Editor’s
note: Typically, we offer up advice to our local graduates in our
issue before Sweet Home High School’s commencement ceremonies.
This year we’re offering advice, but it isn’t our own. Senior
Husky wrestler Ty Schilling gave the following speech at the
wrestling team’s awards banquet in March, where it is customary for
seniors to reminisce on their careers, thank coaches and tell a few
war stories. Schilling opted for a little different tack: advice to
the younger wrestlers in the crowd. We think what he had to say is
pretty good advice for any young person looking ahead to life. He’s
given us permission to publish it here.
By
Tyler Schilling
Most
senior speeches often talk about how fast life has gone, and not to take
what you have for granted.
It
seems a little cliché of me to say it again, but I am saying it
because it is true. You have four opportunities in your entire high
school career to be a state placewinner. For all of you wrestlers
sitting here, at least one of those opportunities is gone. So now
you have three, some only two, some of you only have one chance left.
It
makes you see how short it truly is, so you have to make the most of
it. Four years is one-twentieth of your entire life, for most of us.
Four years is literally a miniscule fraction of what you have ahead
of you. You won’t ever have the chance to make an extra Sunday run,
you won’t ever have the chance to redeem your final match of your
senior year.
You
won’t. You lose the wrong match during your senior year and don’t
make the state tournament – that’s it, your dream is gone.
But
you’ll know it too late. You’ll know that your dream is gone
after it is gone, not before. Your mindset must be realizing that you
could possibly fall short of your dream, so that way you can motivate
yourself to achieve your dream. If you have already lost your dream
then it is too late.
Maybe
you needed to spend more time focusing on what you needed to do in
order to fulfill that dream, or maybe you just needed to reevaluate
what your dream truly is. I’m saying this not only for the aspect
of wrestling but for the aspect of anything of in your life.
Do
you have an idea of what you want to do in your life? I’m not
referring to the generic “Yes, of course I do. I have a good job,
make lots of money, drive a nice car, etc.”
What
I am referring to is your passion, something that you would enjoy for
the rest of your life. That is your dream. Your dream should be to do
what you are passionate about, whether it be about sports,
photography, traveling the world, writing, racing – anything that
you find true enjoyment in and that is your passion. That is your
dream.
Now
if you don’t strive toward that dream you may regret it later on in
life. I know I will. The problem with regret is that you can’t
change it, you have to deal with it, it’s in the past.
You
can’t go back and change the fact that, because you didn’t hang
out with your girlfriend enough, she dumped you.
You
can’t change the fact that you lost your house because you bought a
new car instead of paying your mortgage.
You
can’t change the fact that you lost by one point, in the last 10
seconds of the match.
All
you can do is feel regret.
You
regret not hanging out with your girlfriend. You regret spending
money on material things rather than paying off your house. You
regret not focusing, not getting tired, in the last 10 seconds of
that devastating match.
Regret
will eat you alive, and the only way to not let regret creep its way
into your lives is by preparing for it beforehand. Knowing that if
you don’t hang out with your girlfriend you will regret it. Knowing
that if you buy that car you will regret it. Knowing that if you give
up that takedown in the last 10 seconds, that you will regret it.
Avoiding
regret is simple: Be successful. Now, being successful is different
for all people. For some it is as simple as graduating from college.
For some it is running a business. For others, it is as simple as
making it to the state tournament.
But
the key is to find your success and strive for it. What regret can
come from being successful?
Would
you regret earning a degree and creating a better opportunity for
yourself in the career world? Would you regret starting your own
business, and helping other people with something they may not be
able to do? Would you regret winning that tie-breaking match in front
of your home crowd, giving your team another victory?
Find
what success is for you, because if you reach the level that is
successful, you will not feel any regret.
After
all, what is there to regret in success?