After seeing this topic, I took time to reflect on the different times I handled a task or approached something new for the first time, and I found out that the totally new ones swept off my confidence level.
I remember clearly the first time I resumed a tertiary institution. I made sure I increased my confidence level to the highest because I did not want to look totally lost. On the very first day, after getting many directions from strangers on how to locate my lecture hall in the big school premises, I finally got there and met a fat guy dressed in his well-starched and ironed shirt, making a call close to the door. I greeted him with "sir" because I thought he was the lecturer. Not long after I got into the class, I found out that the guy was among us, a student like me. That was really a knock on the confidence I had built from home.
From my experiences and what I have seen people do, the confidence in trying something for the first time, I mean something entirely new, not something one is somewhat familiar with but not fully, the confidence level can never be at its peak, no matter how smart the person is.
Back then, when I was employed or let me say, "forced", to work in an eatery full of ladies, I tried everything possible to build up my confidence level to the brim so I would not be seen as someone who is dull or someone who cannot flow with ladies. On my first day there, no matter how hard I tried to catch up and bond with everyone, there were awkward moments, and everyone noticed as well. I did not have any challenges with my work, which was the main reason I was there, but bonding was at zero level because, hey, I was the only guy in the midst of quarrelsome ladies. They all rushed to make friends in order to add to their clique, but I was not used to that, and I could not read their signs. But just a few weeks into the work, you needed to see how I was controlling things.
This same thing happened to me the first time I was told to lead a prayer in church. Oh my goodness, I cannot forget that day in a hurry. The truth is, you may be praying very well in your closet, but when it comes to leading a prayer in public for the very first time, your confidence will shake. That day, I begged and begged the pastor in charge to take the task off my shoulders and allow me to find time to rehearse for another occasion, but the pastor refused and said, "You may not learn if you do not try." Do you want to know the outcome? A story that would hit 1,500 words if I tried to write about it.
So yeah, confidence will always drop when trying something for the first time.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Week 209, Edition 03 of the Weekly Featured contest in Hive Learners Community
