Being a decent enough student, I always managed to get good grades in my school days. Unlike most of my classmates, I always had a clear thought of which stream I wanted to pursue in 11th grade. I just knew medical is the thing for me. Now to get into a medical college one needs to give a competitive exam called NEET which, let me tell you, is no easy thing to crack. As Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe a.k.a. Virus from 3 idiots has said, “life is a race” so I started my race along with the other 13 lakh people appearing for NEET with me. After two long years of hard work, endless days and nights of studying, missing out on social gatherings with friends and family, and literally prioritizing this exam over anything else in my life... Guess what? My rank was not enough to get me into a good college.
I have never failed a single exam in my entire life before. And then the realization of not getting through the most important exam of my life completely shattered me. At that time, I felt completely lost in my life.
The main thing that kept me together through all this was my parent’s support. I remember my dad telling me that failures are okay but not learning from those failures is not okay. He told me about how many failures he’s had in his whole life and how each failure has taught him something. So I decided to take a year off and do it all over again. The initial few months were rough. I would not go out at all. Seeing your friends getting into colleges and starting a new phase of their lives while you paused yours for one year can get a little overwhelming and not in a good way.
It took some months, but things started to come back to normal. I started going out again, made some new friends. I gave the exam again next year and this time I actually got a good rank.
Right now, I’m in one of my dream colleges, not too far away from my home. I get to come home on weekends and spend time with my family. Life is good.
To some people, this failure may seem like nothing. Well, to be honest, now it doesn’t feel like a big deal to me as well. When I look back, I realize how important that drop year was for me to develop as a person.
Never see yourself as someone who has failed, see yourself as someone who still hasn’t given up. Learn from your mistakes and always try to be better than you were the day before. Whenever you feel like you can’t do this or you’re not good enough, Go and talk to someone who loves you. It can be anyone, your friends, your siblings/cousins, your parents, or maybe even your pet.
Now these upcoming five and a half years of MBBS are going to be much harder and full of challenges but that’s what life is, Right? I know I’ll power through because I’ve got such awesome friends, super supportive parents and an amazing brother. No matter how worse the situation is, as long as you have someone to talk to about it...you’re good. You’ll find your way through it. Trust the trust they have in you.
(by Kalpana Jangra, LHMC)
Image: pexels.com | Credits: Sofia Alejandra
