Written by the incredible Alethea Hung from our Blogger Team.
As a young female student growing up in a small country town where sports are a major part of both the school and the community, I always thought I didn’t fit in. I am in no way, shape or form sporty; I’m the type of girl who would sit quietly inside and do my work. I never enjoyed sporting activities or PE classes, so I thought of myself as the odd one out. I felt as though if I wanted to make my school proud, I needed to compete in sporting activities.
This negative mindset took over me. I stopped smiling as much as I used to. This all started to change as I got into Year 11. I realised how little time I had left at school, I could see the finish line right in front of my eyes, I was no longer the primary school kid anymore. I knew I wanted to leave a legacy at this school; I didn’t want to just be some other kid who graduated and left. I wanted to give something back to the school.
This was when I slowly started to accept who I was. NO, I wasn’t a sporty kid, but that’s ok because that’s who I am. If I want to leave a legacy, why not be that person who helps other students like myself to accept who they are, that they don’t need to be sporty to feel a part of this school, because wouldn’t our school be boring if everyone was sporty? Imagine a society where everyone is sporty. It would be a monotonous society, wouldn’t it? Now imagine a society where people are artistic, musical, academic, AND sporty. Wouldn’t that be more of an idealistic society, a society where everyone is unique?
So please, to anyone who thinks that they don’t fit into their school or community, remember that Bernard M. Baruch once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” Be yourself because you are unique, special and most importantly, our society needs you. We need you. I need you.