Ah, graduation. I distinctly remember baking in my black cap and gown under the hot New York sun like it was just the other day. For me, graduation was a bittersweet celebration of four years at a college I loved and the anticipation of the unknown of where life would take me next. It was exciting and yet terrifying all at the same time.

Now, as two years have passed, I look back and realize that the journey my life has taken me on since has been one that I could never have imagined. It has been full of questions and uncertainties for sure; however, it has been full of new experiences, learnings, and opportunties that have made the past two years some of the best.

What I love most about the season of graduation, with all of its endings and beginnings, is the chance it offers for reflection on life. How are you going to live that life? Where will you chose to go and what will you chose to do? Here is one of my favorite commencement speeches by the late brilliant David Foster Wallace. It is packed full of wisdom to return to again and again, and a reflection on a life well lived, for wherever your journey will take you.

'Learning how to think' really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed.

“...treasure what it means to do a day's work. It's our one and only chance to do something productive today, and it's certainly not available to someone merely because he is the high bidder. A day's work is your chance to do art, to create a gift, to do something that matters. As your work gets better and your art becomes more important, competition for your gifts will increase and you'll discover that you can be choosier about whom you give them to.”

 ― Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Love this wisdom from the amazing and talented Ira Glass, host of Chicago Public Radio's This American Life. I hope it encourages all of you interested in creative work and perhaps in a position of frustration at the current moment. Take-aways for all of us: stay true to your passions, push through frustration (don't give up!), work hard, and don't be afraid to fail.

Update: As you may have seen on our Pinterest, the quote in full:

(Print design Sawyer Hollenshead. Video created by David Shiyang Liu.)