Though they’re a part of you, they’re used against you every day. A weakness could be your mindset, attitude, or even appearance. A lot of us consider what we don’t like about ourselves as our failings because we believe that they’re putting us down as we go about our lives. This was all such a massive part of my life back when I was in high school when I was trying to find myself in a pool of doubtfulness.

I used to think about this during my first few weeks here in Germany when I first attended my Business English class and we were discussing how to properly give answers during an interview. Our lecturer was specifically worried about the usual dangerous “what is your greatest weakness?” question. This really had me thinking about what exactly a flaw is and how you can turn it into your favor.

During 10th grade back when I was in high school, I was having a huge slump where I was pretty depressed for a good four months. To get out of this, I decided to run in the Student Council elections as Treasurer for a change of pace and hopefully a new passion. Unfortunately, the student body wasn’t exactly the most forgiving in terms of me running. I remember a student asking: “who would vote for her?” during my campaigning while looking at one of my posters. I was a tiny thing back then (who am I kidding? I still am) with a rather squeaky voice and small demeanor so I could understand why they didn’t see me as much of a threat to the other students running whatsoever.

Since they saw my appearance and popularity as my weakness, I decided to turn it around. I worked long and hard and on the day the candidates were expected to give a speech to the student body to convince them to vote one last time, I got up there and I made fun of myself. Yup. I spoke about how I don’t look my age and how I sound like I swallowed a load of helium and you know what? The school loved it and I won the elections. Heck, I even threw some money up there at the end while I was at it.

I didn’t try to disguise that I wasn’t tiny, I embraced and used it in my favor. I really do believe that you’re the one who truly chooses what brings you down and what your strengths are. Sure, we all have something that’s not perfect but with some creativity and a different mindset, we can use it to our own advantage. Never let an imperfection or someone stop you from doing something. Strike your limitations and use them as your power. I understand it’s hard, especially when others classify you by what you consider your shortcoming, but you shouldn’t and can’t keep letting a small blemish keep you from doing you every day.