Did I Have To Pay Such A Heavy Price For Being An Average Student?

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*For representational purpose only.

I moved to a new place when I was 13. I had to change schools, postal address and mindset overnight. Everything changed when I moved to a new place. I had many friends at my old place and even in my school.

I am a shy person in general. It takes me a lot of time to interact with people. Usually, people need to approach me first.

Everything changed when I shifted to a new place . I still remember it was the first day of school. The first year went somewhat okay. But I would cry every day as I missed my old place and school more than I'd imagined I would. Slowly this school became hell for me.

My 8th grade in my new location went somewhat okay. However, 9th and 10th grades were hell for me. The new teacher who started teaching me would constantly shout at me. She'd tell me to stand in front of the entire class just to insult me. She was a bully to me. Not just her, there was one more teacher. Almost everyday one of the teachers would shout at me.

Whenever these teachers started shouting at me, my hands would go cold, heart rate would increase and cheeks would get warm. I never knew why that happened. It was a mystery.

One day in 9th grade I had a really bad panic attack due to stress. I thought it was a heart attack. I couldn’t stop panting I. I couldn’t breathe and my heart rate increased. I was petrified. After that point, I remember every day became a struggle for me. I even failed in my exams for the first time in my life. Because of all the criticism I received from my teachers because I was an average student, I was a laughing stock in my class. They'd insult me almost every day.

It really hurt me and it took a toll on my self-confidence. Plus I picked up a phobia. Phobia of health. It’s called being a 'hypochondriac'.

Due to that panic attack, I thought I had some kind of heart disease. I couldn’t hear people speak anything related to the disease. I would get a panic attack every time I'd hear people talk about it. I know it sounds funny but this phobia is intense. My 9th and 10th grades passed dealing with this condition. My parents even took me to a clinical counselor. It helped, I could appear for my exams. I did not take pills though.

Later on, when I joined college, this phobia of mine became even more serious. I stopped going to places. Only college to home and home to college. It got so bad that I refused to leave my bed most times. I gained weight, stater looking ugly. People started commenting on my looks. I hit rock bottom. I would cry and be sad all day. But then I went to a counselor and started therapy, which helped me a lot. It helped me with anxiety.

I worked on myself. I started staying away from toxic people, started reading a lot, even opted for psychology in college, started eating healthy. Ultimately, music saved my life and I joined classes when I entered degree college.

The 11th and 12th grades went really bad as well. Everything changed again when I entered degree college. First-year I sat alone for one entire year. But then in the second year, I made 3 new good friends.

I continued going for therapy. My therapist was an angel in disguise for me. She shaped me into a better person.

Now I am working under a psychologist and I'm a lot into NGO work. I did a course where teachers can look after students who have mental or physical disabilities. I will now start preparing for the B.ed entrance exam.

In the future, I want to be a good teacher to undo everything that my teachers did to me. 

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