Last year I was tapped by the student government president of my alma matter in High School to give an inspirational message as part of the school's anniversary. The theme is “Opalescent Hope: Embracing the new normal, Building Resilience, Sustaining Excellence”
Sharing this here -
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Today is a very special day for all of us who is and has been part of this institution, so I want to extend my warmest greetings to all of you. Happy Anniversary, AlSci! It’s been 24 years since our school was founded; 24 years of producing some of the brightest minds in the country. In all these years, we have been recognized numerous times, not just in our region nor in the country alone, but also in the world! That’s a feat that not everyone can attain so you must be proud that you are all part of this history. We have been excellent ever since the beginning, and we will continue to be.
But you must be wondering right now, how do you continue to be excellent when the world is devastated by a pandemic? When you can’t even go to school and learn face-to-face, you can’t conduct your experiments in the lab, or you can’t immediately ask your teacher for a consultation on what went wrong with your research or your project?
Firstly, you must stay healthy. Not just physically, but most importantly mentally & spiritually healthy. In these trying times, the most important thing we should be doing is protecting ourselves, not just from the virus, but also from anxiety, from stress, from breakdowns. You may have heard a lot of people say “It’s okay not to be okay. We’re in the middle of the pandemic, no one is expecting you to be extra” and yep, that’s the simple truth. Eat healthy, get enough sleep, exercise, consume news moderately, talk to your family or friends about how you’re feeling, and of course, pray, it helps a lot to ease your anxiety.
Second, acceptance is key. As long as we don’t have the cure to this virus, we will never be back to normal. Or even if we acquire the cure, some things will eventually change, and you just have to embrace the new normal and adapt to it. That’s how we Filipinos are mostly known for, no matter how difficult things may have been, we always find a way to rebuild and recover. Trust that everything’s going to be fine.
Lastly, as you have heard from Aristotle “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”. Even before the world was halted by this pandemic, we have always been doing ordinary things extraordinary well. I’m not invalidating your feelings right now, but no matter how frustrated you may feel or has been feeling lately, do not ever degrade your quality of work. If you have a knack for say, chemistry, don’t feel that even if you can’t go to the lab anymore and do some experiments, the world has already stopped. You can use that time to do have some literature review first, the application will have to wait but when that time comes, you will be glad that you did not waste any time on studying your favorite subject because by then you will surely be ready and may have mastered all the steps even without looking at your modules.
So, what I’m saying is, everyone’s affected, but that does not mean that the world has stopped turning, I guess that’s the time when we should really worry the most. But now, we are still alive and that’s grace by itself. We are safe with our family, we have food by our table, and we are still capable enough to go back to school and learn even virtually. This pandemic is not a dead end, but a temporary pause on our lives. Trust that all is well and hope that all will be.
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