A faint tingling sensation building at the center of my palms. It slowly moves across the pads of my hands to halt at my knuckles. That slow movement suddenly moves quickly like wildfire down to my fingertips. My hands seem to tremble as that sensation completes its journey. I can’t shake off the feeling of failure and embarrassment as it stays carved in my head. I have to focus, but this energy inside my body is unbearable. What looked like a dream suddenly turned out to be a nightmare. I get nervous when I have to speak to a crowd, and in High School, it seemed to be a big thing and a challenge for me.
Speaking and Communicating with People as a Challenge
I have never been a person to talk to people, especially to large crowds. I have always been that one kid in the corner that would never talk in class. Now that I am in High School, things have taken a turn. I talk a lot more than I used to and I give part of the credit to the band. High School has allowed me to be part of extracurricular activities like band, but with that came the challenges. I was familiar with auditions; I knew the process and who I was auditioning with, but when we got to marching shows, things were different. When we first started we would stand in the middle of the football field that looked never-ending, and I wondered what we would do in there.
I soon learned that marching auditions were initiating, I felt a rush of emotions as I heard the director say those words. My whole body became numb, voices whispering, wondering what the test would be about, and other voices yelling the names of their first victims. As time went by, I became more desperate to get this over with; I was getting more nervous by the minute and I couldn’t wait any longer. Sweat accumulating in my palms, soon moving in between my fingers and down to my fingertips. As I try to separate my hands from one another, I see that they are trembling with fear, and knowing that soon they would have to perform in front of directors.
My waiting time ended. It was time to perform. My nerves were on point as I performed, every inch of me not wanting to be there. All eyes are on me. The silence was deafening, making it a lot harder. After living this thrilling movie, I would calm down and enjoy the rest of my day. Even with this challenge, I got a spot in the show.
Besides, another occasion where I would get nervous was when we would have our shows. Standing in the middle of a football field with bright lights, looking at me. People are cheering, but soon stop, as a booming voice fills the stadium. I used this time to stretch and get ready to begin. When the voice drifted off into silence, I knew the show was about to start. As I was marching, my mind kept thinking about the different ways I could mess all this up and embarrass myself. I would always get nervous during the show, but everything was fine. Even when we went to San Antonio to perform in the Alamodome, I got nervous, but I told myself that everything would work out. I still get nervous, but I just take a deep breath and tell myself that I will be okay. No matter how difficult this was, I knew that everything would be fine if I put my mind to it.
How Challenges Changed Me
In conclusion, being nervous feels like being part of a horror movie, you never know what can happen, but we shouldn’t be afraid of doing something. High School has given me the opportunity of being in a band and has given me this challenge of either speaking in front of a class, auditioning, or being part of a band show that made it to the State Championship it was all worth it. These challenges have made me the person I am today and no matter what challenges will come later in life, I know I’m ready to face them.
