LEFT BEHIND ⁉️

Hey Zesties! Nice to meet you, I’m Xander and i’m just here to organize my thoughts so pardon the long paragraphs 🥹☝️

🌟 So, let’s talk about something that’s been on my mind lately—feeling left behind. I’m 20 and still stuck in polytechnic, turning 21 next January while my graduation is in April. Yup, you heard that right: I’ll be 21 and still in poly…

Here’s the tea: I was a sec 4 express student and I got into Ngee Ann Polytechnic nursing through JAE. Back then, I was just living life without a care - YOLO, am I right? I could’ve appealed for a different course that I actually wanted, but I thought, “Why not give nursing a try? It sounds pretty fun! ” Fast forward one year, and I realized that while I was doing okay in nursing, it just wasn’t my thing. Major respect to all the nurses out there, but I knew I’d burn out fast if I stayed.

So, I made the big decision to switch to Chinese Media and Communications at Ngee Ann Poly. Sounds exciting, right? But here’s where it gets tough. I changed courses and started poly all over again from year 1. Meanwhile, my friends who went to JC were already in J2, and I was like, “Cool, they’re almost graduating already.” But then it hit me: halfway through my first year in my new course, my JC friends graduated and started enlisting one by one.

Like, what?! They’re done, and I still have TWO AND A HALF YEARS left in poly! It feels like forever! And when my poly friends also started graduating in my second year, I felt like I was completely lagging behind. Looking at everyone’s graduation photos and attending their graduation made me thought about how if I didn’t change my course i would had graduated with them already…

It’s super frustrating to feel like we’re all in different phases of life. When I hang out with my friends now, they’re all talking about NS, and I can’t relate. Trying to share my internship experiences feels pointless because they’re already past that stage. It’s like I’m stuck in a never-ending loop while everyone else is moving forward.

I started questioning if changing my course was even the right move, or if I should’ve just stuck it out in nursing. I mean, I felt like a total failure sometimes. But as time passed, I realized that I can’t keep comparing myself to others. I decided to just “live, laugh, love” through it all. 😅

Despite feeling behind, I’m grateful for the extra year in poly. I’ve met so many new people, and from my time in nursing, I even landed a freelance job at a hospital! Working in the emergency department has been a dream come true, like my own episode of Grey’s Anatomy. 💉📺 Plus, in my new course, there’s this influential person (iykyk) who came back to school to study which I managed to befriend who had opened up so many opportunities in the media industry for me. sharing insider tips and even connecting me with potential internships and projects. I’m so inspired by their journey, and it’s really ignited my passion for this field.

So, yeah, even though I feel a bit lost sometimes, I think we all need to take a breather. Life doesn’t come with a timeline, and we can’t change the past. What matters is moving forward and making the most of where we are now.

Thanks for reading! Catch you in my next post! ✌️

#RealTalk #polytechnic #Lemon8Diary