How to be Greater By Roberto Rook by Roberto

How to be Greater By Roberto Rook by Roberto - September 2022 Scholarship Essay

“Have no regrets. Remember Roberto, you tried the hardest you can and you did the best you could” I say as I walk away from Ms. Prey’s classroom. Ms. Prey was my 7th grade history teacher, and a difficult one at that. History was never my greatest subject because of my terrible memory; but I always made it a point to myself that I needed to try my hardest so that even if I did do bad, my future self couldn't be mad at my past self because I know that at the time I gave it my all. I told myself this throughout all of both middle and high school because not only did it help me live a less stressful life but it helped force me put more effort into myself. If there was ever an assignment I needed to do I would just think “Do I really want my future self regretting not doing this' ' and it would help get me through the day. However now that I look back, I know that this is not the right advice I should have used.

Now while this isn’t terrible advice, the thing I would really want to tell my past self is to surround yourself with people you want to be like. Or to better put it, surround yourself with people who are better that you. I know that nowadays there's a lot of mental health experts that would say never compare yourself to others for it will cause you to be less confident in yourself. While there is some truth to that, I can testify that comparing myself to others is exactly what I need to do. I am a naturally competitive person at heart. In my eyes if I’m not the best at something I am not that good at all. This sounds like a very negative thing to say about someone but in truth it's honestly positive. Having people around me that are better than me places me into a situation where if I don't want to be the worst, I have to work hard enough to be the best.

When I was in middle school I always wanted to do a sport, like soccer, track, or baseball. But I never did because in my eyes I was not the best, and if I'm not the best then why should I even join at all. “Have no regrets” I would tell myself. There is a certain memory I have of myself in which I was convincing my future self that I shouldn’t be mad. I didn't try out for the team because at the time, “I didn't want to”. That was the lie I told myself in order not to be mad. Although I am not mad, I am immensely disappointed that I didn't have the courage to try even though I didn't know if I was good or bad. For even if I was bad it would have been the fact that I was surrounded by people better than me that would have helped me become greater.

About three months ago my parents decided they wanted to start doing CrossFit, and they asked me if I wanted to join them. At first my reaction was no because I had already been working out at a gym. But then I changed my mind because I remembered that when I first started working out, it was also scary starting a new thing with no previous experience. And to my surprise it turned out to be very fun. Although the sessions were hard, the people there were so motivating I wanted to keep going. This brings me to last week when they had announced a competition where 120 people will be teamed up into groups of 4, and the winning team gets a t-shirt as a prize. Both my parents and some people at the gym encouraged me to sign up but I was too scared to. I had only been for three months and just looking around the place I could tell that everyone else there was way more experienced than me. However as I stared at the sign up board looking at how there were only 20 spots left, I had a flashback to 2 day prior when I had first started writing this essay. I realized that I was doing the exact thing I was telling myself not to do. So I picked up the marker and wrote my name up on the board. The competition starts on 9/1/22 and ends at the end of the month so well see how I do. Regardless of what I do place, I can say that I am glad that I signed up.

Unfortunately I didn’t realize this till my senior year of Highschool when I finally started to hangout with people smarter than me. Seeing my friends buckle down and devote themselves made me want to do the exact same. It was in that year of Highschool where I started to work harder, apply myself to more activities, and study more than what was even needed. There are just about a million things I would love to go back and tell my past self. But if there is one piece of advice I could go back and give to him, if you want yourself to be greater, surround yourself with people who are greater.