Never give up

Giving up is facile. Clinging to a difficult thing is tedious. But, giving up doesn't bring glory, confidence and value in life. Giving up destroys and shatters the confidence of a person. Not giving up and clinging to a difficult thing takes so much of courage and will power.

Most of our nightmares do not come true. But, my nightmares did not contain cruel dinosaurs, terrible monsters and ghosts. In my childhood days, I had a nightmare. I would wake up at midnight and cry in fear. The nightmare went like this:

Students were giggling. A few girls started moaning," Poor Fellow".

My teacher showed a baffling facial expression.

I was the cynosure of the class.

I was struggling to speak.

I was frightened of this nightmare.

This nightmare came true when I was forced to contest for class leader in my 7th grade. My teacher thought that I was a perfect person to be a class leader. But, little did she know about my nightmares and my way of speaking. Few girls were mumbling, "Poor Fellow" and a few students were shrieking," Time for fun". My nightmares were becoming true.

I was at the center of the stage. Those few seconds were catastrophic. Few seconds seemed like few decades… I struggled to speak and came crying to the seat. My friend shouted," I told you Na…You can't speak".

That was the beginning of things to come in my life.

Every time I tried to get on the stage, I was denied. My teachers said patently," No time for stammering". I was labeled as a student with severe stammering.

I wanted to delete my nightmares by speaking fluently in front of a group. As I got into college, things went from bad to worse.  There was no freedom from these nightmares. Telephone conservations, Viva Sessions in practical tests, getting tickets in trains, teaching difficult topics to my friends worsened my life. Life was getting dark. My dream of speaking in front of a group was slowly fading away. But, I was definitely clinging on to the dream. I contested for class leader's position in my first and second year. But, I could not speak properly.

A plethora of speech therapy books and speech techniques by my personal speech therapist kept me ticking. But, the dream of speaking fluently in front of a group was still a far cry. It looked beyond me. I believed in speech therapy sessions and a few tongue twisters.. I was contesting for class leader position in my third year. My friends told me," Please do not try speaking in front of a group. Give up on your dreams". But, I did not give up.There was a voice inside me that said," Keep trying.Cling on to the dream"

 After two years of persistence with my speech therapy methods and a bit of toastmastering, I gave a decent fluent speech in front of a group of 45 students in my college.

I felt on top of the world after giving my first fluent speech. It was fascinating.

Giving up would have made my life miserable, boring and gloomy.

There was a choice in my life,To give up or to cling on to the dream. I chose not to give up and it turned out to be a wise decision.