The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Failure is a way to learn from your mistakes. Failure helps you push yourself to do better the next time. To overcome the obstacles on the way to your goal, you have to persevere through it and try your hardest. During my desperation, I saw things differently as I felt that nothing mattered at the time and I did not try as there was just an endless void.

At one point in my life, there was a time when everything seemed meaningless and there was no reason to try and put actual effort into anything I did. Life felt like darkness, a black hole sucking you in. From my viewpoint during that point in time, if there was an obstacle, I felt a lack of motivation that would prevent me from overcoming the hurdles in my path. A challenge felt like too much work and failure felt like there was nothing that I could do to change it. Eventually, I tried my best to come out of this mindset and doing so helped my mental health greatly, since I thought that it would be impossible to achieve anything before.  After finding the support that I needed which helped alter my reasoning, my entire perspective changed.  I am now able to see failure as an opportunity to learn from my mistakes. 

After being relieved of that negative mindset the situations and supports around me gave me a feeling or sense that I can do anything. Then I was able to learn that not everything is impossible if you keep trying. Overcoming this challenge also helped me get back on track academically. Unlike before I am now able to learn that challenges are not just “extra work,” challenges are opportunities to improve my skills and learn more. After applying this philosophy I was able to achieve academic improvement by raising my grades and improving my work habits in school. I was given the chance to improve and I took advantage of the opportunity by using my own time to show up to class during the morning and lunch hours,  to work on improving and making up assignments. This act of encouragement and progress invigorated my drive to keep going forward and never look back. 

Being able to realize and admit that you need help is an advantage and is beneficial to your healing. Because now you can get the help that you need to fix yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically, and help you reach success invaluable things like academics. Now I feel very motivated to work diligently as opposed to before asking for help. With the ability and desire to ask for help you are at an advantage to get your life back together. This setback also helped me mature and put my priorities in order. My life is not always going to be easy and I can accept that, and I can also make sure that I take care of my mental and physical health in order to improve my life. Anything is achievable when you allow yourself the opportunity to give everything good that you have to offer. I was able to achieve skills and strengths from this experience like endurance and a strong will. With my experience, I was also able to figure out ways to cope like taking a deep breath when being stressed, or slowing down my pace if I'm getting frustrated. Ultimately I will employ these skills in college to relieve the despair and stress of everyday life challenges. As the saying goes, I have learned not to drown in a glass of water. Even though I was in a place that seemed like an inescapable dark path, I was able to prevail and find a new and efficient way to handle things by simply asking for help.