Growth

Avoid a life plan. You cannot imagine what will be invented in the future. You cannot imagine the opportunities that will be presented. A life plan will limit your future. Instead, spend your time developing a life philosophy.

You are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. Like a muscle, you can build it up, draw on it when you need it. In that process, you will figure out who you really are — and you just might become the very best version of yourself.

The life lessons that I learned at Cushing Academy, I carry with me every single day like you'd carry a cell phone, and I use them every single day like you use Instagram.

Just to be here, you guys sacrificed and left behind your family, your friends, and your social circles, and started over again from scratch. At your age, even the smallest ripple in a social circle can cause an emotional tidal wave.

You need to raise your expectations of yourself.

You shouldn't let failure define you, but instead you should let failure refine you.

The stumbler doesn't build her life by being better than others, but by being better than she used to be.

Your inexperience is an asset, and will allow you to think in original, unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.

It's time to say goodbye to the person we've become, we've worked so hard to perfect, and to make some decisions about who we're going to be.

It's okay to map out your future — but do it in pencil.

Remember when life brings challenges — it also brings opportunity!

Hang your diploma on the wall and do some traveling. It is time to see the world.