Student Blog: Channel your inner ‘monkey’
Lily talks about the importance of celebrating the small successes as you strive to reach your goals.
Not too long ago, Heidi (Year 12) showed me this image.
As she explained, it illustrates the fact that although we all have different abilities, sometimes we are required to complete the same tasks, such as doing exams at school. The monkey in this image will clearly be able to climb the tree because it has the right skills to do so, but the other animals have different abilities and won’t all be able to climb it.
This image relates to our world as we frequently expect ourselves - and those around us - to be ‘monkeys’. If we fall short of these expectations, then we deem ourselves not good enough. This shouldn’t be the case as we all have different strengths, and even if we can’t climb the same tree as someone else, we still have things to strive for. Heidi says she is ‘an elephant’ in Maths, and will never be able to climb up that particular tree like a monkey, no matter how hard she tries. But this doesn’t stop her from recognising her ‘monkey’ abilities in Water Polo. Similarly, we can’t expect ourselves - or others - to always live up to ‘monkey’ expectations. Sometimes, we may never get there, but we mustn’t dwell on our failure to meet other people’s expectations.
On a personal level, in comparison to my brother and sister, I am a ‘penguin’ when it comes to school and they are ‘monkeys’. And because they were ‘monkeys’ at school, people have always had high expectations of me to be just like them. Whenever I was asked if I wanted to go into medicine and I said no, I’d feel like I wasn’t meeting people’s expectations of me just because I’m not like my siblings. Eventually I realised that I have different abilities to them and these abilities make me a ‘monkey’ in other aspects of life. What’s more, I wasn’t putting expectations on myself to be smart, other people were! I’ve learned to accept this and not place excess pressure on myself to be a ‘monkey’ at school.
For some people, playing sport makes them feel like the ‘elephant’ climbing the tree and as a result, they don’t feel a sense of fulfilment. But everyone should understand that even if you don’t consider yourself a ‘monkey’ on the sporting field, this shouldn’t stop you from playing whatever sport you choose. Sometimes it takes time to develop the right skills to be a ‘monkey’ and you can’t expect yourself or other people to be perfect athletes straight away. Even if you improve over time, but don’t necessarily become a ‘monkey’, you should still be proud of your efforts!
I think we fall into the trap of thinking that if we don’t succeed straight away then we should just fall from the tree because we are not meeting high expectations. Through sport, I have learnt that some people are naturally talented and can climb the tree with ease. Others may become a ‘monkey’ through hard work. But if you never reach that ‘monkey’ stage, it doesn’t matter! It’s only the expectations we – and those around us – place on ourselves that makes us feel like we should be climbing the tree without any complications at all.
Sometimes being a ‘monkey’ at sport means that others place expectations on you to always perform to your best or to always win and this can also have a negative impact. Let’s take Liv for example. At the recent Senior School Athletics Carnival, Liv felt under enormous pressure to be ranked the fastest girl in the School for the second year in a row. The expectations on her to win made her feel nervous. She thought it would be embarrassing if she didn’t live up to the high expectations everyone had of her. Similarly, Jada (Year 10) also feels the weight of expectations because she’s a ‘monkey’ at rugby. As she explained, she has moved away from home to board at Wenona in order to further her rugby career. She feels like she’s always expected to have the perfect game, but people don’t realise that she cannot always perform to the best of her ability every single game.
So, as this is the last speech from me, I want you to know that you can’t always expect yourself - or others - to be the best at something. Some will have the ability to succeed in a particular area and others might not. We need to celebrate the small successes as we make our way to the top of the tree, because some things take time. Everyone has an inner ‘monkey’ and remember to be proud of yourself when you make it to the top!
Lily (Year 12)
Sport Captain 2018/19