A DISGUISED BLESSING

One day after school, I barged through the front door and announced my decision to campaign as a student counsellor, my head held high with bated breath, I waited for their responses. After a moment of nail biting silence , my family members lit up with identical genital smiles.

Just like how Rome was not built in a day, I had to put in a lot of hard work and effort for days that seemed to stretch on forever , brainstorming ideas in order to make a campaign fit for the glorious title. There was a bright spark of determination burning intensity in my heart. I was ready to start on my journey of becoming a student counselor ! I knew that it was going to be an arduous path, as the role of student counselor was one desired by many students. I needed to show them why I was well deserving of the role. To win the favour of students I made pins and stickers with the words 'Peggy for student counselor'. Day by day my overflowing passion became sheer desperation. I started noticing how a few particular students were becoming more and more popular.Then, I went to greater lengths by printing out large posters and banners and pining them everywhere I could think of- hallways , the canteen even the bathroom.All this was for the sake of winning precious votes.As I looked back, I failed to see how the pressure of campaigning changed me completely . I constantly relied of people's perception of me and pines for that popularity vote like a wolf pinning for the moon. It was only now that I realize how utterly fatigued I was as the campaigning came to close.

Unfortunately my aspirations and dreams died out faster than wisps of smoke dissipating after a candle smoke has been snuffed out. Finally the long awaited day of the results arrived . I could barely stand still in my spot , as I imagined myself wearing a black tie and badge with the big bold words 'STUDENT COUNSELOR' on it. Each time a name was called adrenaline surged through my veins. As more and more students started getting called my hopes slowly faded away. It came down to the last student who would be given the title of student counselor. At that point , I was extremely desperate I kept chanting "please call my name "! Over and over in my head. After so much hard work my journey could not end just there

My name…. It was never called . The shock initially held me frozen in stage and before I knew it , my small sniffles and hiccups developed into loud sobs. Nobody could hear me as I melted into the crowd 's ecstatic cheers. Trying to get a grip over my emotions i took deep breaths and gulped down a few sips of water , but grief and sorrow washed over me continuously like thunderous waves upon a jagged coast.

From then on I was in my own world. I trudged on and on over the squash like a life long zombie. In my head , there was nothing but the fact that I did not get the role of student counselor, the role that I had worked towards for weeks. What about those sleepless nights and the meals that I have skipped out so that I could get the role? All that , went to waste just like that ?To deal with the anguish I stormed onto the squash court and grabbed a ball from the basket , hurling it towards the walls. The cathartic sound of the ball being slammed onto the walls and floors, making a loud echo in the court, mirrored by dissatisfaction towards the results. Even if it felt like that ball was about to explode , it did not matter. What mattered was , I did not get the role I wanted so badly.For weeks , I repeated this routine with the same thought in my head catapulting the black balls to vent my fury.

In a curious twist of events , the squash coach noticed my daily exercise in the squash court and offered me a spot in the national school team. To this day I am unclear of whether the coach has given me the spot for the sake of persevering the quality of balls and walls or if he had really thought I was brimming with potential. Either way his offer was music to my ears and the carrot he dangled in front of me- national competition blinded my sadness for not being able to get the role of student counselor . My saving grace had unexpectedly arrived in a different form. A form that I had never imagined it to be.

Since then I persevered but not like I did on the campaign , wary of others and their expectations of me. I learnt from my mistakes . I would be living up to my expectations, hopes and dreams and not others anymore. I had found my new passion- squash.with my hard work I represented not only the school but my nation as a squash player. In hindsight I admit that I haven't recovered from my downfall in the student counselor campaign . But it is an undeniable fact that was a blessing in disguise that helped me reach greater heights of success, testing my limits that I never thought I would cross. I am glad that I didn't get the role as a student counselor as I would not be able to get where I am now. If I was a student counselor my roles and duties would be limited to the school but as a squash player I could go even further than that . I was able to not only play against other schools but other nations! I was wrong my journey had never ended in fact, it had just began not as a student counselor but as a squash player.