“This year has been truly different.” Khushi started a conversation with her friends, online. They were on a group study called, ‘online’. It was one of her close friend’s initiatives to try this out, as the exams were approaching and none of them wanted to miss out on the joint studies they used to enjoy every year. Well, the only difference was that this time they were doing it online. It’s that time of the year, when, Khushi would be a bit tense, as always and the group study would somehow calm down her nerves. This year, was difficult since her school portions were covered online and so were her exams. After a somewhat confusing joint online study session, which did not give much relief to Khushi, she decided without a second thought to meet her dear friend Joy. Joy was just completing his Science portions when Khushi called. He had scheduled a 1-hour break (by rewarding himself with ice cream) once he completed Science, which was one of his least favourite subjects. As always Joy was delighted to welcome Khushi, “Let’s meet after 20 minutes.” he said. At Joy’s house, his mother had kept some ice cream ready for both of them.“How do you keep yourself, so relaxed during these exam times?” asked Khushi. “It’s not all real, but yes I plan my studies, prepare a time table and work on the timetable, as much as I can, and while doing this, I keep calm and trust myself that I will give my best and not worry about the rest (result).”, said Joy. “Easier said than done!” exclaimed Khushi.“Hmm. Not all that is said, is easy to work upon practically, more so, when it comes to mental pressure,” said Joy. “Let’s note down what makes us tense during exams.” he continued. Pressure of not scoring good marks. Pressure from our family and relatives to score good marks. Competitive pressure from friends and peers. Worries of our own expectations not being met. Worrying about what kind of questions will be asked, and what if a question is asked, outside the scope of our syllabus? Worrying if we will be able to remember what we have studied as well as revised. “Now, that we have most of the problems, let’s look at trying to overcome a few of them, if not all. I adopted this trick from my father. He is a financial planner, therefore, he plans his clients’ money matters, and helps them to reach their life’s goals.” said Joy. Have you heard of the saying, “Do your best and don’t worry about the rest.”? “That’s what I simply do. I do what it takes, get better at what I learn, and avoid all the above pressures. So with my father’s help, I devised a long term strategy to feel less stressed out. I chalked out a 1-hour daily study schedule from the start of the year and increased it slowly as the year passed. Currently, with the exams, about 15 days away, I feel in control and naturally less stressed out. This doesn’t mean that I am not exposed to some of the pressures that we jotted down. I stay more confident and believe in being happy for myself that I have done my job and the result will be good.” explained Joy. “Khushi, if you start a schedule, right from now to your exam date, believe me, you won’t feel as tense as you are feeling now. Although all of us may be different in the ways in which we respond to pressure, slowly we can turn it around, and start celebrating even exams in our lives, is what my dad keeps saying,” said Joy. So what’s the best thing you can do when you have to face a tough situation? There’s no way to avoid it, ‘just CELEBRATE it…’ Author: Mr Nirmal M Jain | Mr Nirmal M Jain is a Co-Founder at HappyWise Financial Services. He has helped over 100 Families over the last 15 years of his services in the Financial Planning Sector. He has been a mentor to several people to help them better understand investments, stocks, mutual funds, financial planning, personal finance and above all his favourite term “The Power Of Compounding!”. Post navigation Khushi and Joy, Episode 7: “Eat The Mangoes When They Are Ripe.” Khushi and Joy Episode 9: – The only ones who benefitted from this Pandemic.
