At age 18, I was given the honour of playing piano and singing a solo piece at our secondary school (Irish high school) graduation. As I sat at the grand piano, nerves pumped through my veins and my hands trembled as I began to play and sing in front of hundreds of people.

Then my worst fear happened - out of nowhere, the microphone fell onto the piano. I squealed with fear. My friend and hero sitting behind me rushed to pick up the mic and held it for me. Despite feeling humiliated and like a failure, I kept going until the end of the song.

Now the flip side. You see, the position of the piano meant the audience couldn’t see me. I found out afterwards that nobody had a clue the microphone had fallen, they only heard my squeal. They thought I was getting emotional about leaving our school and it inspired them all to cry and feel their feelings.

You never truly know how others perceive you, so what you might see as a failure or a shortcoming, could be the very thing that helps others.