Pressure is a privilege...losing and winning

this week has been rather trying. Joel has gone for his chess competition again, a do or die situation as the state wants to select six players out of eight and he is no. 8. So, he went there knowing well that it was going to be a tough week. Day 1, he calls home to tell me he had to play no.1 seed and he lost lamely. then, he sms to say he lost again in the afternoon. He said he didn't know how he was going to last the week. Mummy's heart bleeds for him but this was something he needed to do, to summon his courage and face the pressure...mummy could only beri semangat sikit and prayed. Day 2, called early in the morning to say he lost again...meaning that he was buried, with maybe just an arm hanging on for dear life... then, finally in the evening, he said he had won....oh, thank God for that win. He needed that.I knew he would have to crawl back up....Day 3, he called early in the morning to say that he had beaten his fellow teammate...a sigh of relief.....

This is what a mum has to go through....When they win, we win, we celebrate, when they lose, we feel bad for them...but that is all we can do....we provide support and we have to let them go and make their own mistakes, learn and unlearn, suffer the agony of defeat and celebrate the highs of triumph. We have to help them face defeat, not to put the blame on any one but to help them analyse and face reality. For if we start blaming people or situations, we give them a false sense of security and reality...and they will not learn.
We teach them not to give up, to hang on and fight. I always tell him, it ain't over until it's over. Do not give up halfway or even worse, to give up even before you start.
I also teach my students that pressure is a privilege...Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials..because pressure produces true character if you do not give in... You learn to be patient, to come apart and regroup, stay calm and not give in to the panic and fear of failure...then, you begin to rise and see the difference...the power of positive thinking.
Teach this to any child, and you will see the difference it would make in his life.