Getting into my university was unexpected. It was something I didn't plan when I was still in high school. I thought I'd spend all my days in Davao City and enroll in Ateneo de Davao. That was my dream school then. When I graduated high school, my parents decided that I attend college in Iligan City as we will be moving back to my father's hometown. I had mixed feelings. I was excited about a new journey to begin but I was also very sad to leave the life I used to know so well behind.

I can still remember how excited and terrified at the same time I felt when I was dropped off at the boarding house I was about to live in for the next 5 years of my life. It was a brand new start, literally. I didn't know anyone at all in this new place. I didn't know how the city worked and how the residents in it acted. It was the beginning of an adventure I know I would remember forever.

Thankfully, I found acquaintances in the first days of classes. Soon enough, I found some I can call friends. It wasn't so bad as I imagined. I began to enjoy my classes, I began to love the city as well.

I started to struggle by my third year in university. It was the beginning of taking up my majors and I didn't have the best of time, academically speaking. As an engineering student who wasn't fond of math, saying that I struggled was an understatement. It was the hardest challenge to surpass, I failed so many times, I lost count.

Looking back, I may have some things I would love to alter. But thinking about where I am now, I know all of those things happened for a reason and all of the choices I made back then made me who I am today.


Maybe if I could talk to my former self, I would have told her these:

Failure is an essential part of your growth.

Nobody goes through life without falling down once in a while. Failing means you have done something but you still needed to do more. It is not an endpoint. It's just a temporary block on the road. Failing means you still have a long way to go. Maybe you just lacked in doing more or maybe the timing wasn't just right yet. Failing does not mean that you are inadequate, it just means that you need to improve yourself more for the better. Stand back up, chin up, and continue moving forward. 😊

The mistakes you make build up your future self

Let me start this advice with a cliche. Experience is the best teacher. And this couldn't be truer to its sense. All of the mistakes you made in the past are the building blocks of your personality today. Maybe those mistakes made you better, or maybe it made you worse. What you should do is learn from your mistakes so that you wouldn't have to repeat them again. Experience all your wrongdoings, experience the emotions you went through, and then learn from them.

It's okay to take a break.

Studying is a part of a student's life, but it isn't a student's whole life. You are human and you are allowed to feel tired. Yes, I know you feel the pressure but it's okay to take a break and wind down. Go to the mall, eat that ice cream, hang out with your best friends. Do what you have to do to ease your mind. Just don't overdo it and become lax and lazy. 😉