Seniors! You’re graduating! Congratulations!

Here at BYS we get extra excited this time of year because we get to watch teens have a big opportunity to celebrate who they are. We hold lots of hopes for the youth of this community, so now that the next step of your life journey is in front of you, here are some things we wish for you.

We hope you’re kind to yourself. There is nothing more important than this! If you are kind to yourself then you will be happier, calmer, more gracious with others and pure loveliness to be around. This happens to require that your internal narrative is full of compassion too, not full of negative and critical self-talk. Try to find at least one nice thing to do for yourself every day and relish it. Whether it’s creating some extra time to work out, listening to new music, walking on the beach or just enjoying a favorite food or a nice moment with a friend. Allow yourself to luxuriate in the experience and really be in the sweet moment you created for yourself.

We hope you trust your own thinking. You don’t have to make the perfect or “right” decision every time, you just have to attune to yourself and make a good decision for you. Trust your gut. You’re smart! You’re capable! You’re worth being the most important person in your life. The thing that’s truly best for you is also best for the universe, we promise. If you let this be your guide, you will hold wonderful boundaries, have stellar self-care and create authentic and genuine relationships.

We hope you accept yourself where you’re at. We’re all works in progress and you know what? We don’t do ourselves any good or any justice by only focusing on what we want to become and being hard on ourselves for not having arrived there yet. Let yourself celebrate who you are, be grateful for how far you’ve come (even when the path is not linear and ascending) and accept yourself where you are while you’re there. When we can do that, those moments are the sparkling ones.

We hope you remember you’re resilient. Think of the times things didn’t work out the way you planned (if you are in fact a human and not a wizard, there should be plenty of examples to choose from). You were OK, right? You’re still here, aren’t you? You might have had all sorts of feelings about it and that’s OK. In fact, it’s your right to have feelings about stuff. It may have even totally sucked, but the point is that you survived, probably grew and are here to tell the story. Trust that that process will continue to happen again and again and it’s what keeps life interesting. Your life is your story and we all love a story with a twist.

We hope you stay playful. A sense of lightness and humor is the best tool you have in the toolbox. When we take ourselves too seriously, it sucks the joy out of everything. Laughter helps us deal with disappointment, which in turn helps us take more risks, and you got it, makes us more resilient. Some of your best memories will be of times gone horribly wrong and having been able to laugh about it. When we can do that, we release the shame and embarrassment we often feel about “failing.” So do it, and do it a lot!

We are not only proud of what you have accomplished, we are proud of who you are. Good luck on your path with all of the moments — those anticipated, unforeseen and wondrous moments. Remember, the world is lucky to have you!