send then a real card and write a lesson about dreams and goals that you have learned and inspire that young person to keep in pursuit of their goals and dreams. How would you feel about being a mentor to a young graduate?
