Ask

If you could go back and change one day in your life, what would you change and why? (Santa Clara University)

If I could go back in time and change a day in my life, I would go back to the day that I had a dance with a girl whom I have the affection for. It was not long since I started liking this person, but I like her a lot anyway. I really enjoyed that day, I would say that it was one of the few days in my life that I feel extremely happy and smiled a lot. I thought it went well, but I did not do what I wanted to do because I just felt that I would hear something I did not want to hear. After that day, things between me and that person get really awkward, though I did not know how. If I could change something that night, I would ask her if she wants to out with me or not.

I would have changed many things. First of all, I would not be feeling the way I am feeling right now; I feel like a mess and an extremely dumb person because I did not take my chance. I would not be doing a lot of thinking about it like what I do now; every time there is a silent moment, long or short, I would start thinking about it and lose concentration on what I am doing at the moment. I would not have any if-questions because those if-questions started from the answer that I will get and how I would feel after hearing the answer and so on.

Advice

What is the best advice you ever received? Why? And did you follow it? (University of Pennsylvania)


I always remember the day when my friends sits around me and tell me to try my best for everything even though the result may not be the way I want it to be because then I would be able to say that I gave it the best shot. Earlier this year, I had many problems with many people around me. My personality, somehow, changed from being carefree to cautious about everything. I tried to make everything go the way I want, but it never worked out so I started showing my negative emotions. Some of my close friends tried to understand me and lend me a hand to comfort me. They told me stories relating what happened to me with themselves. "You can try really hard, but no one ever get everything that he or she wants right?" said one of my friends. I stopped thinking the way I was thinking at that moment and started thinking in a new way. I did not get what I wanted, but at least I tried my best. My friends also told me that I should learn from my failures and never get emotional because of those failures again, instead, expect them and be ready for them next time so it will not hurt me as much.

After that day, I never regret doing anything even though it fails because I can proudly say "Too bad, couldn't have done any better than that."