A Heartfelt Letter to Grads

It’s graduation season! The time of year everyone relentlessly tells you that the easiest part of your life is over and that life is going to brutally tear you apart every day from here on out. I’ve always hated that thought process and it doesn’t provide anything helpful to anyone.

Here’s the real deal. You have your whole life ahead of you from this point on. At this point, the opportunities are limitless and the possibilities are even more so! The thing is.. you have to make the decisions from here on out. You are the one in control. No matter how it may seem, really no one may tell you what you can and can’t do from here on out. You literally have the reins and you decide where to go from here.

Now, most people take the safe route if they take any route at all, and they put themselves through college (whether it be for four years or two years) as it is the safest bet. However, it’s not exactly a guarantee that things will work out. There are plenty of people who go through all the trouble of getting a degree from a respectable college in a promising field and they still don’t get where they had imagined themselves in life. Also, take for example the people who do get into a successful career field, and they are making tons of money and still feel like something is missing.

A lot of times, we do things that weren’t for our own satisfaction, but for the satisfaction of others (whether that be a parent or a potential partner or whatever the case may be.) The most important thing to try to realize from this point on is that you’re really living your life for yourself. No one else is in your shoes, dealing with the consequences of your actions, and furthermore, they aren’t reaping the benefits of what you get in return. So why would you do something you don’t want to do when you have to live with the outcome?

The answer? You shouldn’t, and I think it’s becoming more apparent than ever to realize these things. You probably have no clue what you want to do right now, and that’s ok! I graduated high school back in 2014 and I didn’t know what I wanted to do until a couple of years ago. Then, when I decided to finally pursue that thing, I found out that it wasn’t what I thought it would be (not to mention I discovered I wasn’t exactly cut out for that field [translated: health issues].) Now here I am, years past the “prime point of succession”, doing exactly what I’ve wanted to do for years! Which would be writing and also turning those writings into other content, such as videos and music, for the sole purpose of THAT’S WHAT I’VE WANTED TO DO SINCE I WAS IN SCHOOL!

But why has it taken this long? Well.. I will admit.. I kinda didn’t take my own advice for several reasons.

1. I was afraid of the outcome. Seriously, I’ve always dreamed about the day I could finally start writing and publishing my content for the world to see! Or at least the select few that even bothered to pick up my content and look at it for more than a few seconds of passive judgment. And that was what I was afraid of. Being judged. I grew up around a bunch of Christians and Catholics who all claimed that “only God can judge you” only to be ridiculed for every little thing in my life and it really brought my confidence to its knees. More on this later.

2. I never knew what to do. I couldn’t tell you how many times I felt the overwhelming urge to start writing. Hell, I would write things and have nearly complete projects ready to go out the door! The only thing was.. where does it go? I had always heard that there are endless places you could send your writings but never did I know a single source to send my content. It was discouraging and honestly searching the internet did me no favors either. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered a shred of information that led me down the rabbit hole that is content creation for dummies.

3. I wasn’t ready. I’ve always been unfocused. I suffer from pretty severe ADHD and I was also too prideful to medicate for many reasons. One being that I didn’t want to have to depend on chemicals to function. Also, there’s a huge stigma surrounding the topic of mental health, especially ADHD, which was a large contributing factor that kept me from seeking the proper treatment for my condition. It also didn’t help coming from a southern Hispanic American background, where a lot of these issues are ridiculed and even considered “not real problems.” “It’s all in your head” is a phrase I would often hear, and that was just it: it’s in my head. It isn’t something I could just put a bandaid on and call it a day. It took a long time for me to sit down and say “I have a real problem. I need a real solution.” Now that was extremely difficult to come to terms with, and truth be told, I don’t have a very strong support system. Most people don’t. That’s why it’s important to realize these things and not worry about what other people will say, as long as you take care of yourself. Which brings me to my next point.

4. I wasn’t supported in my journey. This is what I’ve been stuck on this whole time. I was waiting for the “green light” from my family and it never came. It’s one of those things where you have to realize that no one else can do it for you and you can’t expect everyone to think it’s a good idea because what you may want in life is something that other people may not want for their lives. It’s up to the individual to decide if something is worth doing. Do you think flipping burgers is a good career choice? No? The guy who started McDonald’s did, and look how that turned out! You see what I did there? You doubted the outcome because that’s not what you would have seen yourself doing. Yet someone did do that at some point and made it a huge deal. Not to say that you are going to be the next international brand.. but it is a possibility, isn’t it?

In conclusion, you should look at what you have before you. It’s your life. Do you really want to just do something simply because it’s safe, the norm, or what’s “expected” of you? This is the very basis of “the sky is the limit” or “make your dreams a reality.” You just have to do what makes you happy. Even if that isn’t your main thing. Just do what you WANT to do. Sing your heart out! Dance your ass off! Paint, draw, and create what your heart desires! Life is way too short to live it for the satisfaction of other people. Every second of your life is yours. Make it count.