Where Will You Sail?

         “A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
                                                                                                           ~ John A. Shedd

With graduation season in full swing, I have been reflecting a lot on this quote.  Graduation is a time of excitement for the future but is also a time that students can be anxious and fearful of what is to come.  The past thirteen years of their lives have had a repetitive pattern that becomes familiar and comforting. The students who they share classes with are more than just their friends, they have become a school family.  Leaving that familiarity can be hard.  But I want to encourage those graduates to set your sails and sail into what life has awaiting you.  The past thirteen years have prepared you for what your next adventure holds.  Trust that you absolutely have what it takes to start your journey of which you were built for. 

Now, this message is not just for graduates, but for all of us.  As educators, mentors, parents, business owners, this is for us all.  Many of us have dreams and ambitions of something.  Often we get settled in life and those dreams and ambitions get put on the back burner.  But I am here to remind you that whatever you have been going through personally and professionally have prepared you to make those dreams and ambitions a reality.  You were built for great things.  Don’t stay in the harbor.