The Last Word

By Reuben Wairau | Posted: Tuesday October 23, 2018

What am I willing to do to make myself better? A question I have asked myself almost every day.

This all began when I was slumped up in bed at home near Christchurch on 1st April 2018, I was feeling sorry for myself. I get extremely homesick when not at home and was contemplating leaving Otago Boys’ because in my mind I didn’t believe I would make the footy team I had wanted to since the age of 10. One man changed this for me, and many of you will know who he is. John Wick and no I do not mean 'Fortnite Skin' but John Wick from the movie. What I saw was a man that was incredibly driven to achieve whatever goal he set, even if it was attacking a whole gang and group of assassins because they stole his car and murdered his puppy. In a way, I was motivated to emulate what he was doing in order to make myself better, even if what he was doing was extreme.

This took me to finding ways to push myself to be better. This all began with my habits. The first thing I began with was showing up early to important things such as training and school. I learnt that if you come early you are able to prepare yourself for what's to come, flick the switch, getting myself into the right mindset for the task at hand. The second one partly because I live with Twaitsy.

Getting to school early with Mr Twaites helped me realise how key both time wasting and preparation is. I say this because at the start of the year I would come to school and sit on my phone watching Ali A taking Ws for an hour. This all changed when I felt as though I had to further prepare for the weekly beatings I would endure each and every Saturday, and thought the hour I spent watching Muselk would be perfect. To prepare for this, I would spend an extra hour working out on top of my sport class. This can also apply to doing internals that you need to catch up on but finding a time in which you would usually be procrastinating is key.

These three examples, as well as many more habit changes helped me to get back to the path "less travelled" in order to "rage" and become "the captain of my own ship", "the master of my soul". It is something that I believe optimizes my time at this great school. These quotes are parts of the poems given to senior students by the Rector every year for us to reflect on. I believe the key is being focused on doing your best, and accomplishing whatever you attempt. You become better when you have this mindset.

With the culmination of all these things, I was finally able to find a way to help myself be better, which led to the results I wanted. Finally, I would like to leave you boys with a quote which I have used a lot this year from Ray Lewis, an NFL hall of famer “When a warrior is challenged, a warrior responds.” 

Cheers boys.