Hello all:) I finally made it home after a 20-hour flight. Yup I am talking about my real home in Vietnam. But what I want to talk about is how I overcame a really rough week to achieve my ultimate goal- going home.
To be able to go home, I tried to do a lot of things beforehand. I knew that I needed to take care of everything in Provo so I won't miss assignments and fall behind in school. However, things were not easy as it seemed. Somehow I had more homework during that week and I had more assignments at work. In addition, I had three midterms that I had to take before I left. Not to mention a million other things came along the way. There were so many things to do. It got me to the point where I could explode anytime. Everything seemed to go wrong. I got angry at my friends for no reason. I lost my patience easily when I couldn't design a poster properly. I snapped at my coworkers because I thought they didn't do their jobs. Luckily, my friends knew what was going on with me and they tried to keep me positive and helped me as much as they could. When I was about to lose my temper and felt like giving up, they were always there and gave me courage. After all, I did everything I could and now I am enjoying the sunshine in Vietnam^^
When negative things happen simultaneously, people tend to feel suffocated, react aggressively and finally give up. At some points, the feeling of helplessness penetrated to my mind and I felt like: "Ok it's done, that's it!" However nothing great will be achieved without blood, sweat and tears. What I learned from last week is it's really important to have determination along with a positive attitude to to overcome adversity and hardships. Epictetus said, "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." I am learning to have a greater sense of control. I will not let external circumstances determine who I am and what I am going to do. I know that bad things can happen but I always have a choice about how to respond.
I really enjoyed this post. I'm glad you were able to make it back to Vietnam, and I admire your determination to get everything done before you left. I'm not sure I would have been able to handle that. I like what you said about always having a choice about how to respond. It's true, we choose how we respond, whether we realize it or not. It's a hard choice sometimes, but we always get to choose.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your posts because I can so easily relate to them. I'm trying to get so much done before the three day weekend. I am going to California with my boyfriend, but to be able to do so I need to complete assignments, take tests, and get covers for work. I can completely understand the unexplainable snaps at co-workers and friends. Sometimes the stress and the to-do list builds up so fast that I don't know what to do with myself. But with the support of friends and the family, it is possible to make it through the hard times. And now you get to enjoy the benefit of working so hard! Great job and keep at it. After a lot of hard work, we are always rewarded with some peace.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this! I am glad you were able to make it through such a stressful week and that it is paying off now. I will have to remember your experience the next time I feel like I have a lot on my plate. Post some pictures of Vietnam for us!
ReplyDeleteI love this Mia! It's so great that you were able to make it home. There's nothing like being home :) Especially if you had to overcome so much to get there - I feel like we value things more if we have to work more for them. I have experienced those rough weeks where it just feels like the workload never ends. It's rough to get through but once you reach the end of the week and can take a breather and have fun, then you can look back and see what you accomplished. That is the best feeling. Life is full of high and low points, but we can always choose which one we want to feel. Thanks for sharing your experience and how you chose to feel about it!
ReplyDelete