When I was younger, my sister and I would race up the stairs in our house to see who could make it to the top first. Sometimes we would make a game out of it and yell, “FIRST,” just to see how quickly we could throw ourselves up the stairs. I think it annoyed my parents — us trampling each other just to get to the top first.
Last year I took part in a farm themed obstacle course 5K. It was terrible. To start, it was pouring rain. Then the obstacles made it a living hell. We had to climb over hay bales, roll them across a field, wade through corn kernels, swim in a lake, and army crawl through sand. Needless to say, I was the last person to finish the course. People were even running it for fun by the time I crossed the finish line.
When I was in going into third grade, I moved to a new school. I knew no one on my first day and it was terrifying, especially when we got to choose our own seats. The desks were placed in pairs, and we had to choose the person to sit next to. Being new, I had no clue who to sit by. Everyone had picked someone to sit by and I stood all by myself in the front of the room, last to pick my seat. There was one seat left, next to a girl who looked like she was very shy, and I had to sit next to her.
Sometimes not being first is the best choice. Usually the person who made it up the stairs first had to set the table for dinner, while the last person got to sneak food and just stand around. The girl that I ended up sitting by became my best friend that year, and we did everything together. And that farm obstacle course that I finished last place in? Everyone else in my age group got disqualified, and I ended up getting the first place medal.
Just like the saying, first really can be the worst. And that’s kind of how I feel about this article. It’s my first article that I’m putting out into the world, and it might actually be the worst. I look back at all the times that I thought being last was going to be terrible, but it really turned out to be the best thing for me. I hope it is really far off into the future, but I now know that my last article will be the best.
