ONE
of the low points I experienced during my high school days at St. Peter’s in Ghana was when I dropped out of the list of top ten students in the General Arts
class. This was during my second year.
Even
at the nineteenth spot (out of 150 General Arts students in my batch), I was still
acknowledged by many as brilliant.
For
me however, moving from number two to nine and then to nineteenth was a big
fall. I was on my way down and I needed to make a U-turn before the final
examination administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
I
tried to study harder. I found that the harder I tried, the more I realised
that I had lost my sharpness. My concentration had waned. I couldn’t retain
much of what I studied. I had to get help. So in the first term of my third
year (which was also my final year in the school), I visited Mr Bempong in his
house to seek help. Mr Bempong was the school counsellor. After a series of
sessions with him, I began my journey back to the top. Learning became a
passion, instead of a requirement for passing exam.
So
the time to write the WAEC-administered Senior Secondary School Certificate
Examinations drew closer. Before that however, our school organised a mock
exam. The mock exam was organised under similar circumstances as the final one
by WAEC was going to be conducted. It was to assess the readiness of students
for the main exam. So the results came out and here was I; back in the top ten.
Eventually, when the results for the final exam were released by WAEC, I was
still one of the best in the General Arts class (still in the best ten). That
was how I left St. Peter’s.
Have
you ever found yourself in a position where you feel you have lost your glory?
Or are you presently in a situation where you look back and say “How I wish for
the good old days?” Well, I have something to tell you. Don’t just look back
with nostalgia. Rather look forward with hope. Engineer your way back to the
days of glory. There are better days ahead.
Bounce back in 5 steps
How
can you make a U-turn to better days? Here are five steps for bouncing back:
- Acknowledge where you were: If you want to bounce back, you must make a withdrawal from your memory bank. Look back at where you used to be. Remember where you fell from. Let that memory inspire you to turnaround.
- Admit where you are: Face reality. It is very easy to live on past glory when you are down. Living the present life on the glory of the past is pretentious. If you walk that road, you will soon realize that you cannot travel a long journey with remnants of your past.
- Anticipate better days ahead: The reason you need to bounce back is not to make a return trip to the past. It is to put yourself on a pedestal that empowers you to fulfil your destiny. I believe that the future must be better than the past and present. We must learn to stand on the platform of the past and present to engineer a future better than any experience we have seen.
- Ask for help: Definitely, when attempting to bounce back, there will be challenges; some of which you can surmount by yourself. For those which you cannot handle on your own, don’t be shy to ask for help from another person who is in a position to help you. Ask for help when you need to.
- Apply the lessons: Make a move. Don’t suffer paralysis over analysis. The only way to get back on your feet is to get up and start moving. Everything you learn while you are on the grass must be deployed to restore you to your graceful position.
There
is nothing wrong with falling. However, there is everything wrong with staying
down when you fall.
©2014 Terry Mante
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