About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. My doctor advised me to go home and
get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for 'PREPARE TO DIE'. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy. It turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you: Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma-which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called 'THE WHOLE EARTH CATALOGUE'. In the final issue, on the back cover they put a photograph of an early morning country road. Beneath it were the word: STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH. It was their farewell message as they signed off. I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH.
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