COPING WITH CRISIS
I joined an Oratorical contest when I was in Junior year. I was so overwhelmed by the fact that I won, and I would like to share with you my speech:
Don’t you just hate it when people come up to you and ask, “Are you okay?” whenever they see you cry or when you are in a bad mood? I mean, isn’t it already obvious that you’re not okay? Instead of comforting you, they end up making you more irritated and miserable. It’s really annoying that they have nothing more to say except, “Everything’s going to be okay”. What proof do they have that it really is going to be okay? I’m not saying that these people don’t exactly care just because they say that, because I myself say that sometimes. Don’t you find yourselves saying the same thing to other people? Maybe it’s because we have nothing more to say, but little do we know that there is actually some significance in saying “Everything’s going to be okay.”
We have dealt with a lot of problems in the past. There were times wherein we could not take it anymore, and wanted to give up. A crisis is defined as a state of emotional turmoil, and we experience this through our teenage years. As teenagers, we do not only experience one kind of crisis. We go through so many of them and they get so piled up, causing us to break. The question is; how do we deal with them the right way?
Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror, and instead of seeing yourself, you see someone whom you barely know at all? You can clearly see your own reflection, but there is nothing more to that anymore. What you see is a totally different person in front of you. Why? Because it’s fun pretending, isn’t it? Pretending to be someone you’re not, just to please everyone? I am sure everyone has done that already. Is it because we think no one can accept us for who we really are? Or is it because we want to be someone we’re not and can never be? I say, it can be both.
We care too much about what other people think of us, that we go through the extent of pretending. We pretend that we have this and that, just to be accepted in a group of friends. We try to be “in” with the crowd and do things we do not usually do, which can most of the time get out of hand. Our curiosity to try and discover “new things” is one cause of peer pressure. Other people force us to do things and irrationally, we do it. We do it for the sake of not being rejected and abandoned by our so-called friends. Another thing that makes us pretend is our insecurity. Imagine yourself looking in the mirror again. Was there ever a time wherein you did not like what it reflected? You think you’re ugly, too skinny or fat, too white or dark, too tall or short, and the list goes on. If I were to enumerate all the insecurities I have, it would take me all day to finish. It amazes me how some people already accept who they are and what God has blessed them with. I wish I could be like that. I wish we could all be like that. I guess life would not be so much of a burden to us, if we found acceptance in ourselves.
Aside from insecurity and peer pressure, we still go through numerous problems, especially now that we are in third year. Is it hard being a junior? Of course it is. Most of us are pressured by our parents to get high grades. It’s as if we have already given our best shot, but we still can’t live up to their expectations. It comes to a point where you think that you can never achieve or be what your parents want you to be, and you give up on trying. I know that we can do better. The problem is, we settle too much on being mediocre, because we are too lazy to do our best. We do not believe that we can accomplish great things, because we lack faith. We have to believe in ourselves that we can make our parents proud.
Coping with teenage crisis is like eating your least favorite vegetable; for example, ampalaya (bitter gourd). It is a matter of how you are going to accept the problems that will come to you, and how you are going to face it. If you do not eat the vegetable, then it shows that you’re a coward. You are afraid to deal with the challenges held out for you. You do not want to taste the bitterness of the vegetable. It’s like you do not want to experience pain and being hurt, even though you have to. However, if you decide to eat the vegetable, well done! It just proves to show that you are courageous enough to face your fears. Allowing yourself to taste how bitter it is means that you have accepted the fact that, life is not complete without the hardships and trials we have to conquer. We learn from these trials and just like what vegetables do to our body, those trials will make us stronger and capable of handling crisis.
So going back, I guess people say that everything is going to be okay because it is. It is going to be okay, if we do something about it. Don’t just sit there and cry over spilled milk. What will you get out of it? You get nothing. Crying over it won’t bring that spilled milk back to its container. It goes the same way with our problems. Shedding tears will only help us release those built-up emotions inside. That’s it. What we need to do is get through those dilemmas without any hesitation of overcoming it whatsoever. We should be aware of the constant changes in our environment and how these things can pressure and affect us in different aspects. Open-mindedness is always important, but we must never let go of our sense of values. Our manly principles can get the better of us sometimes, so we must learn to believe that we can overcome any kind of crisis with God’s help and wisdom. God allows us to experience difficulties in life, because He knows that we are strong enough to face them. Just have a little faith in Him, and I’m sure we will all go through life with a breeze and the assurance that “Everything’s going to be okay.”
