What would you say?

When the class of 2014 graduated from Warren Easton Charter High School a few weeks ago in New Orleans, Sandra Bullock gave the commencement speech. Sandra has been deeply involved in the church after saving it following Hurricane Katrina. After reading her words, I felt moved to share them this morning...

Bullock opened her speech by saying that was trying to remember her graduation and, oddly, she couldn't remember anything. She remembered how good she looked and then she went back and looked at pictures and she really didn't look so good. She didn't remember anything, because she was so worried about the future. Someone recently asked her, "If you could go back and talk to your younger self, what would you say?" 

"What I would tell my 4-year-old son is what I wish someone would have told me before I stepped out in the world."

She then shared a few key lessons with the graduating class.

1. Stop worrying so much. Stop being scared of the unknown because anything I worried about didn't happen. Other stuff happened but not what I worried about. The unknown we can't do anything about.

2. Raise the bar higher. For some reason, people out there want to see you fail but that's not your problem — that's their problem. I only remember the moments when I tried beyond what I thought I could do, and I do not remember the failures because I didn't. Nothing is a failure. It's just not supposed to work out that way because something better is supposed to come along.

3. You have to dance a little bit in the morning before you leave the house because it changes the way you walk.

4. Eat something green every day, with every meal. Eating green things is good... even for adults.

5. Do not pick your nose in public. How about we don't pick it in private either. It might take a bit more effort to get a tissue, but it gets the job done right away and there is no public humiliation and that can go with a lot of other things as well.

6. When someone you care about hugs you, hug them back with two arms. When you hug someone with two arms, it allows you to lean on somebody and you always need someone to lean on.

7. If someone doesn't want to play with you, it's OK. Not everyone is going to love us. Go find someone who is going to want to play with you and appreciates what you have to offer.

8. Go find your joy. Whatever that is, go find your joy. Are you going to have a good day or are you going to have a great day? Because it's completely up to you. It's what you're going to remember in the end. You're not going to remember how you worried, the what-ifs, the whys, or who wronged you. It's the joy that stays with you.