A Difficult Decision

Those people who are close to me will know, decision making is something that I have
struggled with throughout my life. As a matter of fact, I am a poor decision-maker. As I was
always anxious about making the wrong choices, I regularly talk to my friends and family. They
will analyse all options and their respective consequences before I make a decision. If all the
options are good, making a decision is undoubtedly easy. Nonetheless, if there are no good
options at all, making a decision could be a Herculean task.

When I was in Form 5, I was trying to decide whether should I participate in the choral
speaking competition. I was always under pressure as I would be sitting for SPM at the end of
the year. Since I was an outstanding student in my school, my English teacher chose me to be
one of the main participants in the competition. As I was tied up with exam preparations, I was
reluctant to join.

Miss Luna, my English teacher insisted that I entered the competition. My friends in the
choral speaking team also persuaded me to join them. With pressure and multiple parties, I
finally gave in. Nevertheless, I still have doubts. I would frequently wonder what on earth was I
doing during the practices after school. I was worried about missing out on classes and group
activities which would cause me to lag behind my equally outstanding peers.

Sensing something was troubling me and subsequently hindering my progress, Miss Luna
who was also the coach of the team had a one-to-one discussion with me. After finding that I was
worried about my SPM, she proposed a few solutions. She suggested that I could have asked a
few reliable friends to share their notes with me and to have group study sessions in the school
library after the practices. At the same time, she also pointed out the benefits of these choral
speaking practices. Honestly speaking, I myself realised that I became more confident when
speaking and I was also able to control my expression better. In fact, the discussion changed my
mind and I was ready to give my full commitment to the team. On this account, I practised with
might and main for the remaining time we had for the competition.

After months of training, and day-by-day practising, the day for us to battle arrived. The
morning we got up early from bed and marched into the hall with high spirits, waiting for our
turn. When we were called, we went up to the stage confidently and recited. We gave our best
when the competition was going on and we got thundering applause from the audience after the
performance. We were still feeling exhilarated after the performance when we went back to our
seats. Finally, it was time to announce the champion of the day and the state representative for
the national level. We crossed our fingers and prayed hard. All of a sudden, the voice of the
emcee resonated in the hall, “And the champion of year 2022 is SMJK CHUNG LING
BUTTERWORTH!” Tears of joy burst out of my eyes and we whooped triumphantly. As a team
leader, I was elated as I had successfully led my team to victory

As a team leader, I went up to the stage accompanied by Miss Luna to receive our
championship trophy. It was a truly rewarding moment for our team. Tears were streaming down
my cheeks as I held the trophy high for all to see. At last, our hard work paid off. In this
competition, there were many formidable opponents. Nonetheless, we emerged victorious
against all the odds. I realised I made a difficult decision but it was definitely the right choice as
my speaking and leadership skills improved by leaps and bounds.