Potomac School proved to be my first big adjustment - one that

There are truths that reveal themselves not in moments of triumph, but in the quiet struggles of adaptation — the unseen shaping of the soul. Katharine Graham, one of the most influential women in American journalism, once reflected: “Potomac School proved to be my first big adjustment — one that helped me with a basic lesson of growing up: learning to get along in whatever world one is deposited.” Beneath these simple words lies the ancient wisdom of resilience — the art of adapting, of belonging, and of finding balance between one’s inner self and the ever-changing circumstances of life. It is a lesson not only of childhood, but of the human journey itself.

The meaning of Graham’s reflection is both tender and profound. She speaks of the first great awakening of maturity — that moment when one realizes that life will not always mold itself to personal comfort. To “learn to get along in whatever world one is deposited” is to embrace the truth that we are born into circumstances not of our choosing, yet called to thrive within them. It is to learn that adaptability is not surrender, but strength; not compromise of self, but cultivation of wisdom. Every new environment — whether a school, a workplace, or a society — is a test of character, teaching us how to move with grace amid the unfamiliar.

The origin of this quote reaches back to Graham’s early life, long before she became the formidable publisher of The Washington Post. As a young girl, she entered the Potomac School, an environment unlike the one she had known. The transition was difficult; she was shy, uncertain, and surrounded by others whose confidence seemed effortless. Yet in time, she learned to navigate that new world — not by changing who she was, but by opening herself to connection, by listening, observing, and slowly finding her place. That first lesson in adaptation became the foundation of her later strength — the ability to lead through crisis, to stand amid conflict, and to build bridges in a world divided by ego and power.

Her words echo the timeless counsel of the ancients. The philosopher Epictetus taught that “we cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.” This is the essence of Graham’s insight — that life will deposit us, without warning, into new worlds: some filled with kindness, others with challenge. Our task is not to curse the place of arrival, but to learn its rhythms, to live with understanding rather than resistance. The wise traveler of life carries not comfort, but adaptability — a spirit flexible enough to root itself wherever fate plants it.

Consider, too, the life of Nelson Mandela, who spent twenty-seven years imprisoned in a small cell on Robben Island. He was, in Graham’s words, “deposited” into a world meant to break him. Yet he learned to live within it with dignity — studying his captors, building quiet alliances, and transforming isolation into strength. When he emerged, he did not carry bitterness but wisdom. Like Graham, he learned the universal lesson: that peace and progress begin not when we change the world to suit us, but when we learn to live skillfully within it, until our presence itself begins to change it.

Graham’s reflection also speaks to the modern spirit, which so often confuses authenticity with inflexibility. Many believe that to adapt is to lose oneself. Yet true adaptability is not the abandonment of principle — it is the flowering of understanding. The oak that refuses to bend is broken by the storm; the reed that sways survives and rises again. To “get along in whatever world one is deposited” is to meet difference not with fear, but with curiosity; to find common humanity even in the unfamiliar. In such flexibility lies the strength that endures change and transforms adversity into wisdom.

Let this be the lesson passed down: the art of living is the art of adjustment. The world will not always fit the shape of your desires, but you may always shape yourself to meet its reality without losing your soul. When you find yourself in a new place — strange, uncomfortable, uncertain — do not retreat. Observe, listen, learn. Grow roots where you are planted, even if the soil seems foreign. For every world, no matter how harsh, holds its own lessons and its own beauty. As Katharine Graham discovered in her youth, the secret to growing up — and growing wise — is not to seek a perfect world, but to learn how to live well in the one you are given.