Not only was I facing heavy course loads and strict grade rankings, but only a few teachers in my middle school saw my potential, while most of them just teased me in public and told my parents how abnormal I was. People would not think of new ideas as excellent but instead reciting another exam-required poem. When I served as the design representative of the class, many students annotated “tinpot” on a board drawing I was creating because I did not like the old fashion and tried to decorate in my own style that went against “the standard.” I thought I had many real friends, but many ditched me when I constantly failed to make a comeback in terms of grades in the final year. This is perhaps the biggest obstacle in my life. Looking retrospectively, I am incredibly proud that under the influence of so many things, I was still able to keep looking for my own path in my way and under my values. I chose to leave that system by concentrating all my effort on getting myself into an International Baccalaureate high school in another city. The moment I got in, I knew I could embrace sunshine again. Indeed, I started a new life there, founding and leading multiple clubs and school events, and I made my ideas and philosophy well-known in the whole school.

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The unintentional confirmation bias may have made my middle school experience darker than it was. The subjective belief that these are my worse years in school pushes me to search for the related memories and photo evidence that only renders it worse (Jeste, Wiser. 148). Another cognitive bias I possess is "focusing on winners” but not realizing their stories are just how they want to make themselves look cool in front of the public. For example, leaders like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs do think very differently. However, focusing solely on this aspect means I may ignore their ability to clearly see the current reality and adapt or move on.