As human beings, we go through many experiences in life that leave a mark on us in some way, such as the first day of school, the first day of college or any good or bad experience for that matter.

I have had a particular experience that I want to share, which I went through during my college life — the ‘F grade experience’. It was the worst experience of my life, but I must say, in retrospect, that I learnt a lot from it.

I had always been a bright student at school, both in curricular and co-curricular activities. So I took success and many other things for granted. I found it very easy to achieve high marks in all my subjects and so I wouldn’t study very hard and still manage to get good marks. I was considered a talented student at my school.

But when I started college, I realised that I was competing with those who did just as good as in their schools as I did.

Days passed by and I started feeling depressed and soon I was shocked to see my result — I got ‘F Grade’ in the class tests. I knew that I had put in less effort but I didn’t think it was fair that I got such poor marks.

I was really depressed and thought that I was becoming dumb, I felt incapable and insecure for the first time in my life. I didn’t understand what had happen to me. I thought I was trying my level best, but nothing was good enough.

I started hating college and gave up inside. But soon I realised that the college was not responsible for my bad grades, I was. It was I who took good grades and success for granted.

I restructured by study routine and started to put in more effort. I gave my best shot in my exams and got an A grade. Frankly I had been hoping for more, an A1 grade, and this started to depress me once again but soon I became satisfied with it. I realised that we make things harder for ourselves by getting worried over small things. But it’s not the solution. What has happened has happened, focus on the future and learn from the past.

We should always do our best and never give up because nothing is impossible. We should learn from our mistakes and should strive hard and shouldn’t give up easily.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 28th, 2018