A few days ago, while lazing around in my apartment ,my girlfriend was going through one of my written pieces about comfort. Ironically enough she was reading it at the most comfortable place she could be. Being unaware of this, I disrupted the hush asking her about what she’s thinking. Surely, must not be something serious I hoped. “Baby?” I called her. No response whatsoever. Being curious about what was so interesting that had her attention enough to ignore me , I peeked into her laptop.
“Haven’t you read this before?” I asked her as I found out.
Ignoring me completely, she asked “were you always this good at English?”
I was speechless. Not negatively but it sank in that I’ve never looked at myself as someone who’s good at this language - so commonly used, but the perception of those around me might differ greatly. My mind was gushed with hope and my heart, with memories.
Like a child wanting to show its present to the parents, I clumsily raced into the bedroom to show her something that I had preserved for more than a decade.
“Look! Look what it is!” I exclaimed.
“A trophy?”
“Not just any trophy. I had won this back in the ninth grade in a national level grammar competition!”
She was in awe of my age-old skill and I contrarily was in awe of my ability to preserve a thing for so long! That 11 year old trophy still made me pump with pride because it was something I had earned belonging to not so favourable conditions.
There’s usually something inside us so natural that we downplay and devalue as if it’s not an ability. That’s where we set ourselves years behind. Whenever there were extracurricular contests at our school, we used to be damn excited. Not because we got to skip lectures(although that was a bonus)but because we would get to spend time practising and learning the things we love and get to prove ourselves outside our regular circle. Competition naturally moved us, as it should!
Fast forwarding a decade, I realise that we unknowingly buried the passion that kept us alive. I mean, I still remember a few years back my uncle advised me to start my own English teaching classes. And again, cruelly enough I shrugged it off thinking that it wasn’t a big deal and it wasn’t anything worth transmitting into others. And look what i do for a living today.
All of us have been dealt with a trump card in life. Some of us are lucky enough to discover it early on and some come across that as time goes by. However, you’ve got to be an opportunist and play the right hand when needed because life is a one time game. There’s no reshuffling, there’s no second chances. You got to capitalize your strengths and be the wisest, most successful version of yourself in this life itself and that trump card can surely be your ticket for it. Because there’s only two types of people in this world- winners and the ones who regret. And regret isn’t rare. Winning is.