Being a role model — my first Toastmaster’ speech
I’ve always envied people who can speak well. All these people on stage make it look so easy to stand in front of a group of people and tell their stories. So when I got a chance to join my company’s Toastmaster’s club, I jumped on that opportunity and completed my first speech recently. It was definitely nerve-wracking but I’m glad I took the first step. Here’s the transcript of what I spoke about:
Being a role model
I am a young parent. I got married at 22 and had a kid at 24. I remember the day I called my mum and told her that I was getting married. Her first reaction was: eh your girlfriend pregnant ar?
I had many similar reactions as I invited friends and relatives to our wedding. Here are some of the questions they asked:
- How many months already?
- How come never use protection?
- Why tie yourself down so early?
Many of them thought it was a shotgun marriage but it’s not. I’ve been married for about 4–5 years now but I don’t have any regrets about settling down early. While getting married early was a conscious decision, the baby came as a surprise a year later. We wanted to enjoy married life for a couple of years first but sometimes accidents do happen.
Becoming a dad
Arielle was born on the Boxing Day of 2016 and suddenly my whole world revolved around her. It is still revolving around her now by the way. I’ve never been good with babies and I don’t think I will ever be. I remember the day that we brought her back from the hospital, I asked the nurse: “What do we do with her when she’s home?” The nurse smiled at me and said:
“She’s your baby, you do you think is best for her.”
These words have stuck by me since then along with a new sense of responsibility. Overnight, I went from a young 24-year-old to a young 24-year-old with a kid but I wasn’t quite ready to be a dad yet.
Some wise man once said: “You’ll never be 100% ready.” It’s true. You just have to learn as you go and I am learning how to be a better dad every single day.
Imparting values
As a parent, I constantly think about the kind of values I’d want to impart to my kids and the skill sets that they’ll need to build to thrive in their future. With the rapid rise of technology, the requirement for different skill sets changes ever so frequently but some skillsets will be evergreen. One perfect example is communication.
Communication is so important because it helps you connect with people. I’d want my kid to be able to communicate effectively and with confidence. As a firm believer in parents being role models for their children, I thought it was important for me to first be able to communicate effectively myself before I teach her how to do it.
That’s one of the main reasons I joined the Toastmasters club — to learn how to be a better communicator and be a role model for my kid.
Breaking stereotypes
There was once when I did a personality test workshop with my department. The facilitator called for all extroverts to move to one side of the room and introverts to the other side. When I moved to the introverts camp, my colleagues thought I was trying to be funny even though my results showed that I am an introvert.
I’m an introvert by nature and judging by how my daughter just refuses to greet anyone, I’m guessing she is an introvert too. Work demands have made me look like I’m an extrovert but deep down inside, I often want to just skip all the small talks in the elevators.
My first experience with a stage was in secondary school. I joined a band competition where I was the lead singer. In our first performance as a band, I had stage fright and stopped singing halfway. I was really glad that my band didn’t give up on me and continued playing so I could recover and start from the next verse instead. That was one of the most memorable lessons in my life — to never give up.
Through this speech, I hope to leave you with the 2 things that I think are important in life:
- Find your purpose in anything you do
- Never give up
Thank you.
About the author
Caleb is a millennial dad to two beautiful daughters and enjoys exploring issues around technology, health, and parenting. In his free time, he daydreams about what the future holds for humanity.
