Old Memory

I wanted to share story,
One that changed not only how I think of others,
But also, how I thought of myself.
I hope it does not bore you too much,

It was a religious primary school, and so we had lots of well-being activities, people to come and talk to us once a week about bullying, friendship, and respect. Usually, someone like me would fall asleep or joke with friends and mess around a hell of a lot. Well, one of these activities really got my attention.

First of all, we all had to choose a pen, I found it odd that they were all the same colour, but I chose. The presenter, a young lady, if I remember, then placed a yellow sticky note on each of our small young backs.

She then instructed, “Now everyone, go and write a word on your other peoples stick notes, that describes a positive attribute of that person, if anyone writes anything silly, we will stop”.

Now I don`t know much about other people’s primary schools and their lives, but I wanted to point out that mine was pretty bitchy (excuse the language). Lies and rumours and betrayal. Like American politics for kids going through puberty (no offence anyone).

So to see schoolyard bullies and the first person to break my heart, come up and write words like “caring” and “kind” (although I have no clue if they wrote that). I felt elated.

For the first time, that I can remember, people other than my parents had complimented me. This is in itself changing my outlook in life.

I had always had little self-confidence, but I think this opportunity opened a window for me. And for the first time, without asking anyone, I was able to view from the other side of the glass.

So my message would be, that sometimes, we are our toughest critics, we always like to push ourselves down, because of how we THINK others perceive us. Instead, we should base or critique on evidenced-based feedback, that we KNOW is true.

Besides, if someone is too afraid to give you this feedback to your face, then it’s probably not true.

I hope you liked the story. Thought better of it than to fit it all in a poem. Inspired by Tracy, Tina and Marion.

All the Best. The Fish of the Sea.