Struggle is REAL. Never CONCEAL

The Pure Definition of “Struggle is Real”

Good day, everyone! Blessed be God forever and Mabuhay! My name is Marian, and in this blog, I am about to share my experiences, including my struggles, challenges, some of the strengths I have discovered, and the lessons I have learned. 

STRUGGLES AND CHALLENGES

[6:00 am] My usual time to wake up

As soon as I woke up, I always felt the tension of attending the online class nor the pressure of being the youngest in the family. It is because I have to fulfill my duty in the house by helping my mom prepare breakfast and because my older sister was the one who cooked; of course, as the youngest, I should be the one who will wash the dishes after. My mom often tells me to make sure I have eaten before taking up my first subject. Even so, I still faced the struggle of being on time in class without any interruptions. Although my subject teacher thought I was already in the class, the truth is I am doing other things like brushing my teeth, or sometimes I am still not finished with the dishes. Probably I am still in a phase of adjusting. Yes, the class schedule is still the same, but we all know it is different from what we used to. We are obligated to enter the school early. If not, there is always a consequence for being late, and most of us are afraid of being punished as we do not want to be late in the first subject. But now, we are in the new normal, and consideration has become more advantageous to the students. 

I am the kind of person who has poor concentration. That is why every time I hear noises coming from the people in the house, loud cars on the street, and most of the time, the roaring sound of the family pets, I always lose my focus and begin to decide not to listen attentively to my teacher. It keeps bothering me every during class or even by the time I am doing my homework. For that reason, I could not follow the lesson properly. 

Aside from home distractions, one of the common problems students and even teachers are suffering from is having a poor internet connection (Another “poor” for me). Especially for me, being a student living in a rural place, this sort of problem was nothing new to me. I have been experiencing this since when I was in elementary, but back then, it was way more unstable. Hence, I had to work on my projects manually. I think until now, I still prefer engaging efforts by my own hands despite knowing that it’s way more challenging. I don’t know; perhaps I am quite a perfectionist in that way. 

Palaweños humorously named Palawan as the “Brownout Capital of the Philippines.” From the phrase itself, I think you already know what I’m about to insinuate. Power outages occur almost every day for hours and sometimes half a day. Since I study online, I use mobile data in exchange for wifi and eventually consume the battery of the gadgets I use. Electric power interruption certainly adds to my burden of trying to comply with my requirements on time. Also, it was tough for me to cope with the new lesson from having been absent due to this problem.

What’s more frustrating is that there is some instance when there is a power outage the loss of signal also takes place. Lately, I realized that there is no week without facing complications affecting each students’ online learning. Nonetheless, I am still hoping for better days ahead, surviving and thriving with online learning and growing healthy mindsets. 

mariannngabooo