SIDI
Perseverance
To me, perseverance means continuing to pursue a goal no matter what difficulties come your way. It means pushing forward even if progress is slow and the results are not immediately satisfying. In my current situation of learning English, my perseverance is focused entirely on my commitment to attending classes until the very end and learning something new every single time. Even if the improvement isn’t fully visible in my level yet, it is because I find it challenging to find enough time to review and improve my reading and writing skills — which play a big role in improving my speaking.
However, my listening and comprehension skills are improving very well, which keeps me motivated to keep going.
Sachini’s expectations
Sachini’s statement that she just hopes to “land somewhere in the middle” expresses her desire to stay in a comfort zone in the middle to reduce pressure and avoid feelings of frustration and failure. For her, the middle is considered a comfortable outcome for everyone, where she doesn’t fail completely nor disappoint the high expectations around her.
YULIANA
Have you ever been fooled by a scam?
Every day – many times a day – I receive calls offering me prizes or loans. Various offers regarding winnings also arrive in my email inbox, but I have never been interested in such things. I prefer to earn money through methods I understand, and, naturally, I do not trust “easy money.”
VASILII
Perseverance
For me, perseverance means continuing to move forward even when life becomes difficult. I can relate to this idea because my life changed completely after moving to the United States. I had to leave behind my job, friends, stable life, and start everything from zero. At first, many things were difficult: language, culture, documents, and uncertainty about the future.
Sometimes I felt tired and frustrated, but I kept going because I wanted to build a better life. I started learning English in October 2025, even though at first I knew very little. Now people tell me my English is much better. I also changed careers and started learning product design from the beginning.
For me, inner motivation means believing that if I work hard and stay focused, step by step I can achieve my goals.
YEN-TING
Perseverance
I think perseverance is continuing to work and toward your goal, even is very difficult, and inner motivation is the reason to bring or help you finishing your goal.
For example from me, my goal is to do my best on every role in my life. Like I’m a daughter, wife and sister, sometimes is very difficult to balance in every role, but I always try to do my best and learn from it. I think my inner motivation is I want to keep growing and help to built a loving family.
Sachini’s hallucination
I think Dilini wants to keep going to finish her goal because she wants to prove to her dad that she can succeed. When she dropped out of her school and worked as a server in restaurant, her father was very disappointed with her, because she should be a student at her age. I think her father never cared what she wanted to do. He just wanted her to have a good attitude to face every challenge in her life.
EVGENY
Have you ever been scammed?
That’s a funny question in the age of Bitcoin, futures trading, medical bills and fiat currencies. Sometimes I feel like I’m living inside a scam.
My work as a credit analyst taught me to question information, verify facts, identify statistical outliers, cross-check data, and weigh risks before making decisions. Yet somehow, even with all that experience, I still get scammed.
Last year, I signed up for a membership at BJ’s Wholesale Club (similar to Costco or Sam’s Club). I deliberately disabled auto-renewal because I didn’t want them to charge me for another year. Even so, they renewed my membership and charged me anyway. For the last five months, they’ve been promising to issue a refund. But we all know how that usually works!!
Parental expectations
I was lucky with my first-grade teacher. My parents sent me to school a year earlier than most other children. At the end of the school year, my teacher told my parents that they had two options: either keep me back for another year, or stop helping me with my schoolwork at home altogether. As you can imagine, there wasn’t really much of a choice.
As a result, throughout my school years, nobody sat with me to do homework. My parents didn’t supervise my assignments, and they were interested in my grades only at the end of each semester. I never felt any pressure from my parents regarding school or academic performance.
NAY YIN
Have you ever been scammed?
I receive scam calls every day. Although I know they are scams, it is very annoying when the phone rings. Sometimes I pick up to ask them not to call again, but I usually find out that it is just a robot or a recorded message. Now, I hang up immediately and block the number. I currently have nearly a hundred of blocked contacts on my list.
Sachini’s hallucination
Sachini wanted to stay until the end of the competition because she wanted to make her father proud. Her father gave up his job and moved to the US specifically for his children to have a better education. But Sachini dropped out of college and made her father upset, she felt he might see her as a failure. So she wanted to prove herself and make him proud this time.
GIGI
Have you ever been scammed?
I have never been scammed because whenever someone tried to scam me, I immediately hung up the phone, so they never had the chance to deceive me.
Parental pride in your accomplishments
For example, I recently signed up for the Riverside Food Festival. I heard that dumplings, which often represent China at the festival, are very popular every year. However, after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to make Cantonese desserts instead. China is a very large country, and every region has its own unique food culture. I wanted to represent my hometown and share the desserts I grew up eating.
When I was deciding which dessert to make, my family gave me a lot of helpful suggestions. After choosing the desserts, I came up with more ideas. I wanted to create stickers and refrigerator magnets because I was worried that people might enjoy the desserts but forget what they had eaten. Also, if the festival became very busy, I might not have enough time to explain each dessert to everyone. I hope these stickers and magnets can help people remember the desserts they’ve tried.
When everything was ready, I needed to find a printing company. It was not easy in New York because the order was small, so I finally decided to print them in China and ship them to the U.S.
My friend helped me check the final products before they were shipped.
I am very thankful for their help.
IRINA
Parental pride in your accomplishments
In the same way that Delini mentioned, having a parent’s support can make a huge difference, and this is exactly what happened in my experience.
Several years ago, I participated in a half marathon, and it was very important to me that my mom came to support me. When she agreed to travel to another city to support me, it was very meaningful for me. My mom doesn’t really do any sport like the rest of my family, so it was completely new for us that I was interested in running and joining the half-marathon. There were more than 5000 participants in the race, and there was also a lot of fans. I can’t imagine that it would be possible to see my mom through all those people. And I was surprised that after I started running for a few minutes I saw my mom screaming to me: “Ira run! You are the best!”
That was a huge motivation for me to run as fast as I could and it helped me finish despite how hard the distance was. My mom met me when I finished the distance and she was so excited about all that she saw and about me and how strong I am. She was crying and told me that she was proud of me! I think I’ll remember it all my life: the moment when my hobby and I were accepted even though it wasn’t part of the family.
It was a very important moment for me.
Sachini’s hallucination
Sometimes, children try to show their parents that they can do something. It is a very sad story. I see it in many families, where parents act in a way that makes children spend their whole lives trying to prove they can be loved. In other words, even when the child is growing up, this need to prove themselves is still there.
That is why I think she stayed and kept going, even though, looking at it, it might not have been the best choice, even with her success. In my opinion, it is very sad that the only way to get approval, love, and respect from her father was to go through such a difficult and not very good experience.
MARIA K.
Parents helping their kids achieve something
Yes, my parents, especially my mother, played a very important role in my life. Since childhood my parents always supported me in everything I wanted to do. They never told me that something was impossible. They always said: “If you want something, don’t be afraid to try! Just go for it!”
When I was in school in the 1990s, drug addiction became a serious problem in my small town in Siberia, Russia. My mother worked as a teacher, and she was given a special sports class for students from 5th to 9th grade. The idea was to keep children busy with sports. My parents decided it would be a great opportunity for me, and it was one of the best decisions in my life. We did sports every day. In winter, we skied about 10 kilometers every day, and in summer, we ran about 10 kilometers in the stadium and in the forest. We took part in competitions and always supported each other. Our class was very friendly and I still have many wonderful memories from that time. Sports gave us confidence and taught us how to work hard and achieve our goals. Many of my classmates later moved to larger cities and became successful. Some of them became managers and leaders.
My parents helped me a lot. They chose this sports class for me and always encouraged me to try new things. I am very grateful to them for my happy childhood and for believing in me. Even now they always tell me: “Try it!” They say I can always come back to my small hometown, but I may never get another chance to follow my heart and my dreams.
I sometimes think of my parents as my guardian angels. Even though I live very far away from them now, I always feel their love and support. Their belief in me gave me the courage to move abroad, start a new life, and follow my dreams.
Yes, I think my parents are proud of me. They are proud that I became an independent person, that I am happily married, and that I live abroad. All of these things were once my dreams. I think they are also proud that I grew up to be a strong and determined person. I know that parents are happy when their children are happy, and I think seeing me happy makes them proud.
OLEG
Perseverance
You must work hard and focus to reach your goal.
I try to have perseverance in my life. When I came to America it was very difficult. I felt tired and wanted to give up many times. But I kept going and now I am stronger.
Parental expectations
I can relate to Sachini’s situation. Many young people feel pressure from their parents. Parents want them to study hard and get good jobs. Sometimes children feel lost and don’t know what they want. I have friends who dropped out of school because of pressure. It is not easy to find your own way in life.