The Last Word

By Bradley Escueta | Posted: Tuesday September 10, 2024

I rewrote a lot of this speech last night after binge watching my Instagram reels the entire weekend.

At first I was thinking of speed running a generic Last Word, maybe even let ChatGPT cook it up for me, but then I procrastinated, started scrolling through reels, and man did it hit me. The idea of “The Legacy of Me and the Boys.”

Ronnie Coleman once said “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy a** weights.” In other words, discipline. The stuff that happens behind the scenes. The work you have to put in to get the results you want. But he also said “It is important to have people believe in you. With this support, what you can achieve is limitless.”

Goats don’t live alone; they live in herds.

I’m not going to tell you why you have to be the greatest though. But instead, how surrounding yourself with the right people can make you just that little bit better than you were yesterday.

Boys, in life there are roadblocks, however, there is always a detour to your destination. One way that helped me the most is having a person to fall back on when things start to look dangerous.

Something I struggle a lot with is self doubt, being scared of failing but even small actions such as your boys hyping you up in the gym as you fight for that final rep on that bench PR, gives me that extra drive.

Mid-sized actions such as spamming the same joke every second to keep our spirits high when we’re staying up past midnight, finishing that missing internal and hopefully handing it in before the teacher notices.

Or larger actions such as jumping on board together, not knowing what to expect when me and the boys decided to join Choir in Year 10. This was a moment that forever changed my life and an opportunity I would have missed out on had I not had the confidence that the boys helped me unlock, even when those first rehearsals were super nerve wracking.

It’s the do or don’t moments like these which take us to the next steps, big or small, good or bad, towards the thousand-mile journey known as life each of us embark on.

So, look at the people you surround yourself with. Are they real ones? Ready to take you to the top even when you're at your lowest and they're with you behind the scenes rather than just their highlight reels?

If they are, then make sure to cherish your time with them. Wish them a Happy Birthday on their birthday (Happy Birthday Lachie). Have a hangout at the beach, maybe plan a far future trip to Tonga. You’ll know you're with the right people when even any mundane talk can be turned legendary, still cracking at the same jokes years down the line.

So after watching all those Instagram reels, I realised I need to stop scrolling through life and start living new memories before the year ends. I also have so many quotes from the reels about “Me and the Boys” I could give, but instead I’ll finish with one that has always stuck with me for the past five years, from my favourite athlete and the goat in the marathon, Eliud Kipchoge.

“100% of me is nothing compared to 1% of the whole team.”