Life can be heavy, especially if you try to carry it all at once. Part of growing up and moving into new chapters of your life is about catch and release. What I mean by that is, knowing what things to keep, and what things to release.
You can’t carry all things, all grudges, all updates on your ex, all enviable promotions your school bully got at the hedge fund his uncle started. Decide what is yours to hold and let the rest go. Oftentimes the good things in your life are lighter anyway, so there’s more room for them. One toxic relationship can outweigh so many wonderful, simple joys.
Not a single one of us here today has done it alone. We are each a patchwork quilt of those who have loved us, those who have believed in our futures, those who showed us empathy and kindness or told us the truth even when it wasn’t easy to hear. Those who told us we could do it when there was absolutely no proof of that.
Someone read stories to you and taught you to dream and offered up some moral code of right and wrong for you to try and live by. Someone tried their best to explain every concept in this insanely complex world to the child that was you, as you asked a bazillion questions like, ‘how does the moon work’ and ‘why can we eat salad but not grass.’
Someone tried their best to explain every concept in this insanely complex world to the child that was you, as you asked a bazillion questions like, ‘how does the moon work’ and ‘why can we eat salad but not grass.’ And maybe they didn’t do it perfectly. No one ever can.
And maybe they didn’t do it perfectly. No one ever can.
Maybe they aren’t with us anymore, and in that case I hope you’ll remember them today. If they are here in this stadium, I hope you’ll find your own way to express your gratitude for all the steps and missteps that have led us to this common destination.
成長和進到人生新篇章的一部份是關於收和放。我說的意思是，要知道什麼東西該留，什麼該放手。
你不能背負著所有的東西—所有的怨懟、前任的更新消息、校霸在他叔叔創辦的公司中得到令人羨慕的升遷等。選擇自己想要的緊握，讓其餘的放水流。
通常在人生中的美好事物都是更輕盈的，因此能騰出更多空間來塞滿歡愉。
只要一段惡毒的關係就會壓過許多美妙、簡單的快樂，你必須選擇將人生的時間和空間分配給哪方。
明察辨析。
—泰勒絲，於紐約大學演講
言葉
有些人會念故事給你聽，並且教你去做夢、告訴你是非對錯而有所依循；有些人盡己所能向孩童的你去解釋這個瘋狂且複雜的世界中每個概念，當你提出成千上億問題，如「月亮是怎麼工作」與「為什麼我們會吃沙拉但不吃牧草」等，或許他們做的並不完美，但也沒人能夠。
也許他們已經不在我們身邊，如果這樣，我希望你們今天能記起他們；如果他們今天也在此處，那我希望你們找到自己的方式來表達感激，感謝牽著我們一路跌跌撞撞卻還是走到了這裡。
Maybe they aren’t with us anymore, and in that case I hope you’ll remember them today. If they are here in this stadium, I hope you’ll find your own way to express your gratitude for all the steps and missteps that have led us to this common destination.
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