'Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.' Epicurus, the great Greek philosopher once said. Indeed, in our everyday lives, we tend to feel jealous of others for things they possess that we do not have, often these things are materialistic in nature. In Singapore's educational landscape, this often translates to a competition of who has the best grades. Having been through numerous continuous assessments, tests, exams (i.e., GCE O levels, GCE A levels), from my observation, after every exam, without fail, there will be a ritual of comparison of results after they are released. People never seem to be satisfied with their exam results. They often look up to people who scored the higher grades with envy and when this happens often enough, negative emotions pent up and feelings become suffocating.
I feel it is normal to feel envy whenever you don't do as well as others but we shouldn't let ourselves slip into a negative emotional state. For instance, with the passing of the recent midterm exams, some people explicitly express disappointment in their results even when they did better than a lot of people. What these people fail to realize is that they can cause a negative domino effect. By their expression of negative emotions, people who did worse in an exam than these people will naturally feel worse. That is why I feel it is important to adjust one's attitude and take a leaf from Epicurus's book.
For those people that are still feeling down from the midterm exam results, always remember that 'what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for.' When we were young, many of us aspired to enter a prestigious university but how many of us actually get an opportunity to do so? To be here, studying your butt off, is a dream of many but you out of that selective few of many have achieved this dream. Look back at your personal struggles in life and how you overcame them, you are already a winner.
Of course, one should not be easily satisfied and what I am advocating is not that of course, but rather to correct one's attitude. Morph your envy into motivational energy, challenge yourself to keep doing better and never give up. Attitude determines your altitude. So instead of desiring of what we have not for example, better midterms grades, we should instead focus on what we can change such as working hard for the next exam.
In conclusion, don't fret and delve into negative emotions if you haven't done well for midterms or any other exams you encounter. Epicurus himself suffered from immeasurable pain during his final days having been afflicted with kidney stones and yet advocated cheerfulness and optimism. Remember, no problems are unsolvable, attune to a more positive mindset and look forward to a potentially brighter future ahead.
Siempre avante!
Signing off.
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