Learning from the heart…
I think there are certain moments in life that are important to celebrate and this is the time of year when a lot of students are doing just that! They are saying farewell to their time in school and in my opinion, it’s a big deal!
Graduating from anything means we have accomplished something. It is a chance to take stock, to reflect on the time we have spent leading up to that moment. It marks the friendships and experiences that we have shared which cannot be fully quantified in grades, marks and paper. Some things learned are stored in the heart.
However, graduation is a time for some goodbyes. Education and learning have many endings but these can lead to new beginnings. For example, changes from preschool to primary and secondary school, college, apprenticeships and further education all point us towards seasons and cycles of growth and learning.
I have also learned through the years, that learning is not linear. Venturing into the unknown, growing and developing a sense of ourselves as human beings is a complex business. Education, which embraces the whole person, allows us the space to explore this. It may not be all plain sailing but somewhere in the midst of any failure there is also a lesson for me. I feel that when I strive to be content with myself and accepting of flaws and all, I am more likely to embrace the new challenges ahead.
Being open to learn and having a growth mindset really helps. I think nurturing our abilities and focusing on our strengths is so important. It can be easy to get distracted and sometimes when we focus on the achievements of others we can forget our own! I feel that we have something unique to give the world and that is our one true self. My spirit and soul needs time for this growth and no one else can do that learning but me!
I don’t know if we ever fully graduate. Learning for me is lifelong. It’s about embracing sparks of curiosity, developing self belief, learning from failure and finding the resilience and confidence to pursue what interests me and feels worthwhile. Jigsee is proof of that!
Moving on to other pastures and change can be daunting and yet it can also delight in possibility. I wish happiness and an abundance of blessings for every student. A chapter of your story may come to a close now but a brand new one awaits and you are the author.