Debate

I remember, back in 12th grade, my english teacher entered our class asking me to take part in the school debate. A classmate of mine shouted, "ma'am ye to hakla hai, ye kya bolega" [ma'am, he stutters, the hell will he speak?] and the whole class burst into laughter. We do not get to choose what problems we will face in our lives but we do get to choose how we deal with them. I've been trying my whole life, working on my issues but change doesn't come easy.

In college, I kept practicing infront of the mirror but still, somehow kept shying away from opportunities thinking I am not good enough. It took me a long time to learn that the right time to do anything is now. However under prepared you might be. I finally mustered up the courage to take part in the national debate at AFMC. I had no expectations from myself yet somehow I made it to the finals. The first debate of my life against pro debaters. I was scared to my core. So much so, that I did not perform well enough to win the finals.

It kept irking me, how I got discouraged by my failure. The thing is, in a competition, you never lose. You either win or you learn. That was it. I had to come back stronger. I took part in another national debate, and this time I wasn't shocked that I made it to the finals. I somehow knew my potential. Yesterday, I had a very brutal 3 round long finals. I still was scared of how good everyone else was. The difference was, this time, I did not care. Be as good as you want, I will be better. Turns out, my approach was right all along. I won the National debate at OSMECON 2021 and more than that, I was able to create an impact on the jury. I am overwhelmed and I don't have enough words to describe the feeling. I will say this to my juniors though. All of you, like me, who keep shying away from opportunities fearing failures, don't. What's the worst that could happen? You lose? Nay, you learn. What's the best that could happen? Well, you just might win a national competition.