Setbacks

Whew! It's been a month since I last posted. Where have I been this past month, you may ask? The answer is that I have been doing a lot of self-thought.

Have you ever suffered from a setback that seems to drain you of your energy? A setback that saps all of your morale? I know I have. The setback that I am talking about is of course losing the First Aid Competition. Yes, I know that all of you are bored of me talking about it again, but what can I do? After all, FAC will always be an experience that I will never forget. Anyway, back to setbacks.

Setbacks of the same nature occur mostly during times of stress. In fact, one often sees this in the sports arena. It could be missing a key basket in basketball, having a goal disallowed in soccer, or getting a double fault in tennis. Losing balance during figure skating, missing a throw-in during rugby.............. the list is endless. After these setbacks, one often finds that he is unable to recover. It is as though he has fallen down and cannot stand up again. He just keeps falling, and falling. Soon enough, due to the added pressure to make up for the mistake, another mistake arrives to complement the first. And another. And another. And another.

During the month that I have been away, it was as though I was living in a state of denial. I knew the team had lost, but it seemed that my brain was trying to overwrite it. Many times, I went to the St. John room after school for the purpose of stoning. I went there on the pretext of cleaning the room, but it seems more like I wanted to feel the aura of the room. After all of the training sessions that I had there, I just wanted to be there again. Be there to train for a competition that would never ever come.

For now, the phase is over ( I hope ). The turning point was during two incidences that had happened on the same day. This fateful day was the day of the rugby 'B' Division Finals. I watched and cheered as the ACS ( I ) Rugby team fought their hearts out on the pitch. It is unfortunate that they did not bring back the trophy. However, when I watched the team get together for one last time, I saw that many of them had tears in their eyes. That scene touched me, as it reminded me of the day that my team lost the competition. I watched as the Rugby team got together later on to perform their last but certainly best "Haka" performance. It would be the last time that they performed that unique cheer, but I am sure that they would leave with no regrets.

The second incident was what I overheard someone say. During the match, one player had sustained a major injury, which I think was a fracture. However, when one of the members of the Champion First Aid Team went forward to treat the injury, he was at a loss as well. It reminded me that the members of my team were the true winners of the competition. Our senior, Ed, who was a Runner for the judges, told us that we lost only because of our teamwork. First-aid wise, we were definitely the top. If a real case were to happen, where some drifter suddenly fell in front of us, we would definitely administer the best treatment.

This just goes to show that setbacks will, well, set us back. However, we have to take on the mindset that the setback is not a setback but a learning experience. We have to learn not to make the same mistake again.

For now, I am no longer in a rut, but I still go to the St. John Room after school at times. But it is now that I realize the true meaning of Icyfate's words when he said, "It's okay. We will always be 1st in our hearts!"