Challenges in life brings out the best in a person
Benjamin Koh
Class: 4.03
Topic: ‘Challenges in life bring out the best in a person.' Is this always true in your experience?
Challenges in life are obstacles that one has to surmount, to overcome in order to progress and to do so usually requires a display of admirable qualities such as courage and perseverance. Does challenges in life always bring out the best or the worst in a person? This is debatable as challenges can either make or break a person. Some people may not be able to hold out in a 'test' but succumb to the pressure. Tough times can reveal the true colours of a character, either for better or for worse, as in my personal experiences.
I remember when I was younger and when faced with adversity, I would either hide or run away from it, rather than take it on. One vivid instance of this was at my first camp with my uniformed group, the National Cadet Corps. it was the first time I was faced with a daunting experience. Every time my instructors barked out an order or reprimanded us, and these 'lecture' sessions seemed unending, I would cower at the back of my group, too shaken to do anything else. I was at a loss because the task of survival and completing the camp seemed so challenging that rather than bring out the best in me, actually did the contrary.
Every of the team challenge activity was the same - I was the 'burden' of my team, the 'weak link', who was always too frightened to do anything, always too timid to speak up and above all always too much of a coward to help my peers. If I could just run to save my skin and leave them to 'die' on enemy territory, I would. Hence, that is why adversity and challenges can sometime bring out the worst in a person, like they did to me, in this instance.
However, what doesn't kill you make you stronger, and as I grew older, the more I found this to be true. One experience that I rose to the challenge was during an expedition to the jungles of Brunei during my early Secondary Three days.
Class: 4.03
Topic: ‘Challenges in life bring out the best in a person.' Is this always true in your experience?
Challenges in life are obstacles that one has to surmount, to overcome in order to progress and to do so usually requires a display of admirable qualities such as courage and perseverance. Does challenges in life always bring out the best or the worst in a person? This is debatable as challenges can either make or break a person. Some people may not be able to hold out in a 'test' but succumb to the pressure. Tough times can reveal the true colours of a character, either for better or for worse, as in my personal experiences.
I remember when I was younger and when faced with adversity, I would either hide or run away from it, rather than take it on. One vivid instance of this was at my first camp with my uniformed group, the National Cadet Corps. it was the first time I was faced with a daunting experience. Every time my instructors barked out an order or reprimanded us, and these 'lecture' sessions seemed unending, I would cower at the back of my group, too shaken to do anything else. I was at a loss because the task of survival and completing the camp seemed so challenging that rather than bring out the best in me, actually did the contrary.
Every of the team challenge activity was the same - I was the 'burden' of my team, the 'weak link', who was always too frightened to do anything, always too timid to speak up and above all always too much of a coward to help my peers. If I could just run to save my skin and leave them to 'die' on enemy territory, I would. Hence, that is why adversity and challenges can sometime bring out the worst in a person, like they did to me, in this instance.
However, what doesn't kill you make you stronger, and as I grew older, the more I found this to be true. One experience that I rose to the challenge was during an expedition to the jungles of Brunei during my early Secondary Three days.