Sharing by Miss Wini Fung, Summer Intern in Talent Academy Summer Internship Program 2019 and a Psychology Major Student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who believed that she was the prettiest princess in town. She lived in a beautiful and glamorous castle with troops of guards to protect her from danger. This girl was never harmed by anyone, which also meant that she was unarmed and fragile. One day, the princess was shocked by the news that she was set to marry a prince from a faraway village.
She was no longer the pampered princess. She was forced to embark on her journey of unknowns.
Fortunately, She encountered a kind and experienced sailor who told her that she was more than capable to face the storms that await.
That’s how the story goes:
I, the self-proclaimed “princess”, also a soon-to-be college graduate, was honored and grateful to have the chance to work as an intern at Talent Academy in the past summer. This experience was beyond compare.
To begin with, I deeply appreciate my supervisor’s astonishing patience to embrace my incapabilities. In spite of his patience, it was very kind of him to spend lots of time guiding me along the way. He is undoubtedly the good sailor.
It was such a pleasure to have learned lots of practical skills during this period of time. For instance, I’ve learned the effective way of doing back-end onsite support, the proper manner to greet clients, the way to draft a proper proposal, and many more. Surely these practices and experiences would be invaluable to my future career.
In spite of learning the skills that could be actively applied in my future career, there are wonderful takeaways that I would consider as “life-changing”.
Most of the time, after I’ve completed an arduous task, I would feel satisfied and let myself lie on the couch all day with an empty mind. Then, my supervisor told me that “you could only learn once you’ve reflected upon it”. Which means that after completing exhausting tasks, it is crucial for you to spend time to reflect on what you have done and what could have been done better. For instance, you will need to think about “How to do better in prioritization? How to overcome the fear to socialize with strangers that are far much more senior than you?”. You could only own the knowledge of experience once you have reflected upon it.
This is not the end of the story. I, the “princess”, started to believe that I am more than capable of facing the unknown. I became much more confident. Even now I could hardly believe that such a deep-rooted sense of inferiority could be washed away within three months.
I am always so desperate to be an effective grown-up. I force myself not to forget all the huge or tiny mistakes that I’ve ever made. I am proud of my ability to acknowledge my weaknesses at the very beginning, but I found myself becoming more and more depressed as I constantly mourn over my flaws. Here came the twist. I had the chance to participate in a workshop about talent development. I started to realize that my flaws could be considered as the “dark sides” of my talents, which means that acknowledging my flaws may help me to excavate my talents. Before this internship, I was far too obsessed with the “dark sides”. Along with the kind encouragements and guidance from my supervisor, I have learned that instead of wallowing in them, we should keep on reminding ourselves that one day the “bright side” will shine, as long as we are brave enough to stop giving ourselves excuses like, “Unlike others, I was born to be incapable”. What we have to do is to step out of our comfort zones. It is for sure that we can’t be flawless, but we can be fearless.
The princess once thought that living in her own castle was brilliant. She always tried to force herself not to think of the fact she could never hide behind the fortress of intimate protection. After her lovely encounter with such a great sailing team, she is clear to herself that, although huge storms and ferocious waves are howling at her, she would never be smashed and discouraged.
She is going to show her gratitude to such a great team with her determination of being strong and loving for the voyage ahead.
Princess & Sailors
Wini’s Creative Artwork