The Last Word

By Taitelea Tasi-Cordtz | Posted: Monday July 17, 2023

Opportunities.

Every day we face thousands of opportunities, some bigger than others. Opportunities are what connect us to success, the stepping stones to our future. But sometimes, they can be daunting and scary. Opportunities are always there, and how we react to them can have a massive impact on our lives.

Some say to embrace every opportunity you get, but for me, I say to choose the opportunities you take smartly. Opportunities are great but sometimes they can lead to burning out, if we try to take too many. Choose the ones that you want to take, and even take a few that you are unsure of because you never know what the outcome will be. Sometimes the opportunities that we are unsure of can lead to the best outcomes. The thought of the unknown can be scary, but in life we need to be prepared to take our chances, to give things a go.

‘‘Hand up, not out’’ is drilled into us as soon as we walk through the archway, helping others rather than worrying about ourselves. We can take a different perspective on this saying like Tony told us the other week. This saying can be looked at as to give things a go, therefore not having any regrets when we leave the archway or even later on in life. Look back on your time here at school and ask yourself did I give things a go, did I embrace the opportunities?

I recently had an opportunity to attend the Pacific On-Campus Experience. This involved staying at a university hall and seeing what it would be like as a student. Before this, I really had no idea what direction I wanted to head, but I took the chance and am grateful that I did. Because of this, I have more of a plan for my future. If I hadn’t applied for this experience, I would still be left wondering.

Now don’t get me wrong, in life we don’t all have equal opportunity, but we do all have the opportunity to be better than we currently are. So ask yourself, am I better than I was yesterday? If the answer is yes - then great. If the answer is no, then this is your opportunity to do better, be better and take action on those things in front of you.

In true Otago Boys' fashion, I will end with a quote. “Take a chance because you never know how perfect something can turn out.” J Cole.