Thud. Thud. Thud. I never knew my heart could beat so fast. My pulse was deafening so was the silence around me as I walked onto the podium in an MUN conference room with 40 odd fellow delegates. What? When? How? Why? Questions were racing as if in a race with my heart beat.
Being the youngest in this NATO committee at my school’s MUN while representing South Korea. As I turned around, I saw towering necks with their watchful eyes watching over me as a hawk. I wondered what they were thinking. Were they getting overconfident? Were they underestimating me? Or was I just thinking too much?
I never was a very shy speaker. But here with these giraffes(no real offense to the people in question…), I felt like David with 40 Goliaths ahead of me.
I was in fury but also encouraged. This might be just my 6th MUN, but every other time it did feel like this but I always ended enriched with new learnings, friends and also awards.
And then I glanced at my device and the words flowed out. I was in great flow and every one of my doubts in my abilities faded away. POI after POI were bombarded at me but delegate after delegate was also satisfied with my retorts and answers. What turned out as a cat and mouse game, this was a true incident of an underdog rising from the ashes.
But nonetheless, this incident cemented my ability and my self- belief because this experience did not just earn me a Best Delegate. But also confidence, humility, knowledge and older peers. I was glad to be able to thrive in a setting where I was by far the youngest and then to get noticed by the whole committee.
That was a feeling that would forever stay with me. This incident not only serves as a reminder to me that age is only a number. With confidence and belief, no superstition or underestimation can come in my way. I just had to believe, learn and importantly never give up and back down.
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Credits for “Trials and Triumphs: An MUN Memoir”
Cover Image Credits: https://www.mindler.com/blog/advantages-and-benefits-of-mun/
Inside Image Credits: https://isymun.weebly.com/what-is-a-mun.html
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Well done 👏 👏
Thanks!