When I was a little kid, my mom bought me a noticeably large book. It was a translation of the famous Soviet novel called “How Steel Was Tempered” by Nikolai Ostrovsky. Despite the initial boredom caused by the somewhat casual writing style used by the translator, I decided to read it to the end. When I finished reading it, it became one of the few books that profoundly influenced my character and later life decisions. It teaches everyone about the importance of resilience and perseverance during the crises of life.
We always wish for an ideally perfect life, full of happiness and joy. But let’s face the reality, life is not always sunshine and rainbows. Hardships and setbacks are inevitable. One of the very first setbacks I faced was when my family fell into a period of poverty. We barely even managed to find our daily transportation costs but with perseverance, hard work and smart management of money, we soon bounced back from that setback.
In the year 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was spreading its wings across the globe, it was affecting almost everyone’s lives severely, I was not an exception. Being that introverted guy who did almost everything by myself and hated social interactions, I thought to myself, ‘this is going to be easy to deal with’. But I was so wrong. It really hit me hard. It was a time period I had to face mental health issues but somehow, I bounced back again with much greater momentum.
The pandemic didn’t just affect my mental health but also my overall appetite for academics as well. I used to be that academically gifted kid who was always curious, eager to learn about almost everything and had so much questions for my dear teachers. But due to the chaotic nature of education during that period, I lost trust in the system, intentionally dumbed down myself and entered into a spiral of self-sabotage. It took me years to get back on track.
After each and every failure, I learned a lesson and my ability to withstand obstacles grew significantly. My fate might give me even harder obstacles in the future but one thing is sure, in that every setback I will rise like a phoenix like I always did.
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