Have you ever been the center of attention in a room full of mostly strangers?  Perhaps you had to make a presentation at your school, or maybe in my case, you were in a play.  If not, you are one lucky soul because let me tell you, it is nerve-racking.  Just the anxious, nervous feeling you get and the fear of rejection or ridicule, these are all factors of having to present something to someone.  With all those emotions rushing at you, along with the fact you have to remember what you’re going to say, it’s a wonder how we manage to muster up the courage and confidence.     
Last year, I played the lead female role in a play for a French competition, Congrès.  Not only did I have to be a vital role in the play, but I had to memorize all the lines in a completely different language!  You could say I was freaking out.  Of course, there were other people in the play, which made me feel better because they were going through the same mixed emotions as I was.  The only thing that worried me was the fact we all counted on one another.  If I messed up, I would mess up the whole play itself and disappoint everyone else who had worked so hard. 
We all prepared.  I went to the practices after school and on weekends for two months.  I spent an average of 30 minutes every day going over my lines and trying to memorize them.  But it was not easy.  It’s hard to memorize something that is not in your native tongue.  It’s also had to act when you’ve never acted a day in your life.  I’ve been in French for 3 years at my school by this time.  French isn’t an alien language to me.  I would say I know it pretty well.  However, I do not even think I could memorize something long in English if I was given the chance.  How was I going to do this?
Time went by, and before I knew it, it was show time!  I knew my lines pretty well but I didn’t have much confidence in myself.  I would sometimes now and then forget a line and would have to be reminded.  I was almost positive I would be the one to ruin it for all my friends who were also in the play.  It was a terrible feeling.  The day of the performance I did a bunch obscure things that I googled to help “calm to nerves.”  I drank orange juice because apparently citrus is calming, I even meditated for a while to clear my mind.  Thinking back, it was pretty ridiculous but I had to do something to take my mind off the fact I was going to be performing in less than six hours.
Those six hours went by quick.  Before I knew it, I was dressed in my costume and heading down to the room where we would be performing.  My French teacher gave us all a pep talk and said we’d do “fantastique.”  We all knew we were prepared, but with the factor of performing it in front of a bunch of strangers?  None of us knew how it would work out.  I recited my lines for the last time in my head for about the hundredth time that day, and took a deep breath before we got on stage.  
I bet you can guess how this story ends?  I mean, there are only two options: we did well or we failed miserably.  But I’m proud to say that all of us did terrific and we ended up getting first place in our division!  It’s funny really, how nervous I was for the performance.  However, when I got up on that stage and looked out into the sea of strangers, I wasn’t nervous anymore.  I felt confident in myself because I knew that I worked hard to learn my lines and play the part perfectly.  That hard work paid off.  The lesson I learned from this experience is that if you prepare yourself for something and if you really want it, you can do anything with flying colors.  That goes for any life moment.  C’est la vie.