The Lives of Others

My most important take away from the essay is that reading the experiences of
others may lead you to find more meaning on worst circumstances that are happening in
your life. The authors of the diaries imparted that life can be beautiful amidst negative
situations. It made me reflect on the present situation today. We are caught unready by the
pandemic like the authors who experienced difficult circumstances like war and mental
illness. But the adversity of their experiences can be a source of comfort for us readers
because it has shown that they were able to overcome them. It gives us hope that we can
also get the better of this situation.
I am a type of person who cannot easily express myself to other people. I am only at
ease in sharing my feelings to my parents. But there are some circumstances when I cannot
tell my parents when I have problems or when I experience challenges because I don’t want
them to worry about me. In this state, I just reflect and write a diary. I consider my diary as
a best friend who will not judge me. I can tell it about my deepest fear. When I have
anxieties, I just talk about it through writing. My negative feelings subside whenever I do
so. During times when I experiences hardships because of scholastic works, I usually post
my thoughts on social media but then I realized, it is not the platform I need to use since
other people might judge me. Instead, I look for memes or posts about the same feelings I
have. This make me feel lighter. Then I discovered that reading is also a way to reduce my
stress. At first, I just read nonfiction writings. This makes me relaxed and somehow forget
about the distressful state that I am into.
Like the authors, I also feel depressed whenever I was not able to complete my tasks
on time. Also when I need to revise my outputs after consultations. I suffer from a feeling
that I am not good enough as a student or I am not worthy of the comfortable life my
parents are providing for me. In this situations, I do an introspection. I dig on the real cause
of my sufferings and sometimes I realized that I only feel this way because I am setting a
high standard for myself and that I am not contented on what I can do. My deepest
anxieties are because of self – set standards. Through this process, I feel much better. I feel
serenity and afterwards, I can continue accomplishing my tasks with a positive thought of
completing them without mediocrity.
Reading experiences of other people also helped me to cope – up with difficult
challenges as a student. I read about blogs of fellow Tamaraws who overcame the same
strenuous scholastic tasks. It made me realize that if they can go through them, I can also. It
just takes hope.