Nara has eventually overcome his fears

Wow, it's been over 4 months since the last time I updated this blog. I have to admit that the main challenge having a personal blog is how to keep it continously updated. Well, the story about Nara, my youngest son, i guess would be a good beginning to renew this blog.......

Nara, unlike his older brother has quite a unique characteristic. Sweet, sensitive, less easy going , less confident, yet extremely curious, are to name a few of his obvious characters. As a mother I always hold myself not to label any of my sons with something negative or discouraging, although I know that each of my son has his own weaknesses besides all the strenghts they posses. At least that's what I learned when I was taking a short course on emotional metabolism: always think positive about your sons, then they will turn into a real positive humanbeing. But this is not the case with my eldest son, Ray, who like any other oldest child would sometime takes his younger brother for granted. It's become quite common to hear him teasing his brother by labeling him as " a cry baby", and other discouraging lines which later created a kind of inferior feeling inside Nara's mind.

Nara is now over 6 years old, but still he takes this "baby' attitude with him. His brother achievement in school and other activities such as swimming and baseball had assured him that his brother is far too superior to catch up. My husband and I had been trying to convince him that he possesses the same quality as the one of his brother. We convinced him that he has a much better stroke in swimming and even a much better power. When it comes to baseball, he could run faster than any other player, which he did not realize in the first place. The first time he had to be in a swimming competition, he strongly objected just because he was so afraid of not being able to win. We eventually managed to convince him to give it a try. He reluctantly agreed and finally jumped to the pool. Although he did not win any of the series, but I could sense that he learned something from the competition, i.e. losing is not that bad after all!

Nara's second swimming competition finally took place in JIS (Jakarta Int'l School). This time he felt more relaxed and confident. In fact he was quite enthusiastic asking about the pool JIS has; whether it is much better than the one he encountered during his first match. To be frank, I was the one who was a bit worried since this competition is more prestigious than the other, and the opponents were presumably more difficult to beat. Finally the first heat....., free style for 6 and under....it was quite tight, until finally Nara hit the finish line and got the third place. Not bad for a start, I thought, and I was becoming excited. The next one was breast stroke which I thought would be his major obstacle. Suprisingly, he hit the finish line perfectly and got the second place. The third heat was backstroke, which apparently not becoming 'his cup of tea', he lost. I thougt he would be discouraged, yet he became more excited and looking forward to challenging other heat. The last heat was his specialization, the butterfly style....and he really proved it to me and his coach that he deserved the best place, he hit the finish line and got the first place! I had no idea what I should feel except being overwhelmed. It's not about the winning itself. It'more like giving Nara a big convidence in himself that he is a much better person than he ever imagined. The experience had taught him a very valuable lesson that trusting ourselves is the key to our success. Nara had finally overcome his fear and reached the finish line as the winner! Bronze, silver and gold medals all together..not bad at all!!











Sometimes, it's not easy for us to overcome our own fears. Fear of being failed, fear of not being perfect, fear of being rejected, fear of being discouraged, and many other kinds of fear. From Nara I learned that the path to overcome our fears might be quite long and tiring, but as long as we have confidence and excitement, we'll get to the finish line as the winners!!