New Chapter
So today was my graduation ceremony. I never really thought much about it. Even after all my finals were done and everything, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. Hell, I’d never even sent out invitations. All I was doing was sitting in a chair for God knows how long, standing up and walking across a stage, then sitting back down. I would even be up there for ten seconds. No big deal.
It wasn’t until I was entering the pavillion in my cap and gown that I realized what a huge step this was for me. I looked around at all the people that had come out to watch their loved oones become graduates. I realized with a shock that I was among the ones graduating. That somewhere out there was someone looking specifically for me, and that today marked the day that my completion of basic education would be over.
And it hit me hard. Nerves suddenly consumed me, and a part of me wanted to just go back in time to freshman year just for the safety and comfort of being in high school once more, under my mother’s care. Because after this I was my own man. I would make my own choices, and my choices would affect my life.
As the ceremony got under way, I listened to the names of all those who had graduated with honors. I felt a strong wave of jealousy, because many of these people were friends of mine that I’d known a year, two years, some all four years. And I also knew that if I’d tried, I could have been among them. This led to my second revelation: that I am wasting my potential. I’ve been told this many times, but before I’d always told mysef that I cared more about making my life enjoyable than satisfying the desires that others had for me. But I was lying to myself. All I was doing was avoiding my best simply because I was afraid of discovering my limits and coming to a point which I could no longer become greater; that I would reach the summit of my potential and find others who could easily go above and beyond me.
I no longer have that fear, simply because this has shown me that I can do truly amazing things if I really work for them. A week ago, I wasn’t certain if I was graduating. Now, I’m sitting here typing about my participation in the graduation of the class of 2011. If I can drag myself from the brink of failure to the pinnacle of success with just a slight amount of effort, imagine what I could do if I put everything I had into my own excellence.
