OPINION
It’s hard to believe that on Sunday, some of the kids who I have watched grow up since they were in elementary school will walk the stage for Pilot Point and Aubrey.
Every year, the number of students I know well grows.
Every year, too, at this time, I like to share a bit of my experience with the graduating class.
My first piece of unsolicited advice is you get to choose whether you accept unsolicited advice, whether that’s about life in general, your choice of school or profession, or your personal life in the form of relationships or parenting.
One of the best sayings I stumbled upon in the last couple of years was roughly this: If you wouldn’t accept their advice, don’t take their criticism.
If I had learned that as a young adult and internalized it, that would have saved me a lot of stress over the years.
I would encourage you, graduates, to rely more on your own moral code and less on the opinions of others in guiding you along your path.
I also encourage you to be your own quirky self.
For years, I tried to twist myself up into who I thought I should be.
People responded to me much more when I learned to just be myself—loud laugh, soft heart, inquisitive nature and all. Another hard-learned lesson was it’s not too late to make a better choice for yourself. This has largely come from my personal life. Life has become much more beautiful and fulfilling when I stepped away from the people who were not for me, whether they were partners or friends, and found my right fit instead.
It’s human nature to worry that you have sunk too much into a relationship, a job or a place to make a change, but sometimes that is exactly what you have to do to thrive and grow.
You have the opportunity to learn so much about life and about yourself.
Life won’t be easy, even for the most fortunate among you.
But, it is worth the toil and turmoil that will come your way to grow into who you are able to be.
Congratulations on this milestone, Class of 2026.
May your life bring you more kindness than hostility, more joy than pain and more success than failure.
Abigail Bardwell is the Editor & Publisher of the Post-Signal, and she serves on both the North and East Texas Press Association and the Texas Press Association boards. She can be reached at abardwell@postsignal. com.
