Posted on: 20 August, 2025

I never thought my graduation speech, something that started as a simple journal entry in my bedroom, would end up on a classroom screen in the Netherlands… or spark dinner-table conversations in another country. But that’s the thing about sharing your words: you never know just how far they’ll go.

Back in 2023, a teacher from the Netherlands messaged me on social media, telling me how much she loved the speech and asking if she could share it with her students. She also asked if I could send a personalized note to her class. So, I drafted a few words of encouragement for them to kick off the new school year.

About two weeks later, she sent me a picture of my video up on the big screen in her classroom. She’d even created a reflection activity around it, and shared that it had gone over really well with her students.

Since then, I’ve received an email from her every semester. Just this past May, she included that their school had hosted exchange students from Norway, meaning (in her words) that my speech had “reached a new country.” She also shared that the reflection activity had sparked phone calls from parents who wanted to tell her about the meaningful dinner-table conversations it inspired, along with messages from students about how much it resonated with them.

It’s moments like this that make the world feel so big… and yet so small.

When I first wrote that speech, it was just me, sitting in my bedroom, jotting down thoughts in a notebook. I never imagined those words would travel to a Dutch classroom and find their way into family conversations halfway across the world.

So, by sharing this little story, I want to leave you with a simple reminder: you never truly know how far your words will travel. Even when it feels like your voice might get lost in the noise, if you share from a place of genuine care and a desire to make a meaningful contribution, your words just might inspire people you’ll never even meet.