After more than a year in IB…

Let me just say this at the beginning. Student life is hard. Yes, I know that is an extreme understatement, but I can’t think of another word that will be able to compete with the level of “hardness” there is in this life. I am an IB Diploma student in year two and when you say “we’re dying”, I get it, like I get it so well. Don’t even get me started on my to-do list for winter break – it will tone down all Christmas spirits, so I will spare everyone. This is the reason why my blog has been completely dormant for the past three months. After becoming fully engulfed in the unending workload, I decided to just hold off on blogging till winter break, when I could finally make sense of what is happening in the world. 

In the last few months, or more like in the last two years of being an IB Diploma student, I believe that one of the largest things I have realized is the extent to which I can go on to studying. Before grade 11, I did not know that I had the capability to study for ten hours in an entire day, and that I could wake up the next morning to do it all over again. I don’t know if this would have happened if I wasn’t in IB (People who aren’t in the IB program also work equally and perhaps even harder than IB students. I am not trying to undermine any particular student life struggles), but discovering that my ability is so much more than I expected it to be is a highlight of this past year and a half. 

Now that I have sometime to think back on the past year, I noticed that all this time while working, we only view how much we have to do to get to a certain point in the future, whether that is an assignment due date or a test. We never see how much we have already done. Looking back and remembering all the hard work I have put into my studies encourages me to keep on moving ahead. I know this can be hard to do because in that one stressful moment you can only pay attention and simply stress about what you need to do, and that is okay, as well. Like I said in my previous blog on student life, stressing is caring. To be honest, this is actually my first time looking back at the position from where I have come because I finally have time to reflect. It can be difficult to remind yourself to recall, but I believe it is essential in the student life to keep in mind the potential and power of yours that has been discovered and where it has gotten you. 

After more than a year of IB, another thing that I can also claim is that student life isn’t just about studying, time management, or the extent to which you are focused on your academic or career goals. It seems like that’s all that matters, but in the long run or when things get so down that you lack all motivation, you realize that there is more to being a student. For me, this lifestyle has questioned every single thing I do, like why do I study this much, why am I in IB, why am I applying to universities, or why do I want to take the path I wish to take. I found myself going over reasons for all the hard work when I became entirely demotivated in order to find any encouragement to move on. Seeking answers to these questions is part of determining why you are a student in the first place.

This brings me to identifying what is important to you. Being a student means you miss out on a lot of things that are not a part of this living, like family time or going out with friends. In this life, you say “no” probably more than you ever will in the whole time you are alive. Every time someone asks to go out for a walk, you say “no”, to watch a movie, you say “no”, or to just not study, you say “no”. It seems harsh and arrogant, but when you know that the future of your career depends entirely on what you are doing at the moment, there is no question in choosing studying over everything else. Yes, with every “no” comes a wave of guilt and regret of missing out on memories that could have been or time that could have been spent in a more amusing way. There is that constant anguish of realizing that you weren’t present for so many events or moments, and it also feels like everyone else is going ahead and living their lives and moving on without you, while you’re being dragged behind by all the schoolwork. Life seems to go on faster than you can catch up to it because you are too busy catching up on all the work. 

These are all the deepest realizations of mine from being an IB Diploma student for more than an year. I could honestly go on and on about every hardcore lesson I have learned or every “student life realization” I have had, but these are my top three “inmost” highlights of being an IB student thus far. So, if you made it this far, thank you for bearing my rant about student life struggles, but it was important for me to confront how all the difficulties in this time period have each brought out some sort of a learning experience or discovery. Nevertheless, I promise that the next blog post will be a “Book of the Month” feature, and not a speech about life struggles (LOL)! Take care, wear a mask, and practice social distancing! We got this!

Featured image: Bridal Veil Falls, British Columbia (picture credits: me!)