Overcoming Adversity by Jasmine

Overcoming Adversity by Jasmine - May 2022 Scholarship Essay

As a common lazy student, I tend to do the bare minimum to get by. I always go through the motions when I’m attending school and never really try to change my bad habits, and once Covid-19 hit it got worse. Everyone was forced to stay inside which lead to school districts switching to online learning. It became difficult to maintain motivation, adequate mental health, and proper grades to continue with my high school career. As I worked my way through this obstacle, it revealed my flaws as a student, as well as an individual, and learning to make a routine helped me to overcome mental boundaries.

In my first semester of junior year, I was entirely online. It was a different experience with more freedom, independence, and time-flexibility. At first, it seemed easy because I could sleep in and take my time to do homework assignments and tests, but that euphoric feeling soon dissipated once I got later into the semester. It started to affect my academic performance as I began struggling with self-discipline, finding motivation, and efficient time management. I got distracted easily and had no incentive to even try to pick myself out of the hole I was digging. The grades I received were extremely low because I waited last minute to complete any assignment I was given. I became very poor mentally and being isolated while stuck in front of a screen for a majority of the day did me no good.

Online learning creates a lot of stress, anxiety, and negative thoughts. I had an increased workload compared to being in school and learning new information was challenging. The program I had to use with my school played a part in this because everything was thrown at me all at once and there was no option to be taught by an actual teacher. I had to teach myself all the chapters and it got to the point where I gave up and didn’t try anymore. Not being able to have face-to-face interactions led to feelings of isolation and it was too stressful to obtain all the details, so to cope with that I shut down. I lost my drive to succeed, which created a ripple effect.

My grades were an indicator of my mental health. I became extremely careless with how I performed on my assignments and tests. At this point in my life, I wasn’t thinking of my future. I was too drowned out in the battle of my mental health and the small urge to do better.

This ordeal revealed my flaws as a student and helped me overcome mental boundaries, and exposed my bad habits which lead me to create a routine for my own time. Focusing on my goals for the future helped me find that extra push to get around the obstacles I was faced with. I slowly, but surely, gained the energy to organize my daily life to be able to help me breathe a breath of fresh air. Mastering a consistent routine was the key to digging me out of the hole I was in and has also helped me through my current school days.