Always Enough

I reflected on that phenomenon from quite a few stages over the years and since it’s graduation season, I thought I’d share what I told the graduating seniors at one school.

 

I said, “As the first and only person in my family to go to college, I definitely didn’t envision myself standing on a stage like this  giving a speech - especially since people constantly told me that no one would ever listen to me because I get too excited and talk too fast.

I’m sure that there are some of you in here tonight who can relate to that because you may have been told that you were “too much” or maybe you’ve felt like you were “not enough” or possibly you’ve heard (or told yourself) both things at different times, so let’s start there:

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨.

Those people were probably right - I do get too excited and talk too fast…for them, but they weren’t the ones who needed to hear what I had to say.

As I found the people who 𝙙𝙞𝙙 need to hear what I had to say, the whole game changed, and I want that for each of you.

𝘼𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚, 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩.

Trust that the most important people will understand - 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.

𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧.