Personal Statement 2020

When reflecting back on this year, I really noticed how much the High School experience has caused me to develop a lot as an individual and challenge what I once thought about myself. This year has been full of new challenges, adapting to a harder routine as well as adapting to a different, online world during COVID-19. I went into this year hoping to achieve my goals and put a lot of effort into both academics as well as extracurriculars, however, I learnt early on that balancing all of the things that I wanted to do while putting in all my effort was pushing my limits to an extent which I could no longer balance. I tried to work in such a way that I had enough time to relax and destress while also completing all my work, but it is still something that I need to work on. One of my biggest goals moving into G11 is to not stretch myself beyond the point of overstressing and to remember that balance is key for any healthy lifestyle.

 

This year has been a huge opportunity for me to branch out into areas which I never considered of interest to me, however, have been a huge part of my G10 journey. I was very lucky to participate in a wide variety of events including two of the dance showcases, Culturama and Kahaani. This was one of the best moments of my G10 year because I got a chance to step outside of my comfort zone and do something which I have never done before. Going into it, I had some idea of the experience since I had participated in Kahaani the previous year, but on a different scale. Culturama, however, I hadn’t auditioned for last year so I felt that this year was an opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and push myself to do something different. During this time, it was a challenge for me to keep up with late rehearsal timings the closer we got to the performance date and the amount of schoolwork I had to finish. I had to develop the skills of working ahead of time on projects which I want to devote more energy and effort into, especially when I know that I might not have the time to do it later. The entire Culturama and Kahaani experience taught me the importance of giving yourself an opportunity to push your capabilities in a field which you thought was difficult and how stepping outside of your comfort zone can actually expand your field of activities you can do.

 

A healthy lifestyle is something that everyone strives to achieve but the key to it is understanding which areas you are unnecessarily overworking yourself in and which areas deserve some of that extra time. Going into the exams pre- COVID-19, I definitely lost that sense of balance in my lifestyle. Because the deadline for the IGCSE exams was getting closer, I was focusing a lot more of my attention on my academics rather than making sure that I was still getting up and exercising ever so often. This took a toll on me a lot and I learned that even a small amount of balance in your lifestyle can have positive effects on your attention span and ability to retain information. Once the news of our exams being cancelled sunk in and we properly started online learning, I took the idea of balance that I was beginning to implement while studying for my IGCSEs and attempted to implement it into my lifestyle while being online. Having the time away from the screen, I quickly realised, greatly benefitted many aspects of my life and, in turn, made it easier to adapt to the new online model which we would be following for the next few months.

 

I hope to move towards this goal by regularly scheduling breaks in between study time to walk away from what it is I am doing and clear my head for a bit. Whether it is going for a short walk or simply drinking a glass of water, that break in complete concentration will help my studying to be more productive and relaxing. Remembering the importance of keeping up with my interests and hobbies post-COVID-19 will help give me a bit of a break from the heavy online work we have been doing for the past few months and help to provide a reset. Going into G11 next year, I hope to implement all that I learned this year into the approach I have on academics and extracurriculars and that balance, once properly adopted, can benefit your life from more angles than you can anticipate.

 

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