Mei's Contest with Shyness

Mei had always been a shy girl who found it hard to take a compliment. Her shyness caused her parents great concern, because they feared that her condition would conceal the fact that she was actually a very talented and charming young lady. “You have no conception of how beautiful you are,” they told her.

“Do not condemn yourself to a lonely life because you have concluded that you are not a competent person.”
Mei grew tired of hearing her parents complain, so she compiled a list of ways to compensate for her shyness and improve her confidence. There were many ways that she could improve herself, but she condensed her list down to one idea-if she could just win some type of competition, she could overcome her shyness.

She conceived a plan to compete on a new television program called “Chinese Idol” that concentrated on finding the best singer and entertainer in all of China. The concept of the show was to have contestants perform several compulsory songs that would then be evaluated by a panel comprised of three judges.

Despite her intense shyness, Mei was determined to concentrate on her inner strength and enter the competition.
Mei worked very hard on her stage performance, which she knew would complement her outstanding singing ability. As she practiced, she was also inspired to compose her own song, one that she wrote to honor the inspiration that her parents had given her. The first rounds of the competition were held in each province, with the judges working to compress the total number of contestants down to ten members that would then travel to Beijing to reach the conclusion of who was the true “Chinese Idol”. When it came time to perform, Mei nearly decided to cancel her performance because she was so concerned about her performing abilities. But she refused to concede to her shyness, and she easily won the competition in her province, then her region, and she was chosen to complete in the finals in Beijing! At the finals, she begged the judges to allow her to perform the song that she had written for her parents. At first they refused to comply, but the judges finally compromised and allowed all ten of the contestants to perform any song they wanted. Mei’s song and performance was so beautiful that it brought tears to the eyes of the judges. She was easily chosen as the first “Chinese Idol”, and shyness never concealed Mei’s true personality ever again.