"It's Lack of Faith That Makes People Afraid of Meeting Challenges, And I Believed in Myself" - Muhammad Ali.
It was particularly challenging for me during my shift from a government school to a Convent school in the 8th standard that the realization of a challenge first came, before that everything was happy-go-lucky. Everything was new- the teaching methods, the discipline and particularly the language. The excitement turned to fear to compete with my schoolmates. But I had my family’s support who supported me during this ambiguous period. There a fear of failure – failing myself and my family which also acted as a motivation for me. This fear kept me determined to perform and work even harder. It was this fear, motivation, and determination which helped me to overcome this challenge and led me to complete my HSC with good marks.
After completing my schooling and then entering into an engineering college in Chandigarh I was then again thrown into a backfoot. It was then when I realized the importance of the various engineering qualification exams (JEE, AIEEE). This was also the first time I was away from home and had the freedom. But I was not able to control this freedom and lost focus leading to a dismal performance during the first two years of my graduation. This dismal performance and failing to get a good internship made me realize the wrong path on which my life trajectory was heading.
This realization motivated me to do work had. I changed my accommodation with friends and move to the campus hostel and started putting up dedicated hours towards studying. This not only helped to complete my graduation with the first division but I was also amongst the few who were able to bag a campus placement with a company of my choice.
These somewhat bigger challenges along with the everyday challenges that life throws at us make our lives interesting but it is important that you attempt to tackle these challenges with full dedication and an open mind because even if you fail you will still learn something new.