First of all, I started to realise that I am good at speaking English when I was 13 years old, I was studying in Mattayom 1 (Grade 7) at Preechanusas School (โรงเรียนปรีชานุศาสน์).
Here is my story...
My teacher never said that my English skills were outstanding, but he signed me up for a speech contest (การแข่งขันพูดสุนทรพจน์). I didn't choose to do it but I didn't reject the opportunity (โอกาส).
I remember telling myself that "He must see something in you, he believes in you, just give it a go (ต้องลองดูสักตั้ง)!"
Then, I wrote my own speech, it was about what I have learned from Thai tales, I chose to talk about "the farmer and his little lunch box." (กล่องข้าวน้อยฆ่าแม่)
I practiced (ฝึก) everyday after school hours, and rehearsed (ฝึกซ้อม) before I went to bed. My teacher let me present my speech to other English language teachers in the school, and even to the school guidance counsellor (ครูแนะแนว). I could remember the speech of by heart, I even rehearsed while riding a bicycle.
On the contest day, when it was my turn to give a speech, I walked inside the room and saw 3 judges, one was foreign.
My heart was pounding (เต้นรัว).
My hands were ice cold and were sweating (เหงื่อออก) like crazy.
My mouth dried up, my lips were heavy like pieces of rocks.
My legs started shaking when I was standing on the white circle spot, where every speaker was supposed to stand to give their speech...
It was one o'clock in the afternoon
but I said "Good morning" - - - I started to panic (ลนลาน),
the judges smiled at me,
I thought 'they must be thinking I'm going to fail',
So I told myself 'just do your best and prove them wrong'.
Although, the beginning of my speech came out wrong, I made the rest right, I really gave all I had. When the winner announcement was made and they said my name, I was screaming - in my head. And yes, I had proven to my teacher that he chose the right girl for the competition and importantly I proved to myself that 'whatever I do, if I do my best, I will succeed and always give myself a chance.
If my teacher didn't see my potential, I wouldn't have won the contest, I wouldn't have figured out that I am good at speaking English. If I gave up before the contest or rejected the opportunity, I wouldn't know that I could do it and win it.
When you are on stage, under a spotlight and everyone in the room is staring at you, that is the biggest pressure that anyone could get within a few seconds of standing on that spot. For me, pressure is good, pressure makes me want to succeed.
And by the way, pressure is what we create, not others. If we can handle with pressure and turn into power, we have achieved the first level of creating confidence.
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