Someone Asked My Beta This Question...

WHY does LA like to debate w/ people tho? Like what does she get out of it?

It’s a way to sharpen the mind. It’s like mental chess. It helps you learn to think fast, adapt to changing circumstances, overcome obstacles. My parents and my brother and sister and I have held debates on random things since I was like, 3 years old. I learned research skills, how to keep calm under pressure, how to handle overwhelming odds without cracking, and how to read certain things from people (mostly when they’re starting to get nervous cuz I’m winning).

It’s also just a good way to learn how people think about things (which in turn can tell you a lot about their background) and you can learn things from debates, too. It opens up new avenues of thought for me when someone mentions something I haven’t thought of before. And as long as everyone keeps their cool and we don’t resort to name calling or insults or whatever, it’s a great way to make friends with people who like to analyze stuff (mostly books but sometimes not) as well.

It also taught me something major that’s helped me a lot in my life - don’t commit to something unless you’re sure. When my dad and I would debate things and he would say, “That’s wrong,” if I argued, he would say, “I bet you. I bet you.” My dad doesn’t bet unless he’s certain. And so winning a bet of that kind with my dad was always a big deal, a sign that I’d taught him something.

But being wrong sucked. So I learned to make sure that in a situation where I was like, “No, this isn’t just conjecture, I’m positive I’m right,” I was pretty d*** positive before I even put myself out there.