Life and its unavoidable challenges

What is life without its fair share of hardships? For people to savour the flavours of life, 'lows' along with the 'highs' are very important.
Life has been pretty much easy for me until I decided to drop a year for CAT 2018. To live with the uncertainty, to having fumbled up CAT 2017 and having frequent meltdowns, dropping a year can really take a toll. Having been a sincere student all my life, I had quite high expectations for myself, so the fear of failure sank in me and scared the living day lights out of me. It was then that the exclusion from friends and colleagues started, I would be in my bed, lazing and anxious all day. And just when I thought I was hitting  rock bottom a new low hit me and my family. The person I loved the most, my grandmother, my 'aaita' passed away and we were evidently shattered. She was the root of our family tree, the shadow that provided comfort, the hands that nurtured us were nowhere to be found holding us.
"A beautiful soul is never dead and never forgotten" they say, and this somehow kept moving and going strong. I knew it was time I picked myself up, down from ground zero. It began by learning to take things easy, take life as it comes, educated myself about self-love and started indulging in self-help books, meditation and mindfulness.  As time passed by, I could see positive changes. Yes, at times it all feels the same but I am more than willing to bounce back everytime. And eventually, CAT 2018 happened, so did TAPMI. Even though everything seems to be moving too fast, I feel content and am definitely in a happy and better place. Wise people always say that no matter the highs and lows, loss of life or a new birth, time and life does not stop for anyone or anything. And I am slowly beginning to realise how true this statement is and am making the best of my situations. I hope that things only get better for me from here on as I am determined to not let my circumstances get the better of me. And I hope to make my Aaita proud of me as well.