Thought of the week – Amelia Potter
Many times, in our lives we are asked, what do you want to be when you’re older, what job do you see yourself doing? And we may answer something different to each person. I know that one day I’ll say I want to save the world, the next I might say I want to be an astronaut, both times however, I’m equally sure I want to do it. and the truth is, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m the only one.
What I do know, is ‘who’ I want to be. And I care more about that.
Two people might experience something but each take from it a different message. I might kayak 125 miles, you might play in an orchestra, but what does it really mean if we haven’t become better people because of it? To me, what something really means, is what it has changed about you. If an experience doesn’t affect your perspective, your personality or your compassion in anyway, I would argue that it is meaningless.
There are times that yes, going to a library in the half term to revise is helpful, but when given the option to instead volunteer in a café for the homeless, it would be interesting to see what people choose. There’s no doubt you will learn a great deal either way, but the effect will be different. It’s up to you to decide what kind of knowledge you value.
In year 10 I was asked what I wanted to do in sixth form, now I’m here I would love to hear what I said. I don’t hope that I have done all the things I pictured myself doing, I hope more that I have become someone like the person I would’ve wanted to be.
I was once asked the question, ‘would your eight-year-old self be proud? Occasionally I still ask myself this. I’ve answered differently over time, but every time it has encouraged me.
when asked what do you want to do in the future, shouldn’t we be asked, have you done it yet? Because, now is the future that was talked about when I was eight, when I was 13, the same future that I was talking about when I wrote this speech. What does when you’re ‘older’ mean? What do you want to be tomorrow? Maybe that’s more important.
Having someone to aspire towards is so valuable and When asked who inspires me, it is the person I was before now and if you’re sitting here without someone to work for, work for you, who you were before now. Because that person has so many hopes for who you might become. who, not what.
it is too easy to become distracted about what we’ve done, that we forget to be proud about who we are or who we are not. So I encourage everybody to take time and self-reflect, understand who you want to become, what you do will follow.
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