Welcome to our very first guest blogger, Margaret Hancock. Margaret is my goddaughter and I knew we were kindred souls when I asked her when she was about three years old what she wanted to be when she grew up and she replied, “A Superstar!” Nothing specific as to how she was gonna achieve Superstar Status of course. Just that she was going to be one. And she is. Margaret is on the cusp of the leap from college life into the real world. It’s a little scary, let’s admit it, but it’s also uber exciting! The world is open to her and she’s ready to grab it – (so if anyone out there reading this wants to offer this advertising graduate / social media superstar a J.O.B. leave a comment and she’ll get you her ridiculously stuffed resume:)! Below please read Margaret’s dream commencement speech to her fellow graduates and embrace the UNCOMFORTABLE!!!
Be comfortable with being uncomfortable
This past semester has been filled with the ever-so-exciting questions such as, what’s next for you? Where are you going from here? Do you have a job yet? And for some of the semester, for the anxious planner like myself, my responses seemed more vague than reassuring. Because when people tell you these will be the best years of your life and to enjoy these last few months while you can, while at the same time encouraging those expected next steps, whatever those may be- it is easy to feel a bit overwhelmed by these mixed signals. But if there is any single piece of advice that I have received over these past few months it is this: be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
What is uncomfortable? Failing a test is uncomfortable. Falling down the stairs in a crowded lecture hall is uncomfortable. Disappointing a loved is uncomfortable. Rejection is uncomfortable. The roller coaster of emotions we have had being UGA football fans over the last few years can be uncomfortable. But sometimes this discomfort is just what we need. Not just knowing, but actually experiencing the failing and falling and rejection allows us to fully understand what excelling feels like. How momentous it truly feels to get back up, and move forward. For it is only through knowing bad that you can know good. Only because life is on a spectrum-it is an abundance of experiences that paint a truly exquisite masterpiece.
Where we are right now- at this point in our lives- can be uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable to not have an answer or next step. This discomfort can often produce a sense of fear and limit our actions. But as former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”
This discomfort could be looked at as a gift. For it is in those moments of uneasiness – of tension and restlessness – when creativity flows and culture changes. It is truly how we approach these situations that will allow us to hinder or enable our ability to flourish and our opportunity for growth in many areas.
Experience is what we came here for- what we are looking forward to in the next phase of our lives. And out of experience we are able to create ourselves.
Most of us will spend the bulk of our adult lives searching for the “right” options- the right job, the right house, the right person- but ultimately what ever choice we make, which ever option we chose, will be the right one for us at that specific moment in time. Because these options and these choices are but simply a process- a small part of each of our individual stories. Yet if you do not know this, you will see it as a constant struggle. Avoid the anxiety and worry that comes along with uncertainty and not feeling like you have control over a situation. In a program called Dawg Camp, that I have been involved with during my time here at UGA, we have a piece of advice for first-year students who are distraught over major changes, and who are ready to throw in the towel at the first rejection or adversity they face in college. We tell students to simply Trust the Process. Trust that you are not the first one to feel what you are feeling. Trust that you are not alone, and that this occurrence is simply a small happenstance in a series of fortunate events to come. It is truly a building block that will give you an upper hand later on down the road.
This graduating class will face many uncomfortable choices in our lifetime. Even now in a world of uncertainty where the culture of politics, science, and international issues is rapidly evolving, we will have the opportunity to make choices that will affect future generations and ourselves. I’m afraid that it won’t be as simple to take my grandmother’s age-old advice to simply “stick to subjects of your health and the weather in conversations.” Because even those conversations now are uncomfortable- and will continue to be as we get older. But those conversations around strained topics are how we learn and how we grow. I would be lying if I said the conversations I have had in college, which stemmed from primal polarity to my own beliefs, were not the most enlightening and transformational exchanges that have helped shape who I am today.
So do not ever stop having those conversations. Don’t stop asking questions and challenging what you know, what you think you know, or don’t know. Use these uncomfortable occurrences and situations that you didn’t ask for- to produce a favorable outcome. Learn to greet each incident or unexpected situation as a small part of a larger montage.
Author Marianne Williamson said, “Your playing small does not serve the world.”
So today, as we walk away from this institute with degree in hand ready to walk under the Arch, I encourage you to walk with a sense of honor and pride, purpose, and humility. Because this is a beautiful time in our lives when the possibilities are endless. We seem to always be waiting for life to just plop something wonderful in our laps, but if you take time to simply accept what comes and stop thinking about what could or couldn’t be, you will realize that the beauty of life is everywhere we look. For there is always something to be created, something to believe in, someone to care for, and somewhere to explore. So go forth with passion in whatever it is you do. And when you start to feel a little uncomfortable, play it BIG.
–LeeAnn, proud Godmother of a Superstar!