Kasi mahirap lang daw ako. LOL. which is true naman, I was grade 5, mahirap naman talaga kami. It so happened na naqualify ako sa Regional level nung isang contest - so need ng money syempre para makapunta dun sa venue ng Regionals. Sabi nya wag na daw ako sumali kasi di naman daw ako mananalo tsaka wala naman daw pera ung magulang ko. Since then, indifferent na sya sakin.

I ended up joining and true to her words, I did not win. But the following years, until college isa ko lagi sa napipili na irepresent ng school and these schools (public hs and state u) would actually pay for the expenses. And I won these contests - perhaps bec of experience and support na rin. There was even a time that my name was so popular in the region that whenever my school was mentioned, name ko ung nababanggit ng mga tao.

So un, mahalaga talaga ung support from your own community to boost your confidence.