Sandra Bullock Advises Graduates Not to Worry Or Pick Their Noses
"Nothing is a failure. It's just not supposed to work out that way," she said.
May 19, 2014 -- Sandra Bullock has been a longtime supporter of the Warren Easton charter school in New Orleans, and naturally, she wanted to be a part of their commencement celebration, too.
So, the Oscar-winning actresses surprised students with a special address.
In the speech, the actress, 49, reflected on her own life and gave advice to the graduates, culminating with her hope that the nearly 200 graduating seniors would go out into the world and "find their joy."
Read the complete address below, provided by the local CBS affiliate and People magazine.
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"I was trying to remember my graduation and, oddly, I couldn't remember anything. I remembered how good I looked and then I went back and looked at pictures and I really didn't look so good. ... I didn't remember anything because I was so worried about the future, I wasn't present, which made me think about a question someone asked me just recently. And that question was, 'If you could go back and talk to your younger self, what would you say?'
And I thought, 'Wow, that's kinda heavy,' and then I realized what I wished someone had said to me was what I've been spending the last four years telling a little boy who I love more than anything, who happens to be my son, and who's from New Orleans, and so I thought maybe I would share that with you guys. That what I tell a four-year-old is what I wish someone would've told me before I stepped out in the world and the first thing is, stop worrying so much, OK? Stop being scared of the unknown, because anything I worried about didn't happen. Other stuff happened, but not what I worried about. The unknown we can't do anything about, and I don't remember any of the moments in my life where I worried. So that's a lot of time I couldn't get back.
The second thing was, raise the bar higher. OK? It is noisy out there and for some reason, people want to see you fail. But that's not your problem. That is their problem. I only remember the moments where I tried beyond what I thought I could do and I do not remember the failures because I didn't. Nothing is a failure. It's just not supposed to work out that way because something better is supposed to come along.
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And if someone doesn't want to play with you, it's OK. It's OK. You know, not everyone's going to love us. Go find somebody who does want to play with you and who appreciates what you have to offer. And last but not least is, go find your joy. Whatever that is, go find your joy. Are you going to have a good day or are you going to have a great day, because it's completely up to you. It's what you're going to remember in the end. You're not going to remember how you worried. You're not going to remember the what ifs or the whys or who wronged you. It's the joy that stays with you, and I want to thank you guys for the amazing joy that Warren Easton brings me every day. You make me walk out into the world with pride and I want you to go find it and I want you to go save the world while you're at it, and I thank you so much. Congratulations, class of 2014. You make me so proud."
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