Accepting Defeat

Assalamualaikum =)


This year had been an unmistakably amazing year. A year where a great deal of wonderful memories had been created, a plethora of unforgettable experiences were gained, and a numerous amount of lessons that I had learned.

Indeed, the year of 2011 is a very busy year for me as a PMR candidate, with the extra classes, seminars, motivation programs and whatnot. But even so, this year is also the year where I've been involving myself the most with competitions and other activities despite being engulfed with my tight schedules at the same time.

"Winning is not everything. Participating is."

To be frank, I didn't win any of the competitions. The highest I managed to achieve is being second. Yeah, I know it sounds a bit pathetic but then, you can't expect to win all the time can you? Sometimes you've got to taste the bitterness of being defeated before you let yourself drown into the sweetness of victory. Then only you'll learn to appreciate things, and be more grateful to Allah.

"Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat."

Everyone competes to win. And I'm not excluded. We all want to win because winning gives us the satisfaction, the fame, and not to mention the prizes and the advantages that we'll get. But as we all know, life is like a spinning wheel. There are times when we're up, being all high and mighty but don't forget that there are also the times when we're being crushed while being down.

"If you can't accept losing, you can't win."

I lost in History Quiz (second place) by only 1 mark difference with the champion, lost to a boy in Hafazan (second place) where there were only 2 females out of 10 participants, lost in Taekwondo Sparring (bronze medal) to a junior, and lost in Spell It Right Challenge - I was eliminated in the first round (preliminary) .

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed. But no worries, as there were absolutely no tears involved. I was glad that I participated in those competitions because there are things for me to cherish, things which are not for the public to know ;)

"You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character."

These happenings had taught me how to accept defeat with dignity and optimism, and so that I'll work hard enough to success instead of being overconfident with my abilities.

"I learned much from defeat than I ever learned from winning."

I hope next time I'll be able to merge as the champion.


Keep fighting,