Seesaw Stories #6: The Night I Refused to Give Up

It was the final month of my degree, just two weeks before our viva and practical exams. We had to submit our practical records, documenting an entire year’s work, for final evaluation. I had already completed mine, ready to submit.

As always, I had gone beyond the classroom notes. I spent hours in the library, going through multiple books, making my own notes and writing everything in detail.

With two days left before the submission deadline, a friend borrowed my record so he could complete his pending work. I agreed.

He returned it the next day and I submitted it along with everyone else.

Simple, I thought.

The next day, my lecturer asked, “Where is your record? I do not see it"

I was sure that I had submitted it, but it was nowhere to be found!!!

What followed was the most frantic two days of my life that I can remember.

I searched everywhere classrooms, laboratories and corridors. I asked everyone I could think of.

Nothing was found. Just a blank space…

In just 24 hours, years of hard work had vanished into thin air.

I was lost and clueless and I had no idea what to do.

Finally, I was given one chance by my lecturer: “Find it or redo and submit it again within 24 hours.”

That was it.

I borrowed the record of the friend who had written using mine. I sat down to begin again…

What happened next still feels unreal.

For the next 24 hours, I barely slept.

I wrote non-stop, page after page.

Experiment after experiment.

Rebuilding what had taken me an entire year in less than a day.

I don’t remember feeling tired. I don't remember stopping.

I only remember continuing to write. I just kept going.

The next morning, I wrapped the completed record, got on my cycle went and submitted it on time.

Even today, when I think about it, I get goosebumps.

Where did that strength come from?

That willpower? That refusal to give up?

Looking back, I see SB (Self-Belief) very clearly in-charge in that moment.

It did not appear as confidence or certainty.

It appeared as pure resilience a quiet inner voice saying, “Just keep going.”

I also felt something more. An unseen support, a belief that I was not alone in that moment.

That night, I did not surrender to what was lost. I rebuilt.

That experience stayed with me.

Soon after, another moment tested my self-belief but that is a story for next time.

What do we do when something we have built over years suddenly disappears?

Do we give up or do we discover a strength within us that we never knew we had?

Do we find the courage to start again from scratch?