An Unregretful Life
Living like a comic drama puts a smile on your face. I hope!
A never-ending series of comedy-drama is the best description of my daily life. I think that we all have those moments, but I can say that I am living in a movie. Sometimes I even hear the music inside my head. Call me crazy. There are infinite embarrassing stories, but I will tell you about my top two.
Birth
There is a story that my mother loves to tell, and I felt most embarrassed of them all. But, as time goes, I am a woman that loves irony and likes to laugh and this is a superb one.
My parents were expecting me, and they were not alone. There is another couple that the due date was near mine. That couple was from the other side of my uncle’s family and hell was loose when we all gathered: they love to torture us with our birthday history. Let’s get to it!
The baby boy from the other couple was boring and stayed stuck. The nurses tried to help him come out.
- I think my baby is coming! – Alerted my mom.
- There is still time. – Answered one of the nurses. Not long after they were looking away, I’ve decided to come running out, and my mother caught me.
Until today, my mother says that it was the last time that I was quick in my life. I got so tired that I was never fast again. Since I didn’t want to pull out the milk from my mother’s breast, I wasn’t nursing properly, and I was starting to show some sickness in my skin. Both mothers, as they knew each other, decided to switch babies so that I would be fed easier.
In my childhood, they always said that we were meant for each other because we shared those stories. The birthday, when I am older a few seconds than him except his ass. The chubby body, the cousins, and even his mother’s milk. I hated those moments and my mother with his father loved to torture me.
University enrollment day
My family never had the means to spend money so, as I was growing older, we usually stayed at our village home or went to the nearer beach. Sometimes we went on bus tours with a bunch of older people to see a little of the world – and that was fine, and I did see good places.
Let me tell you that my first times at anything usually make a good cringe-worthy story. I don’t know what to expect, but it will always make me smile afterward. My first day arriving at the university was no different.
My university was in Porto city. My mother was afraid that I would go alone, so she came with me. She was more afraid than me, and she crushed her purse with her arm against her body as life depended on it. A thief could steal it, she said over and over again. I was smiling because she looked like she had a thousand euros inside that wallet, probably nothing more than some 40 euros and her documents.
We didn’t know much about the city, so we get into a cab and asked to be delivered to the FCUP, the scientific university of Porto, and then the woman started the car. As usual with new people, that woman took advantage and was trying to go around the city, so we had to pay a lot more for the ride than expected with a normal ride. We noticed that we had crossed that street one time, and she stopped near the next university saying that we arrived. Of course, that was a lie.
- Excuse me, sir. – I started to speak with the gatekeeper at the entrance of that university to check where I needed to go for the first year. – Is this the FCUP?
- No, this is the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The Faculty of Science is right there upfront. You can walk from here to there. – He had helped us understand where we were and if I could find a hole, sure I was about to hide.
We thanked the men, and we walked, walked, and walked until we were there. Finally, I had a map that the faculty had given me, and we went home switching buses.
***
I hope you liked my little memories, and I sure could tell more, but I would never stop. Maybe some other day I’ll tell more of this kind of crazy times that I’ve lived.
Have a nice day and don’t forget to smile away!
About the Creator
Sofia Duarte
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Past is a golden memory
People tend to hate talking about their past a lot. Even the darker moments are something to be proud of because we have become the person we are today. People tend to think that talking about difficult times is a sign as if you are suffering just by speaking about it. Every moment is a step that you have accomplished and that is why I’m writing about it. All memories and moments in your life matter: either the nice or the worst ones are important.
By Sofia Duarte6 years ago in Motivation
I Never Chose the Easy Path; I Always Chose Hardship
From the earliest memories I can recall, life presented me with two roads. One was smooth, inviting, and well-trodden—a path that promised comfort, approval, and ease. The other was rough, rocky, and uncertain—a path of struggle, obstacles, and lessons that demanded effort, patience, and resilience. I never chose the smooth road. I never took shortcuts. Not because I was fearless, but because something deep inside refused to let me live a life that wasn’t earned. The easy path whispered promises of fleeting satisfaction, fleeting success, and fleeting recognition. It was tempting. Many around me chose it, and I often wondered if I was foolish for ignoring it. But I learned early that true growth is rarely convenient. The easiest choice often leads to emptiness, to regret, to a quiet knowing that you could have been more than you allowed yourself to be. Hardship became my teacher long before success ever noticed me. The lessons it offered were harsh, uncompromising, and often lonely. There were days when choosing the hard path felt like choosing isolation. While others were celebrated for small accomplishments, supported by friends and family, I walked in silence, with doubt as my companion. Progress was invisible to the world. Failures were frequent and relentless. Many nights, I returned home tired, my heart heavy, my mind questioning why I even bothered. Yet even in that silence, I was being shaped. I was learning the value of persistence, of dedication, and of refusing to give up on myself. The hard path forced honesty. It refused to allow excuses. It stripped away illusions and pretenses. I was left face-to-face with my limits, my fears, and my own humanity. On this path, I discovered strengths I never knew I had: patience I had never cultivated, resilience I had doubted, and self-respect that grew every time I stood up instead of walking away. These were not lessons that could be taught in comfort. They were only learned in struggle, in challenge, and in the quiet persistence of refusing to quit when no one was watching. I remember one time vividly. I had a goal that seemed impossible—one that required me to sacrifice comfort, leisure, and social approval. The easy path was right there: a way to avoid the challenge, to be “okay,” to follow what others had done before me. Many advised me to take it. “It’s safer,” they said. “It’s simpler,” they said. But I could feel, deep inside, that taking the easy way would leave me empty. I chose the hard path. The journey was grueling. Every step felt like pushing against gravity. But with each challenge, I gained more than I ever would have on the easy road. I gained endurance, confidence, and an understanding that real achievement is never handed—it is earned. Strength, I realized, isn’t loud. It doesn’t announce itself. It grows quietly, in the moments no one sees—the early mornings, the long nights, the repeated failures, the times you push forward when giving up would be understandable. Resilience is not simply surviving; it is deliberately choosing to continue, to stand again, to pursue the path that tests you the most. It is knowing that walking away is easier but will never lead to the person you are capable of becoming. I have walked many hard roads in life. Each one was different, yet the lessons were the same: comfort cannot teach endurance, shortcuts cannot teach discipline, and fleeting success cannot teach respect. Every struggle, no matter how small, adds to your character. Every failure is a mirror that shows you who you really are. And every choice to face hardship instead of fleeing builds a foundation that lasts long after temporary victories fade. There were times when I felt truly alone. People around me often misunderstood my choices. Friends, family, colleagues—they all questioned why I refused the easy way, why I worked harder, why I pushed myself beyond what seemed necessary. They didn’t see the growth happening quietly inside me. They didn’t see the small victories, the lessons learned, the resilience being forged. But eventually, the results spoke for themselves—not in a loud announcement, but in the quiet confidence and self-respect that I had built from the inside out. Life, I have learned, rewards those who endure hardship. Not always immediately. Not always visibly. But it rewards those who persist, who face struggle head-on, and who refuse to settle for anything less than becoming their fullest selves. Success that comes without effort is temporary; strength and self-respect are eternal. Hardship tests us, but it also teaches us. It shows us the depth of our own courage, the strength of our will, and the power of refusing to surrender. The lessons of the hard path are subtle, often invisible, and always lasting. I learned that failing is not shameful; failing is a necessary step toward mastery. I learned that enduring pain, even when no one notices, builds a type of strength that comfort never can. I learned that the more difficult the path, the deeper the reward—not measured in wealth or fame, but in character, wisdom, and self-respect. Every choice to embrace struggle instead of avoiding it shaped me. Every sacrifice, every extra hour, every moment of doubt faced instead of ignored, added to the foundation of the person I am today. My life was not easy. It was messy, unpredictable, and often overwhelming. But it was authentic. It was mine. And through hardship, I became resilient. I became someone who can face challenges without fear because I have faced them before. I became someone who respects themselves because I have honored my own effort. I became someone capable of growth because I refused to choose comfort over character. I often reflect on the people around me who chose the easy path. Many of them achieved quick victories, immediate recognition, and temporary peace. But over time, I noticed something important: the victories were shallow, the peace fleeting, and the growth minimal. They lacked the depth of resilience, the quiet power of self-respect, and the profound satisfaction that comes from knowing you endured, you learned, and you became someone stronger. Choosing hardship is not glamorous. It is not celebrated in real-time. It is often lonely, exhausting, and demanding. But it is transformative. It shapes your mind, your heart, and your spirit in ways comfort never can. It teaches discipline, patience, humility, and courage. It makes failure meaningful, effort valuable, and success earned. The hard path is where true people are made—people who understand that life’s challenges are not punishments, but opportunities. Opportunities to become better, stronger, wiser, and more capable. I never chose the easy path. I always chose the harder road, the one that tested me, the one that demanded effort, and the one that required me to face myself honestly. I walked through fear, doubt, exhaustion, and setbacks. I fell, and I got up. I failed, and I tried again. I cried, I questioned, I endured. And through it all, I became someone I could respect, someone who knew the value of persistence, someone who understood that hardship is not the enemy—it is the greatest teacher. Today, I measure success differently. I do not measure it by comfort, convenience, or ease. I measure it by growth, resilience, and the depth of self-respect I have cultivated. I measure it by how I faced challenges I could not ignore, how I embraced struggles that seemed unbearable, and how I refused to take shortcuts at the cost of my own becoming. I never chose the easy path. I chose the one that made me resilient. I chose the one that taught me self-respect. I chose the one that allowed me to become the person I am today. And if I had the choice again, I would choose the hard path every single time. Because the road of struggle is not only a journey—it is the making of a human being.writing...
By Ihtisham Ulhaq2 days ago in Motivation
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