Rebecca Morse: Why life really is a journey, not a destination

I WAS recently asked to give a speech at an Adelaide girls’ school about my career path and a few lessons I’ve learned along the way. If you’ll indulge me, I ‘ll share with you also, writes Rebecca Morse.

Some of the people you meet when you are young, go on to become life-long friends.

I WAS recently asked to give a speech at an Adelaide girls’ school about my career path and a few lessons I’ve learned along the way. If you’ll indulge me, I thought it might be of some interest to reproduce it in part here.

The last speech I gave at an assembly was at my former high school, Blackwood. I think I only got the gig because the Hilltop Hoods were on tour.

I started at Blackwood in Year 10 after moving around a fair bit with my Dad’s work. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. But it taught me resilience and strength of character and now I always urge my children to be welcoming to the new kids because I know what they’re going through.

The girls I met at high school are still among my closest friends. Sometimes school friends have so much dirt on you, you have to stick with them forever.

I didn’t decide that I wanted to be a journalist until halfway through Year 12.

I missed out on the entry score by just one point, so I started an Arts Degree at the University of South Australia and applied to transfer to Journalism after the first year.

I missed out, again. I applied again the following year and was finally accepted.

Rebecca says there is no such thing as ‘overnight success’.

So, if you don’t know what you want to do with your life yet, don’t panic, and if you do know what you want to do with your life, but you don’t achieve it immediately, don’t panic.

There is no such thing as overnight success. There is no substitute for hard work, for perseverance and humility.

When I finished my degree I was lucky enough to join the ABC as a cadet. After a year’s training in radio and television news, I was posted to Port Pirie, followed by stints in Darwin and Brisbane before returning to Adelaide when it was time to start a family.

After eight years with the ABC, I made the move to Network Ten and in March of this year I was proud to celebrate 10 years behind the news desk.

The most significant change I have seen in my career has been the influence of social media.

But while there are many advantages to this development, the trolls are a significant downfall. Developing a thick skin has been one of the toughest lessons for me to learn in the public eye.

But I’ve decided you can’t control what people think about you, you can only control your own actions, and if you are true to yourself, your friends and your family then they are the only people you are answerable to.

Equally, you are not the number of followers you have on Instagram.

You are not the number of likes you got on your last selfie.

And, you are not what some random, insecure boy told his mates about you.

Sometimes we girls are our own worst enemy. We have to stick together. Another girl’s success does not take away from our own.

A compliment and words of encouragement and recognition cost us nothing and can build another person’s confidence more than you may know.

A successful friend of mine describes the arrow as the symbol that represents her life’s journey. Because in order to move forward, an arrow has to first be pulled backwards.

You will be pulled backwards in your life. You will fail. You will make mistakes. You will have regrets. You will suffer setbacks.

But if you conduct yourself with integrity and honesty, your arrow will fly true and straight.

Your success will come and you will be deserving of all of it.

Follow Rebecca on Twitter@rebeccamorse10