Wide reading log 6

Admiral McRaven

Speech

7/9/2020

In this speech McRaven explains some things that he had to go through in the navy seals. Some of these tasks were very eye opening, such as when they had to swim in shark infested sea and before swimming the commanders “Told us every single shark breed there was in the water.” There was also other helpful stories, like how he had to make his bed every morning McRaven said that he did it because if you have had a very bad day and felt like you hadn’t achieved anything, you had accomplished making your bed so you at least had one thing be happy about on those bad days. McRaven leaves the whole crowd speechless and inspired. I have tried using the “making the bed “ tip because I may not have to go through as much as what those soldiers had to but if I had found out something bad or am not happy I will be able to say I achieved making my bed. 

Something I found interesting was how connected the soldiers are. Such as how when they were “Laying in mud below zero degrees” and one of the members started to sing, and one more joined in and another until the whole squad was singing Mcraven said “it was horribly out of tune but suddenly the mud was getting warmer and we had our feeling back in our bodys.” When he says the mud was getting warmer McRaven is referring to inspiration and the heart in the group just shows how bonded the soldiers are.

A message I took from this speech is that no matter what you have to go through, persevere through it because you will get through it if you try hard enough. If you do not try and don’t do anything about it, you will most likely get more down on yourself. There have been many times I have had to persevere through things, such as when I had my broken ankle it hurt to watch other people running around playing sport having fun. To persevere through it I look on the upside thinking of things like, It’s only 1 more week then I get to have as much fun as I want.

Some of the challenges that McRaven had to face were astonishing. The most challenging one that I believe would be the hardest was when he had to swim to a point after the instructor naming out every single shark type there was in the sea before they had to swim. The instructors said “If a shark comes up to you stand your ground and punch it right in the nose”. I think for me holding my ground if a shark was swimming towards me would be very hard but like anything if you put your mind to it you can do it.

“Admiral McRaven leaves the audience SPEECHLESS” This title explains what happens during this amazing speech. It is almost an understatement because the crowd was not only left speechless but inspired and motivated to do new and better things.

I would recommend this speech to someone who felt that they are at rock bottom and don’t feel worthy, so they come out of this video inspired and feel grateful for what they do have. As the saying goes “Rock Bottom is where you build your foundation”.