Most people only care about how high you fly, but few care about how exhausted you feel. Grade 10 is like the deep night; Grade 11 is like the darkness before dawn—just as the first light emerges; and Grade 12 is the triumphant start, a continuous song of victory.
Those who do not understand you might assume your path has been smooth, unaware of the many twists and turns you have faced. As Marx said: "There are no smooth roads in this world; only those who dare to climb steep peaks can reach the summit." Without rain and wind, how can one see a rainbow? No one achieves success without struggle. Whether it be Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Su Shi, or your favorite artists like Jay Chou and Wei Cheng, all have achieved success after overcoming numerous hardships.
To get to the point, today I want to discuss the matter of mindset. Last week, you mentioned having poor sleep and low study efficiency, fearing you weren't good enough and worrying that you might be overtaken in the upcoming six-school joint exam. In truth, Being able to voice these difficulties is halfway to solving them. If you can maintain the mindset that as long as you do not waste the remaining 170 days of your senior year and do not simply sink into despair, the outcome of the university entrance exam becomes secondary, then you have already reached a high level of mental fortitude.
Failure has its reasons, and success has its methods. Before we delve deeper, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a mountain with a temple, and in that temple lived two monks: a young monk and an old monk. The old monk possessed extraordinary martial arts, and the young monk longed to learn them. The young monk asked, "How many years will it take to master your skills?" The old monk replied, "Ten years." The young monk then asked, "What if I practice day and night without sleep? How many years then?" The old monk answered, "Twenty years." Perplexed, the young monk wondered why practicing harder would take more time. The old monk replied, "All things follow certain laws; if you violate them, you will face consequences. Haste makes waste!"
