Jiyeon was a mild, shy and a timid girl. Studying in 5th grade, she hardly talked to anybody at school.
So she never made friends. She stayed alone during lunch breaks and free classes.
Her teacher Hobie always tried talking to Jiyeon. She wanted Jiyeon to open up a bit and to make a few friends.
“Jiyeon, talk with someone. You have so many classmates around you. You need to have someone to open yourself to “. Hobie would try encouraging Jiyeon to come out of her loneliness.
“I can help you teacher”, Mina came forward seeing her teacher trying to convince Jiyeon.
During the next class test, Mina requested her English teacher to announce a surprise pick-and-speak act which would carry marks.
Two boxes had chits with names of all the students in class and topics to speak on. “Each one has to pick a chit and speak a few lines on the topic you get in the chit”, the English teacher announced.
The teacher picked the first chit, “It is Joonie!”,teacher waited for Joonie to stand up. “Come here Joonie and pick a chit of topic”.
Joonie spoke a few sentences on the topic she got to speak. This continued for a few more students.
Next was the turn of Jiyeon. She sat frozen. She could not move an inch. She felt so scared to go ahead.
Mina was sitting right behind Jiyeon. “Come on Jiyeon. You are the most intelligent student here.”, Mina was whispering right behind Jiyeon. “You have read many books. You will know about that topic. Speak up only 2 sentences. No problem.”, Mina encouraged Jiyeon.
Jiyeon could feel a sense of alertness within. She got up from her place slowly, and went to the teacher to pick up a chit.
The teacher picked chit from another box, “Jiyeon got to tell us about ‘Books'”, the teacher said. Patting on her back as Jiyeon came and stood beside the teacher, ” You can tell us which books you have with you or about the book you have read Jiyeonie”, the teacher tried boosting her confidence.
” I… “, Stuttering Jiyeon started. “I have got many books”,Jiyeon paused and looked towards her teacher who just nod indicating her to continue.
“Most of them are story books..”, she again paused and looked towards Mina who was already looking at her, listening to her with so much enthusiasm. She sent her a thumbs up.
Jiyeon smiled a bit and continued. “I like to read stories. My favourite character is Maapu”, Jiyeon started to tell on what she knows about the books she has.
“This short inspirational story is written by write Kanchan.”, she continued with a pause.
“Maapu is a normal girl like me and she won the position in the football team to play football and to represent her school for her city”, unknowingly she narrated the whole story from the book “Yes! You can do it. “
Looking towards Mina “Surely a positive voice can encourage us to succeed in our tasks. Like Maapu had her mother behind her, I had Mina today. Thank you so much Mina”, turning towards her teacher she gave a smile to her teacher and ran towards Mina and hugged her.
It was such a stress relief for Jiyeon.
Friends boost our happiness and reduce our stress.
Focusing on inspirational words can empower, motivate or even heal a person.
Learning to pay attention to the words we choose to share with others or to use in our daily lives has a bigger effect than we might believe.
P.S.
- Images are only for reference.
- Credit to the right owner.