Someone Who Sees What Others and Even Yourself is Afraid to See (Essay Sample)

FINDING CONFIDENCE
Amidst the applauses from the cheering crowd, myself and other bakers marched to the stage in a straight line and took positions at our various work stations. It is the Sugar Wars competition today. Finally, we were here, this was the most important place for me, the battle ground - The Stage. It stood high up that one could have a clear view of the hall without stress. Its structure and design could be likened to that of a kitchen, the kind we see on TV shows. There were ten sizeable tables, carefully set up with baking ingredients and equipments. This meant one thing – only ten of us out of the hundreds who auditioned had made it to this point. At another side of the hall, few meters away from the stage, was specially designed and lighted up and graced with pictures of winners of previous years. This place was called the “Wall of Fame.” I was certain; that apart from the whooping prize money, this was the dream of every competitor here, to have her picture grace the Wall of Fame. I was ready to get this. If there was one great thing I had done for myself, it was; Finding Confidence.
The host spelt out the rules of the game and declared the competition open. “Bakers, your time starts now!” He echoed. As I dug into my confectionary sugar, my eyes caught a glimpse of a pretty, blonde girl of average height. She seemed uncomfortable and looked as though she did not know where to begin. I remember seeing her outside just before the competition began. I had overheard her talking to a tall, dark- haired guy about quitting and how she was not sure if she still wanted to be part of the competition because she did not think she was good enough. “Poor girl” I sighed. I could understand her fears and could say first hand that she was being affected by low self confidence. Just 3 months ago I was battling with this same problem, probably one that was worse than hers. I salute her bravery to be here for the competition in the first place, if it were me, I mean, the ‘me’ of three months ago, I would not have thought myself worthy to apply, I would not even dare.
The inferior feeling I basked in for almost all the years of my life changed when I met Ben. It was a hot afternoon; I had begun setting up my whipped cream frosted cupcakes on the table under the canopy at Bake Fare & Exhibition Event with the inscription “Karen’s Treats” hanging from the top. Once I was done with my set up, I walked few meters away so I could admire the yummy work of art which I had created. I had a feeling of satisfaction; the smile on my face said it all. I looked around so as to get a quick view of what other exhibitors had come up with. With what I saw, I knew deep down that I had done great, better than most of them. I felt I stood out from others because my work was much more on the creative side rather than basic. I had made various fondant cartoon characters and layered them neatly on each cupcake but for some reason, I began to lose my confidence, I had started giving myself every reason to believe that I could not win, that my cake stands were not as luxury and fancy as that of the girl across or that I was not as experienced and exposed as Stacy, an award winning baker.