Humility does not seem to go hand in hand with pride, but when you believe in yourself it doesn’t need to. I figured out that this thing has become a lot more like a motivational blog then anything else. Before hand I was reluctant to even talk to anyone about it, whether I felt ashamed or if I was scared I couldn’t really tell. But being ashamed doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m not proud of what I was talking about. To be honest, thats what it was, I didn’t realise how much of an effect this would all have. And to this day I don’t think ill ever realise how special this actually is to me.

I was never proud of anything that i had accomplished. I guess thats why I let myself go towards the end of school. I saw kids get pats on the back for the little things and here I was, barely getting recognition. I didn’t want it, I just thought that with all that goes on in a young persons life, they deserve to know how well they are doing. Not one time did I ask for approval, nor did I ever get overly upset about not getting an award or a trophy because from a very early age, I was taught that you would constantly get thrown on your face. The sad thing was that no one then taught me to get right back up. I was left with the decision to either accept it or I could just forget and give up on what I was set out to do.

It sucks sometimes looking back on a whole solid academic record and not getting as many awards as I thought I should. It sucks that despite being a solid athlete or team player, I didn’t get the trophies or the thrill of going into and winning a Grand Final, and it sucks that I can never understand how much of an impact this whole thing might have on someones life. The thing is awards and trophies don’t really matter. Sure they look good when people see them, but what actually truly matters is whether or not you are proud of what you have done. To this day I haven’t sat down and actually taken in the amount of work I put into different aspects of my life. I have always been hard on myself, whether that be on the field or in the classroom, I never hesitated to criticise who I was just so that I could beat those around me. Its a sick game that gets played in the Indian community time and time again. Uncles and Aunties compare and contrast their kids like shiny little trophy’s as opposed to actual human beings with real feelings and actual emotions. Even to this day, the mark up on kids is way too high, and the judgement on these kids have since been considered normal gossip. Categorising people based on mistakes and triumphs they have made in life keeps there head down and leaves there esteem even lower. The only way they fail at life is if they choose not to live it day by day and try the best they can each and every day, not whether or not they get a 90+ ATAR or if they get into a difficult degree. Each and every person is different and they have the right to do especially if that is what they were meant to do. Just because one day you might not earn the same amount as the guy next to you, doesn’t mean that that makes you any less of a person. Be proud of who you are….small, skinny, fat, tall or shredded you should embrace the person that lives for each day, no matter who or what tries to bring you down.

You look at the world around us, and everyone wants to one up the guy next to them. The fact is that you’ll never be able to beat everyone, but it is up to you to try and at times fail, and thats ok. So long as you get back up, keep going and be proud of what you’ve accomplished. One thing I learnt from a Bollywood film called ‘3 Idiots‘, is that its simple, Life is not a race, its not for competing, its for living.