Graduating

My son, Ryan, will be graduating from High School this week.  It reminds me of a message I sent out a few years ago about moving to the next level.  You know how sometimes you are rolling along with life, feeling that you are getting your stride and figuring some things out when WHAM!  Something throws you for a loop, or you find yourself slipping back into some modes that you thought you were past.  I've talked with so many people who get discouraged when they see themselves struggling.  This is a common human experience – and it does NOT mean that you are failing.  It may mean that you are moving to a higher level.

Think about it like a video game.  In these games that my kids like so well, you always start out at the first level.  It can be a little challenging, but as you learn the game you get better at it.  When you master the first level, you move on to the next.  Suddenly, the game is more challenging.  You struggle a bit to succeed, which eventually happens and you move on to yet the next level where the game is again “kicking your trash” as my kids put it.  As you struggle with each level, your skill and confidence increases.  It is not that the game gets easier, but that your mastery of it increases.  Stop every once in a while to see the ground you've already covered in your life and learning.

Congratulations to Ryan, and all of those other graduates out there – best wishes on your next level!