There is nothing wrong with falling. However, there is everything wrong with staying down when you fall.
One of the low points I experienced during my secondary school days at St. Peter’s 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 realized 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 an exam.
So the time to write the WAEC-administered Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations drew closer. Before that, however, our school organized a mock exam. The mock exam was organized 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, my results had improved significantly and I was counted among the students who performed well.
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 realise 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.
Whether it’s a business failure, career breakdown, or relationship malaise, you can find your way back to winning ways.
—-
About the author
Terry Mante is a business development and management consultant who has worked on market research, strategy, branding, corporate training, capacity-building as well as PR and communications projects for clients in diverse fields. He is an incisive and inspiring author, personal development coach, moderator of focus group discussions, and conference/workshop resource person.
To book or network with Terry, connect through facebook.com/tmexchange1; facebook.com/terrymante, Instagram/Twitter: @terrymante; LinkedIn (Terry Mante), Email: [email protected]; WhatsApp: +233.249.827.575
