It was a about year ago that I got a deal for YouTube Red that gave me 6 months of subscription for $1, so I decided to try it out. I had never been a big watcher of YouTube before because I believed it was like watching TV which I always considered a waste of time. BUT, I had recently (at the time) been told that Sheryl Sandberg’s graduation speech was really good and that I should go watch it. It was May/June and all the graduations were taking place and so the first thing I did was look up “best graduation speeches” and my life was changed forever.
Having written a graduation speeches for both my elementary school and college ceremonies (which I will share at the end), I had an idea of what made a good speech and what contributes to a horrible speech.
There’s something just amazing about graduation speeches because they literally are the world’s best knowledge summed up in like 10–15 minutes. The life experience and wisdom of a single person combined with hours of their own research putting it together is something of a sight to hear.
TED talks today are really almost a streamlined fancy version of a graduation speech, given by a leading expert in their field. However, there’s just something magical about a graduation speech because you have a captive (possibly drunk, non-attentive) group of accomplished students who are about to embark on the next chapter of their lives.
Graduation (otherwise known as Commencement) speeches are more about imparting life lessons and life journeys of a person rather than informing or demonstrating their latest research. They’re meant to be aspirational while TED talks are more inspirational.
They are about someone who has already walked the path providing insight, and possible steps to get there, but most of all, proof that it’s possible (and that everything will be OK!)
While the reports are still coming in from this past month’s round of commencements for 2017, there is still a very large database of existing ones to look back on! Though, if you’ve seen Will Ferrell’s USC speech, you won’t be disappointed. Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard speech is pretty good too along with Tim Cook’s for MIT. The irony being that Harvard gave Zuckerberg an honorary degree years after he dropped out…
Hello our fabulous ChewsJoysters 🙂
We just got back from a wonderful trip to New York aka The Big Apple 🙂 We saw some awesome shows, had some awesome food, and well…just basically had an awesome time exploring joy in New York City 🙂
Here are a couple things we learned:
-When a door closes, another one opens – trust me on this 🙂
-There’s nothing like breathing the same air, being in the same space as an actor or theatrical event that can immerse you from start to finish. Both Hamilton and Then She Fell were shows that really took us on amazing experiential journeys…journeys that cannot be done in any other way than through the medium of live theater.
-I often feel that you can judge an area based on the way the people living there treat their tourists and visitors. Though we did have the occasional cab driver who tried to take advantage of our wallets in NYC, we really did feel like the people of New York were very very nice! We couldn’t go anywhere without someone helping us out, pointing us in the right direction, and giving us helpful tips! So…never judge a group of people based on what you’ve heard about them – go and experience them for yourself and then make a decision 🙂 In our opinion, New Yorkers weren’t cold or mean or anything like that – they were super kind and loved to help out the wandering tourists!
-Elegance and Relevance are the keys to raising money 🙂
-Focusing on what really matters in the long run helps us to place our priorities on the experiences that will bring us the most joy 🙂
You can watch and explore our NYC lessons about joy more in depth by watching our video below:
We are writing our first post after our awesome Europe trip and all we can say is
OHMYGASHSOOAMAZINGAHHHHHH!!
Today’s post will focus on all the crazy amazing (yet nerdy) things we did in England!
Soooooo first we arrive at our hotel and grab a few cookies at the front desk (ahhh how I love you Doubletree hotels…)
To see more of our journey to England you can watch our video here:
The next day we awoke and hopped on a two hour train ride to Cardiff – why? Because of the Doctor Who Experience which happens to be closing quite soon, so as Whovians brought together in love by the power of Doctor Who, it was definitely something we did not want to miss…
If you want to watch us experience the Doctor Who Experience, you can watch this video here:
Basically in a nutshell:
OHMYGASHSOOAMAZINGDOCTORWHOAHHHHHH!!
Then after we nerded our brains out over Daleks and Doctors and every set and prop known to the show, we went forward with our next fandom: Harry Potter…
To preface this Harry Potter portion, I should mention why we even planned this trip in the first place. On February 14 2016 my dear husband Jonathan surprised me with my Valentine’s gift of tickets to Harry Potter and The Cursed child. So for a little over a year we’ve been geeking out and planning the ultimate Harry Potter experience in anticipation of seeing the show in London.
Re-reading the books (yet avoiding reading Cursed Child so we could be surprised at everything), rewatching the movies, and booking all tickets and tours was involved during this time. Aaaaand Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them also came out and we got to experience a new portion of the Potter universe.
All in all, we were just a “tad” excited to experience everything and anything Potter.
You can watch our journey here which includes the Harry Potter Studio Tour, a Muggle Tour, The House of Minalima, and of course, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child:
Now filming was strictly prohibited inside the theater so we don’t have any footage of the play but we can definitely say it took our breath away. The special effects and staging in particular were especially magical and left us wanting to sit in the theater for days on end.
And seeing our favorite trio all grown up?! Incredible! Ron, Hermione, and Harry all lived up to the life I would want them to have after book 7 closed. It was a truly magical experience for a Harry Potter fan and we will #keepthesecrets and say no more about the plot of the wonderful play.
So all in all, what did we learn about Joy on this particular portion of our trip to England?
-Find others who share your fandoms, your interests, and weird likes. Geeking out together is one of those sweet joys in life that can only come when we aren’t ashamed to say we love something and don’t care what others think of us because of it. When nerds are together, it just feels like we’re all cool.
-Joy is often found in the kindness of strangers. When you are traveling in a foreign country you are often at the mercy of the people who live there. Smiles, kind interactions, and positivity really made our day and helped us to navigate an unknown city so much better. It reminded me how much I need to remember kindness when foreigners are trying to navigate our home here in the States. Helpfulness begets joy and makes the world a better place to live in.
-JK Rowling = Joy. I wish I could personally thank her for expanding the Potter universe in such an amazing way. I know she could have easily stopped the stories of Harry and his world after she got her billions from writing the 7 Potter books, but I’m so glad she is catering to her fans in such immersive and expansive ways. From sites like Pottermore to putting the Wizarding World into a theme park, and of course everything we did in London – Rowling has made fans shed tears of gratitude and joy as we have watched the magical world become even MORE magical (if that’s even possible)
-Count your blessings and treat everyday as precious. Our Doubletree hotel happened to be located right next to Parliament and we walked passed it every day to get to the metro station. You can watch our #3MinuteJoy video here which shows us contemplating joy on our daily walk past Parliament:
Shortly after we left London for Paris, terrible acts of terror occurred at Parliament and several victims were killed and injured. We were shocked to learn this happened and our hearts went out immediately to all the families who had loved ones who suffered because of the attacks. If timing was just slightly different, those victims very well could have been myself and my family. People were there just like us: enjoying a dream vacation… or passing by on their way to the metro…some were just there doing their jobs… No one deserves to die or suffer because of one persons selfishness and hatred.
This all hits very close to home since we were so close in timing to being in London during this occurrence.
Now, Jonathan and I feel an even stronger desire to pursue, study, and and spread joy to the world. Where hate is so strong, joy and love can mend and melt the terrible away. If we’ve learned anything from Harry Potter it’s that,
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” ~ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
