Why I Strive to Struggle

While years of schooling have taught me a great deal about the intricacies of calculus and the foundation of our democracy, my father has taught me something beyond educational curricula: to view the world through an open-minded and optimistic lens.

During various family road trips, my father’s determination to follow his natural compass and intuition rather than effortlessly utilize Google Maps has left my mother, brother, and me perpetually dumbfounded. His intrinsic confidence, however, reminds me of the importance of learning diligently — through experience, trial, and error.

I recall my father’s first instruction upon obtaining my driving permit. He handed over our two-hundred-page car manual and advised me to “learn what I could.” Just hours later, I was in the driver’s seat. Instead of being told precisely which gear to shift to or how to even start the engine, my father encouraged me to explore. After several mishaps — just one example being blasting the radio rather than turning down the air conditioner — I developed patience and pursued answers. With my father in the passenger seat beside me, I was invigorated to implement the skills he had taught me while entreating suggestions regarding how to hone my driving abilities.

In my family’s Subaru, I attained newfound independence through my driver’s license while also becoming licensed to grow from every experience — refusing to accept cursory explanations, refusing to settle for a partial understanding, and refusing to follow the status quo.

As a first-year college student in the dynamic city of Cambridge, I have been confronted with unfamiliar challenges on a daily basis. The transition to college is an eye-opening experience for every incoming freshman, and navigating this transition as the oldest sibling in my family certainly did not make it easier.

As I acclimated to campus, I received thoughtful advice from my incredibly supportive family, friends, professors, advisers, and mentors. One line always seemed to repeat itself time and time again: “The struggle and hard work will be worth it.” This sentence seemed straightforward, yet too grueling to wholeheartedly believe.

Struggling certainly does not feel “worth it” when furiously typing away at a 10-page research essay late into the night. The worries of failing to maintain high school friendships and slipping away from communicating regularly with your grandparents are not comforting. There is also difficulty in admitting to yourself and others that you are struggling — this is an unavoidable facet of life that necessitates courage to be overcome.

Even on the most arduous of days, however, one person always draws me back to why I strive for my greatest potential — my father. Driving with my father imparted me with an enduring lesson: the significance of learning with tenacity and perseverance. While the notion of struggle is often depicted in a negative context, struggle is something rather more ubiquitous. Whether it be in regards to solving a question on a midterm or in resolving a family emergency, we are all vulnerable to experiencing struggle at some point in our lives.

When challenges confront us, particularly as college students, it is vital to strike a balance between seeking independence and admitting that we need assistance. Too often at a place like Harvard, the weight is unevenly shifted in the direction of acquiring a false sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency unaccompanied by collaboration and outside perspectives. What many fail to recognize is the value in acknowledging that human beings are designed to require help, advice, and guidance — to utilize these resources is not a sign of weakness, but a blossoming of strength.

Applying this same mindset continually is crucial and requires a certain degree of self-discipline. I have found that my most rewarding experiences in college have come from immense diligence even when the simplest option was to just give up. I will never forget the moment when I finally understood a demanding statistical mechanics concept after discussing it meticulously with a teaching fellow for over an hour. The answers that have come to me easily are forgettable; the questions that force me to contemplate and employ newfound insight are enriching and indelible.

This realization has shaped my academic trajectory here at Harvard. Education is now much more than yellow #2 pencils and darkened bubbles on a scantron. Through trial and error in discovering organizations I felt genuinely driven to contribute to, balancing a rigorous academic course load with joyful moments spent with friends, and steering my goals to reflect the woman I aspire to become, the most integral aspect of my self-development has come from simply granting myself the chance to try. I wake up with a resilient mindset to tackle my objectives, make the most out of the day’s opportunities, and go to sleep with a revitalized ambition to achieve even more tomorrow.

As I navigate through my early adult life, it is with my father’s confidence in mind that I propel myself towards my inconceivable dreams with no fear, no hesitancy, and no doubt. Once we give ourselves the space to struggle — and to struggle without judgment — we will finally perceive that the possibilities are truly endless.

Alvira Tyagi ’25, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Pennypacker Hall. Her column “Reckonings & Revelations” appears on alternate Mondays.