‘Fear’ the unwanted anxiety and fright that is among all of us for something or the other. None of us has escaped from the experience of fear. Fear may be of peer pressure, high competition, failure, or anything. Some people stand up straight and conquer their fear and thus succeed while some are hindered by their fears and are left behind in the path of achieving their goals.
Here is a story of a girl named Annie whose fear was holding her back from achieving her dreams.
Annie, a very bright student from her childhood, had a dream of becoming a news anchor. She used to think that the news anchor is exactly the one who brings the day to day happenings of the society to the limelight. She used to be the most popular girl in her school hood. She was kind of a star at her school. Studies, Dancing, Acting, Singing, Speaking, Drawing… There was not any such activity that she didn’t matter at.
One day when she went back home from her school, she got to know that her father has been transferred to New Delhi. Hearing the news, she became very upset as she had to leave everything and shift to a new, unknown place. But she couldn’t do anything in this matter and had to go with her father. Annie became very lonely at that place because there were no small children in her neighborhood to play with.
There she was admitted to a new school. It was her first day at her new school. She was a bit nervous but was much more excited. She was accompanied by her father to her new school and after reaching her teacher took her to the classroom. She found her seat and sat quietly there. There was a girl named Emily sitting just beside her. On the first day only, they became very good friends. In the whole school, Emily was the only friend of Annie. No other child was interested to make a friendship with her. For this, Annie was a little unhappy.
A few days later, it was announced that the school was going to conduct a debate competition and the winner would be rewarded with the ‘Student of the year’ award. Annie thought that this is the opportunity! This is the opportunity to prove herself to be the best. She worked hard day and night. She was very well prepared. But the day before the competition, she became very scared and nervous. She had never been so nervous before. The day of the competition came and she tried her best to win. But everyone else was better than one another. There was a very high competition between the students of her school for the trophy.
The results came and Annie was totally shocked to hear the result. She worked so hard but still she loses. All her expectations dashed in the dirt. Sad, she set to go back home. On her way, some of her classmates teased her but she didn’t take all those words to heart. After this failure, she didn’t get very good marks in her exams and started to remain as lonely as possible. One who used to be the best student remained as an average student. She even used to get bullied many times by her classmates. She remained very depressed. Worried about her, her parents took her to the doctor and the doctor said that she had a social anxiety disorder or social phobia. In this disease, the patient starts to have a persistent fear of being commented on and judged by others and tries to be as alone as possible.
She grew up and was now struggling to get a job. Always, she wanted to be a news anchor but as news anchors have to speak in front of the whole world, it was very difficult for her to do so with such a disease. Neither could she give up her dreams for her fear nor get out of her fear. One day she again went on searching for a job but as she couldn’t interact much with others, she was refused the job again. She was totally broken in a way. She thought that she wouldn’t go so far with this fear in her heart. When she was returning home, she accidentally met Emily. By then, Emily had become a news reporter. She was very happy to meet her old friend. Together, then they went to a park and had a long gossip together. Emily asked Annie why she was so sad. Then Annie narrated the whole problem to Emily. Hearing this Emily said,” Do you know about Richard Branson? He was the founder of the Virgin group. He was sent to the London Stowe School for his studies but he couldn’t read properly because he had a disease named dyslexia in which it becomes very difficult for one to read. Still, his study was going good but it became very difficult when he was recognized as a mentally challenged student in her school. Richard quit high school at the age of 16. He then joined a student magazine originating from a church. He interviewed and published several big personalities for this magazine. During this time, he printed some special records (music CD) advertisements in this magazine. He gained a lot from this advertisement and became a businessman overnight. Their record sales were very rapid and demand also increased. When the business started running, he opened a record shop and named the shop Virgin. And now he is a billionaire. He never let his disease stand as a fear in his heart. He faced and overcame the situation. All of us will get through fears and failures but the one who will see it as a challenge will only succeed. Fear will try to break us but we will win only if we don’t let it to do so.”
Hearing this Annie said,” You are my true friend. You taught me the most important lesson in my life. Thank you! Thanks a lot!! I don’t know how to thank you for such a great favor…”
Both of them hugged each other and left back home.
The next day Annie was full of courage and gave a very impressive interview and then she became a news anchor for the first time only and she even walked out of her phobia. And her life was full of happiness ever after…
By Subhalaxmi Sahoo
