Learning

Today I went to New York for a voice lesson and on the way there and on the way back, I read a book called The “Official” Grad Book. It is a book that I found on my bookshelf that my parents gave me when I graduated college in May of 2009. I had forgotten about it and although it has been over a year since I graduated, it had a lot of great advice and wisdom in it that rang true for today.

Here are some of the quotes that really resonated with me:

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” –E.E. Cummings

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, “I used everything You gave me.” –Erma Bombeck

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” –Judy Garland

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”-Herman Melville

“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they can’t find them, make them.” –George Bernard Shaw

There were many others in the book too and it really inspired me on the train. All of a sudden when I looked up, this girl asked if she could sit with me. We started chatting and it turns out she was a model and going to do some modeling in NY. We talked about our hopes and dreams and it was really cool to hear about her world, as she was the same age as me. I love that. I love learning about people and learning their paths. It was so cool to see someone else following their dream. I hope that the majority of people in the world don’t lose site of their dreams or at least find a way to include a part of their dream into their life.