2014 What Matters? Competition
YEAR 5/6 RUNNER UP
Daniel Beattie, Lane Cove West Public School
Giving It a Go
I step up onto the cold concrete. I am extremely nervous. My palms are sweating, my legs are
shaking, and my heart is literally bursting out of my chest. I hear the gun and I explode. I am leaving
nothing behind as I power through the course. I hit the wall completely out of breath. A lady in a
white top and pants comes over and gives me a blue stick. I did it! The first swimming race in my life
and I won it! I didn’t even think I was going to make it to the end, but I gave it my all and I came first!
For many of us, fear is the biggest obstacle to achieving our potential. Whether it be taking the
microphone for your first speech, throwing yourself into your first rugby tackle, or standing on stage
in a tutu at your first dance concert, it is all about pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone, and
giving it a go.
Sixteen year old Australian girl, Jessica Watson had a dream. She wanted to sail around the world all
by herself. To achieve her goal she had to sail every day and every night through some of the most
brutal seas in the world. She suffered seven knockdowns, where her boat completely capsized. This
did not stop her. Jessica Watson overcame any doubts she had of herself and sailed into Sydney
harbour, three days before her seventeenth birthday as the youngest person to sail around the
world, non-stop and unassisted. Jessica gave her dream a go and achieved it.
So what is it that gives us the ability to face our fears and achieve our goals?
Is it just a matter of giving it a go? Or is there something else that helps us overcome our sense of
hopelessness and negativity?
I often think of how Nelson Mandela would have felt when he faced all the people in his country
who told him that the black South Africans would never be equal to the whites. Mandela not only
faced the ridicule of those around him that said he was crazy to think he could achieve justice for the
black people, but he also faced years in prison for speaking up for his people. How did Mandela keep
going? What was it that kept him fighting at a time when everyone else had given up?
I believe that faith and believing in yourself is at the heart of every successful person. This faith is
very strong in people who set themselves challenging goals. Jessica Watson and Nelson Mandela
both had incredibly strong faith in themselves and gave it a go, at times when people around them
told them they could never do it. Both of them faced extreme obstacles and both of them embraced
these obstacles, and then used this experience to give them the motivation to keep going.
It is often in our hardest experiences that we learn our biggest lessons.
What an achievement it is to overcome your fears and really try your hardest to accomplish
something you have never done before.
I have come so far in my swimming since that very first race. I still get the sweaty palms and shaky
legs, but as soon as I hear that gun, I now realise that whatever the outcome of the race, I will be
proud of what I have achieved because I gave it a go.
If we all take this approach, our opportunities to succeed are endless. Who will be the Nelson
Mandela or Jessica Watson of our future?