I've heard a lot of speeches, many speakers like to start their speech with a question. I know that's not my style. I want something special. Seriously, as an audience, do you really enjoy answering their questions?
Oh my god, did I just raise a question to you? Surprise Surprise. Turns out I am one of the speakers who like to start their speeches with questions!
Ok, dear contest chair, my fellow toastermasters, let's start today's speech with a question: do you think you really know yourself?
For me, the answer to this question is definitely “No”! A famous thinker said that, the most difficult thing in life is to know yourself. Everytime when I thought I knew myself, something happened and surprised me.
Two weeks ago, me and my husband went to the Disneyland. There is a game called "Tron lightcycle power run". It is a kind of roller coaster, the so-called most excited roller coaster of world's Disney Resorts. I am not a brave girl, I didn't plan to play this game, but my husband loved it.
He said to me:
"Come on, you can do this!"
"No, that's not my thing."
"I know what you are worried about, trust me, It's fun and 100% safe."
"No, I can't handle that, it looks dangerous, don't push me."
"Fine, but if you play this with me, I promise to cook for next two weeks and you don't need to wash the dishes"
"Oh, ok, let's play!"
You know what? that was amazing. I want to play one more time. I really enjoyed the extreme speed！
This "roller coaster" thing taught me two lessons. Lesson one: You are more brave than you thought, you may enjoy excited things. Lesson two: Make full use of this kind of chances to make your husband cook or do other things.
What happened in Disneyland reminds me that this is not the first time I feel surprised by myself.
When I was in my junior school. There is a horrible rumor which is really popular at that time. Many parents told their children: boys will be much more clever and smart than girls when getting older, especially on mathematics. I believed it without any doubt at that time. Although I could get pretty good score in most of the mathematics exams, I was living in the shadow created by my parents, I was afraid that finally I will turn to a stupid girl one day in future. But years by years, I kept working hard on my math and it didn’t get worse, what a surprise! I even got the second place in a math contest. En, “Boys will be more clever and smart?” Nonsense! This “mathematic” thing help build up my confidence and teach me two lessons. Lesson one: Don’t set limitations to yourself, you have more talent than you think. Lesson two: Don’t trust your parents too much.
Years passed, one day I was walking along a street . Suddenly, two strong men passed by carrying a big mirror. I happened to see myself from that mirror.To be honest, I was really shocked. The girl in the mirror made me feel sad. Her head was low, her back was a bow, her eyes showed her lack of confidence. Actually before this “mirror thing”, my teacher used to say that I should smile more, my mother said that I always kept a serious face and looked like an old lady. But things happen that we won’t take it seriously until we find the problem by our own. Standing in front of the mirror I decided to make a change. I began to smile more. Things changed after I changed. I made more friends at school, I became the monitor of our class. Now, most of the time, I am a happy smiling girl.What a surprised change I made! The “Mirror thing” tought me two lessons as well, lesson one : when you find your weakness or someone else point out your weakness, don’t be hesitate to make a change. Lesson two: Buy a big mirror.
There are some other things in my life surprised myself, I thought it was difficult for me to learn to swim, but I mastered breaststroke in nine lessons. I thought I am not able to be a qualified president of my club, but with our amazing officer team’s support, this club become better and better. I thought I couldn’t prepare this speech in one night, but I am standing here right now.
Back to the question I raised in the beginning: do you think you really know yourself?
"YES"and "NO".
"YES" because you know what you already have and who you are. "NO" because you don't know what amazing achievement you will make and what high level your potential will bring you to. The most important thing is: never set limitations to yourself, your potential will surprise you!
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