Three Lessons Learned from JK Rowling

July 31, 2019—Along with each episode of our bi-weekly podcast, we will be writing a supplemental article that goes into more detail regarding one of the topics that we discussed. This week, as a follow-up to our tribute to the lady who created it all, we’re going to be taking a more in-depth look at JK Rowling’s 2008 Harvard Commencement speech.

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“You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.” (JK Rowling, 2008)

As mentioned in our first episode, I came across a transcript of JK Rowling’s (JKR) 2008 Harvard Commencement speech while researching her life. Now, this was something I’d listened to before as a recording, but something about seeing it actually written down in its entirety made it resonate with me on a deeper level. You can read the full text here, but below are three life lessons that I learned from this speech:

It is impossible to live without failure

In this speech, JKR said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”

Failure… failure is one of those things that no one really WANTS to talk about but that happens to everyone in some way, shape, or form. Much like Hermione, whose biggest fears towards the beginning of the series are failure and disappointing the people she respects, I’m one of those people who will remember “failures” far more than successes and who can very easily slip down the rabbit hole of berating myself for events that … let’s just say … didn’t go as planned. (Can anyone else relate?)

But failure is an essential part of life, for, in my (and JKR’s) opinion, we learn more about ourselves through these periods of our lives. “So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized . . .” (JK Rowling, 2008)

I know in my own life that there have been times of both success and failure, but I do have to agree that I learned much more about myself through those failures. It can be very hard to see the benefit when you are in the middle of a trial, but using this time as a growth opportunity instead of wallowing in self-pity will cause you to better position yourself for success when the time comes. 

Life is not a check-list of achievement, so stop comparing yourself to others

Have you ever compared your life to that of another and found it to be, in your opinion, lacking? I know I have! It’s something that is especially easy to do in the current digital age, where we have a “glass window” of sorts into other people’s lives (or at least what they want us to see of their lives). While comparisons are easy to make, “Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it.” (JK Rowling, 2008) 

It can sometimes be hard to remember, but JKR summed it up nicely when she said,“Personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. . . . Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.” Your life isn’t meant to look the exact same as someone else’s! We are all unique, with different physical features, life experiences, struggles, and victories, so why should we expect our lives to all follow the same measurements of success? This is something that is hard for me to remember at times, but I will challenge you all, as I challenge myself, to keep this quote in mind the next time we get caught up in the comparison game!

You are touching someone’s life already, simply by existing

JKR’s discussion in this speech on the importance of imagination is something that I could spend a long time discussing, but for the sake of this post I will limit myself. I think that the sentences that most resonated with me were, “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.” (JK Rowling, 2008) 

We, as the human race, have so much potential to change the world for the better. As a species, we are the only ones capable of combining intelligent thoughts and emotions to reach logical decisions and form connections. This in and of itself is completely remarkable, but so often now it is easy to feel alone – even if we have the capability to be more connected than ever before. 

I think that’s something that has attracted people to become fans of the Harry Potter books- we can all identify with at least one character, and it’s easy to feel welcomed by the Wizarding World due to the writing of JKR. But we can’t let that make us forget the real world! Simply by existing you are touching someone else’s life. Is it a good connection? That’s a simultaneously terrifying and comforting thought – let’s all strive to make those connections the most positive they can be. 

Thanks all for reading this very long post! Be sure to check out the tribute to JKR in our first podcast episode if you haven’t done so already, and remember, “We do not need magic to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” (JK Rowling, 2008)

Written by Victoria, Co-Host of Dwelling on Dreams