1 . What will you do when you feel like a failure? Feeling like a failure is part of the human experiences. Treat yourself with kindness and understand that failure does not define you, but it is a stepping stone on your journey. When you’re ready, take action and challenge yourself.

As some friends were deeply lost in the world of yoga and mindfulness, I’ve personally struggled with the feeling of failure, not on the yoga mat, but on the road to my entrepreneurship(创业). It all began several years ago when I threw myself into the business, driven by my passion and a dream.

In the early days, optimism flowed freely, but financial struggles and sleepless nights soon followed. I questioned my decision and felt like the biggest failure. However, every difficulty became a stepping stone towards growth. I learned more from my failures than from my successes, adapting and growing stronger with each obstacle. I reached out to instructors, friends and family, sought advice and slowly saw a ray of hope. One defining moment came when I gained my first long-term coaching partnership. It was a breakthrough, and my hard work paid off. Over the years, I faced many more failures, but I refused to let them define me.

Today, looking back at my journey, I realize that moments of feeling like a failure were essential to my success. They taught me humility, perseverance and the value of hard work. They shaped me into a successful entrepreneur I am today—someone who doesn’t fear failure but embraces it as a necessary part of the path to success. As we approach the end of the year of graduation, remember that success is not about avoiding failure, but about how we rise after we fall. Let’s support each other on this journey called life. Stay positive, stay inspired and stay true to ourselves.

2 . You hate me. You don’t even know me and you hate me. Before we’ve even spoken, you hate me. At least that’s how it feels on my end of the call as a female collections officer at a call center.

I dread the moment when I have to log on to our phone system first thing in the morning because I never know who is going to be on the other end of that call.

Sometimes it’s an easy task. The caller is pleasant and has accepted personal responsibility for their debts, and we get through the phone call with ease. Then there are the ones who call in looking for a fight, or looking for someone to blame. Through the luck of the phone system, that person is me.

I’ve had people who shout at me, call me horrible names, accuse me personally of taking their money and threaten me. Why? I think it’s because I am invisible. I think I would be treated with the same level of disrespect if we were face to face. Fortunately for me, I have had years of experience in customer service, so I’m fairly rich in not letting the negative encounters bother me.

The biggest and most effective skill when it comes to the job is empathy (同理心). I can appreciate the situation which the caller is in because I’ve been there. That’s why I’m good at my job — I understand what you’re going through, and I’m here to help.

Some days though, no matter how much I try to leave the stress behind when I hang up the phone, it stays with me. I may do some deep breathing, go for a quick walk or simply stick my head outside for a burst of fresh air. I do this so I don’t carry that negativity on to my next call. That next call may be a person having the worst day of their life, but I don’t want to ever be the one who makes it worse. We are all humans just trying to get by in life, which makes you and me equal. So please, the next time we talk, remember that.

3 . When I was in third grade, my family and I took on an unforgettable trip across the country. It turned out to be more than just a/an _______ journey; it was a journey of discovery into our _______. Every day, Dad _______ us with his trusty road map. Mom, the heart of our family, shared folk tales and painted pictures about the upcoming _______. We went through diverse _______from the thick forests to the vast deserts of the West.

One day, while hiking through the Grand Canyon, I _______   a particularly rough path. Frightened, I _______, not knowing how to proceed. That’s when my parents _______ .

As Dad showed me footholds, Mom coached me with calming _______and reminded me of the breathtaking views that lay ahead. Then, I________the confidence as my feet ________ solid ground again. When I finally overcame my fear, I felt we became ________ as a family.

From then on, every evening, we’d gather around a campfire for what we________called “Family Reflection Time”. During these sessions, we’d share laughs, ________, and insights from the day’s experiences.

The trip taught me that the true meaning of travel isn’t merely about reaching the destination but about the personal growth that happens on the route, and the family bonds formed when facing ________ together.

5 . Voluntary work in fact, brings many personal benefits. My personal experiences have affirmed my belief in this.

To begin, voluntary work has provided me with the opportunity to gain more insight into the lives of the less fortunate. I once volunteered to clean up one-room flats where the less fortunate lived in. When I first entered the flat, I was astonished at the state of the living conditions — it was overcrowded with people, messy household items, and newspapers. I was critical about the owners of the flat. However, as the cleaning proceeded, I learned more about their misfortunes and difficulties. I was regretful of my initial judgement of them. This incident has allowed me to learn more about people. Moreover, it has made me realise that many underprivileged communities are unjustifiably judged and discriminated against. I learnt that life is a lot more complex than I had imagined, and that I should always try to display empathy.

In addition, my experience with volunteer work has reminded me to be more thankful for the little things. When I volunteered at a school to teach basic life skills to students with cerebral palsy (脑瘫), I found that the students were very appreciative of the teachers, teacher assistants and even the school attendants. The students often said “thank you” and smiled politely. I felt that as much as I had taught them, the students too had taught me: they taught me a lesson on gratitude.

Finally, doing voluntary work has given my life more meaning. After doing voluntary work, I feel more connected to the rest of mankind, and now have a stronger sense of purpose in my life. Instead of just being absorbed in my own wants and needs, now make use of the abilities I have to extend a helping hand to those in need.

8 . Women in a traditional family, whether work or not, aren’t very fortunate because they must do the housework. Why is that _________? Because you can never cook something that everyone in the family will be _________ with. Everyone has their likes and dislikes when it comes to _________. You have to _________ what to cook, but you will never be able to satisfy everyone.

This task of cooking caused my _________ to drop so much that most of the time I thought I would never be able to do anything well enough. I was always sure I couldn’t do my favourite thing, _________, with this fear.

That was until I read the words of a famous writer, “Forget your _________ audience.” What he taught me is that instead of _________ all the audience, it’s enough to satisfy just one person. Maybe his advice has more or different content than I _________, but it’s completely __________ for me.

If I were to cook only for one person, I could cook something she or he __________, and I would get __________ on my cooking at least once. The same is __________ for writing. I wrote a short story for my sister, a __________ audience that doesn’t scare me and gives me enough motivation to write. Most __________, it made me do what I love, which is writing.

10 . A few months ago, a friend gifted me a robot sweeper that’s programmed to move around a room and clean as it goes.

When the box arrived, I was afraid the device would detect me and suck up (汲取) data along with the dog hair and dust. But the instructions were easy, and I finally decided not to care.

I powered up the sweeper, watched it leave its docking station to work, and quickly fell in love with my newly shiny floors. I kept shooting its working videos. “I think you’re giving more attention to it than to us,” joked my son.

One day, I returned home and discovered that our front door had blown open and the robot rolled into the yard, trying to clean the flower beds. Even when its brushes were blocked with leaves, bugs and mud, its little wheels bravely kept turning.

The robot acted properly as it was programmed to clean “dirty” things. In a kitchen, dirt can be garden debris (碎片) such as leaves and mud. In a garden, this kind of dirt does not need to be removed. The context is important. The problem for robots is that reading this context is difficult.

This accident inspired me to think more about AI (artificial intelligence). As far as I am concerned, AI is simply well trained and reproduces what it has learned. And it is undeniable that robots are increasingly being given powerful intelligence. Some experts even predict that we will soon see not only AI-enabled robots designed to solve problems according to their instructions, but also those with the ability to judge how they should respond when they are in a different setting.

Maybe this will happen in the near future.