No.27 Jalan BBK 1/8 Bandar Baru Kundang, 48020 Rawang Selangor D.E.

, Malaysia February 17th 2013 Dearest Alana, How are you and your family doing in the United States? I hope to hear that everyone is in their best of health. My family and I back here in Malaysia are all busy with our daily routine as usual. First and foremost, I would like to apologize for only writing to you about a fortnight after I received your letter. School has just started for two weeks for me after a long year- end break and I am just beginning to feel the pinch of being seventeen, that is, the 11th Grade. For your information, in Malaysia, all students are required to sit for a national examination, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). So I will be taking mine this year. In this letter, I want to share with you on how to gain self- confidence. I had attended a motivation session at school just a couple of days ago and I thought it would be great if you could benefit from these tips as well. The first step of acquiring self- confidence is by knowing ourselves as everything starts here. We must be able to know where our strengths and weaknesses lie. That way, we would be able to identify where our limits are when it comes to doing things. When we have realized these things, we will have the courage to overcome our fears and by doing so, we can then steel ourselves to do things we have to do and accomplish. Second of all, we must know our strengths. It is very important that our self confidence be boosted constantly as an individual will low self- esteem would not generate much productivity. We must only set goals for things we can do. If we were to work on something we have no confidence in completing, then there is no point to make an effort to even get it done in the first place. So, if we were to work towards a goal we know we are able to achieve, we would eventually reach the goal in no time at all. On the other hand, it is also very vital that we are able to tell where our limits are. We must always keep in mind that we should never go beyond our limit as we might not end up achieving our goal. We must have a positive attitude when it comes to facing difficulties by accepting certain consequences. And most importantly, when we are given a task, we should perform at our very best at it so even if it doesnt turn out the way we want it to be, we would still feel satisfied as we put all our effort into doing it. Besides, another important point in gaining self confidence is to avoid failure. Our lifes goals, hopes and dreams are just like a full house in our very own hands. It is our job to play our cards well if we want to win a game. Just like playing cards, we must have the ability to plan on how to achieve our hopes and dreams. On the way to achieve them, we must deal life with a rosy outlook and a positive mindset through a robust self esteem. If we are able to plan our life goals, we would be collecting feathers in our cap when we least expect it. Anyway, I think I should stop here as my letter is getting to lengthy. I hope after reading this, you have gained as much information as I have when it comes to gaining self- confidence. Send regards to everyone at home. I hope to hear from you very soon, Alana. Take care and have a great school term. With lots of love, ________________ Tashini