Dear Daughter on your Graduation Day,
When you were born I wanted nothing more that to be able to protect you from everything painful in the world, as most parents do. I wanted to keep you safe and sound, protected by the bubble of my love. But as time goes by and the story of our lives continue to unfold you and I both know that this is an IMPOSSIBLE feat.
And as this day has been approaching I have been thinking about all of the important things I would want to share with you on this monumental day. There are so many different topics that I could cover – love, relationships, work, education and the list goes on. There are so many lessons about so many different things however there is one important message that I believe could serve as a guiding post for you for all of your life.
So dear daughter on this day I wanted to share with you that my biggest hope for you throughout your life is that you always remember, even when the hard times come (and they will) to be grateful for the life you have. As Rumi says,
“Live life as if everything is rigged in your favour”.
There will be things that happen to us that bring us joy and others that may cause pain. Life IS painful and happy and hard and we will encounter all of it as we make our way through. Without the feeling of pain we would not understand joy – it is a strange but true thing.
My hope for you is that you approach life’s challenges as if they are something happening FOR you, not to you. It has been said that the biggest problem many people have is that they think they shouldn’t have them. When challenges arise, don’t play the victim. Don’t waste energy focusing on the problem, instead look for the solution. With every obstacle, every mistake and every painful experience there also comes an opportunity to grow – you just have to make the choice to see it that way.
So dear daughter, this message is short, but so important. There are things that will happen in the story of our lives that we welcome, and others that we don’t. We cannot always control the things that come our way, but we can always choose how we respond to them.
And so as you continue on in your journey, my hope for is that you always remember to be grateful, for EVERY – SiNGLE – DAY, even the hard ones. Find the joy and happiness all around you because if you look hard enough it is there.
Love,
Mom