For the class of 2014, the final finals week is upon us.

It’s that time of the year when college students should be studying their hearts out, but instead are finding ways to procrastinate.

One of the ways I find myself not doing any preparation for finals week is by watching commencement speeches from different college graduations. This year, this distracting activity has a little more meaning due to the fact I will soon be listening to a commencement speech for my own graduation.

The point of a commencement speech is to offer advice, wisdom and guidance to a graduating class. There is always a lesson to be learned.

A commencement speech I found particularly relatable was John Green’s speech at Butler University’s 2013 graduation. Green is an author of young adult novels such as “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Looking for Alaska.”  I was interested in John Green’s speech because he seeks to answer the question of what constitutes a good life and success.

It is reasonable to think that the point of human life is to be as successful as possible. This success can be achieved, as Green says, with “lots of fame or glory or money as defined by quantifiable metrics: Number of twitter followers, or Facebook friends, or dollars in one’s 401k.” My ideas of success follow a similar trajectory, but after the hearing the speech, I think my definition of success is wrong.

In his speech, Green talked about the hero’s journey — a pattern of a narrative where, essentially, a person goes from having nothing to having everything. 

However, John Green argues that the true hero’s journey is not from weakness to strength, but rather strength to weakness.

By strength, I don’t think he means literal strength, but he means that we are going to make the transition from being the best informed and best engaged at the university level to maybe serving coffee for a boss we loath while working in a job we hate — if we’re so lucky to even find a job. That is the graduate’s journey from strength to weakness.

He makes the journey sound difficult, and I can totally see why. The idea of going from strength to weakness seems disheartening and challenging. Not only that, but the job market is still on the rocks.

But upon graduating from this university, we will be able to take this strength that we’ve gained here and carry it onward when we face harder times.

If we never had to suffer pain or obstacles during our journey — in other words, if we never had to experience moments of weakness — then we would never learn the lessons we need to achieve success. 

And through this journey from strength to weakness, we are able to learn how to be more empathetic towards others. 

All individuals have a different story, and it is our challenge not only to see others through our own consciousness, but to see the world through the eyes of others as well, which will round us out as people.

There is a quote I heard recently from Arianna Huffington, creator of the Huffington Post, that I think appropriately applies to this idea of the real hero’s journey:

“Have you noticed that when we die, our eulogies celebrate our lives very differently from the way society defines success?” 

Ultimately this quote lends itself to the fact that we should strive to have success not in the monetary sense or through fame, but have success through our experiences, which includes the people around us and the people we have yet to meet.

The world is a strange, complex and beautiful place. The journey will allow us to make sense of the world, and truly see the beauty for what it is.

As I return to my preparations for my final finals week, I will remember the words of John Green and use them as a reminder that the journey will be a humbling experience. Whatever path I end up taking after college, I will remember that true success can be found from the journey from strength to weakness.

Thaddeus is a senior in LAS. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Thaddingham.