This is the first time I will find it difficult to write, I was worried thinking if you will find this post useful, how I should put it in a way that you will enjoy and learn something from my experience...
When I was an intern (นักศึกษาฝึกงาน) for a non-profit organisation (องค์กรไม่แสวงผลกำไร), I was part of organising a leadership conference (งานประชุม) in Bali, Indonesia.
A few days before I realised I was selected to receive an award "Intern of The Year",
my father sent me a heart-breaking (ใจสลาย) e-mail, saying my grand mother had passed away (เสียชีวิต) ...
I couldn't think of anything else but flying back home to her funeral (งานศพ).
Before I booked a plane ticket (ตั๋วเครื่องบิน), my boss said to me,
"You are going to receive an honourable award (รางวัลที่มีเกียรติ) in few days but you can fly home now empty-handed (มือเปล่า) and your grandma isn't going to wake up, or you can complete your internship (การฝึกงาน), then go back home with the trophy (โล่ห์รางวัล) and make your grandma and everybody else proud (ภาคภูมิใจ)."
From that, I decided to stay....so I could give a speech that I have prepared in case I was chosen to be the outstanding intern (นักศึกษาฝึกงานดีเด่น) ...and I was.
The day I had to give the speech,
I was excited but started feeling anxious (วิตกกังวล) a few minutes before I went on the stage (เวที).
The stage could hold 50 people, there was an audience (ผู้ชม) from all over the world, some were native speakers of English (ผู้พูดที่เป็นเจ้าของภาษาอังกฤษ), and yes they would spot any mistakes I make on stage.
At that moment, I spent a few seconds doubting (สงสัย) myself,
"Can I really do this?"
"Am I going to make mistakes (ความผิดพลาด)? If I do, it's going to be embarrassing (น่าอับอาย), those people could speak English 10 times better than me,
Am I still going on that stage?"
Then I realised, thinking negatively and questioning myself isn't going to make things better, it would only make it worse!
So I gave a new pep talk (การพูดเพื่อสร้างพลังและความพร้อม) to myself,
I took a deep breath (หายใจเข้าลึก) and gave myself a big SHAKE, arms, hands, and legs to loosen up (ผ่อนคลาย). I told myself...
"I am going to do this, I'm going to get up there and speak, my speech is great!"
I got up on stage, I looked at the 400 people in the audience and every single person was looking back at me...so I looked back at them, I smiled and took another deep breath before I started my speech.
Although, the stage was big but I owned it, I walked as I was delivering my speech, I made the stage MINE...
At that point,
I didn't care if I was a non-native speaker of English (ผู้พูดที่ไม่ใช่เจ้าของภาษาอังกฤษ),
I didn't care if my English wasn't perfect,
I didn't care if I would make any mistakes,
I didn't care if anyone would disagree (ไม่เห็นด้วย) with what I said, it was my MOMENT (ช่วงเวลา).
At the end of my speech, the room was filled with applause (เสียงปรบมือ) from the audience, it was unbelievably amazing...
From this, I learned that...
If I can't receive encouragement (แรงสนับสนุน) from anybody else, I will create it!
If no one believes in me, I will believe in myself!
If people can stare (จ้อง) at me, I could do so too!
If I want to do this, I would make sure no one stops me!
I can empower (สร้างพลัง) myself, I can grow confidence of my own, and I can do anything including speaking English.
Trust me, there are millions of people in the world who are trying to master (เรียนรู้เพื่อพัฒนา) their English skills and if you care too much about the mistakes you are going to make, you will never be able to improve (พัฒนา) your skills.
I was at the same point as you and my other friends are standing right now, but what speeded my progress (ความก้าวหน้า/คืบหน้า) up was 'my great daring on the battle field' which you could do so too.
The last point I want to make is:
For any of you who want to be good at speaking English, the one and only way to be able to succeed (ประสบความสำเร็จ) is SPEAK IT. We can't keep learning without putting into practice, we can't keep watching videos on Youtube and admiring (ชื่นชม) others on how good they are and wish (ปรารถนา) we were as good as them. STOP WISHING, start SPEAKING!
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