What is passion? Passion is something that needs to be discovered from yourself, for yourself and finally by yourself. Passion leads you to success. Being successful is difficult, but finding your true passion can be easy, and it can also be complicated. It hasn’t always been easy for me.

I can say that public speaking had been a surprise for me. It filled my life with excitement and joyful experiences. Ever since I could say a word or a full sentence, every time I talk my parents get worried, for I cannot pronounce words clearly. It was the time when I was in primary school. I was with my parents in the market.  I saw a watermelon. I immediately shouted out： Xi Dua! Mom didn’t understand and no one did. I pointed at the watermelon. Dad corrected me by saying Xi Gua. Xi Dua. Xi Gua. Xi Dua… Finally dad gave up.

 My grandma often gets frustrated about this and always says to my father: Tracy, um, she , um, her tongue… She doesn’t want to break his heart but she feels that as a elderly, she has the duty to tell my dad to except the fact that I have some kind of disease or illness. My mother started to see doctors. Some say that I needed to do a surgery. Some say it is incurable, and some say that I will be okay in a few years.

Dad did not agree with the surgery for sure, and comforted everyone by saying that even though she cannot speak Chinese clearly, well, maybe, she was born to be a English genius.

When I was in third grade, I was forced to attend my very first competition. I was too young too naive. Never did I know that it was going to be the start of an unexpected experience. And I got 1st prize. WOW. Dad is a genius. I was born to be a English speaker. I can pronounce English clearly. But I can’t prove to my grandma that I am good with English, since she could not speak English!

For what I know of, it clearly strengthened my confidence, and got me interested in English speaking.

I started to voluntarily attend more competitions, but I know that I wasn’t really interested in English or public speaking. I only loved the feeling that you are under the spotlight and that I can speak English normally. But it was good enough to be a starting point.

I attended competitions as a kind of entertainment and brought me up to a whole new level. However true passion is something that can easily defeat fear.  One year later I got into my first nationals and I remembered our whole family celebrating. When we were drawing lots, I found out that I was speaking first. I told my parents that it was okay but they could all see the anxiousness in my eyes. My dad said again, Speaking 1st means winning. But comforting didn’t work. Yesterday I was going through all my pictures on the laptop, and I saw a girl wearing purple.  Smiling like crying.  And plus she seemed 10 pounds too heavy for her height. After all I didn’t win. And it also proved that my father is not a fortune teller.

 But something magical happened since then, I became okay with speaking 1st since. And gradually I even wanted to speak first, sometimes trying to prove that I am braver than others. Just to show off.

I learned that fear and anxiousness is inevitable, but how much it effects on you depends on how you cope with it. Do you confront it, or do you avoid it?

As you can see, public speaking taught me things that are impossible to learn in classrooms, impossible to learn without practicing. I learned how to cooperate, how to cope with stress, how to learn from others, how to calm yourself, how to improve, how to compliment, how to be generous, how to realize my self-worth. It’s never too late to start something that you believe in. In another life, I would still choose public speaking as a part of my life. A part of my daily life. Public speaking is my thing. I can be devoted to it with a spotlight and a microphone all day. But it might not be yours. What it matters is not what your passion is, finding your passion is the more exciting and glamorous journey.