Taking a Medical Leave

DANIEL: I remember walking through the MIT campus. And I noticed that things were a lot different than how they were before I took time off from MIT. I noticed that my outlook on life was a lot different. It was a lot more positive.

I saw obstacles not as obstacles, but as challenges, something to learn and grow from. I noticed that my mood was a lot better. I was feeling happy.

I was feeling like I could accomplish anything, I could do anything. I noticed that when I experienced a setback I viewed it as a challenge and opportunity for me to grow and learn. So a couple of months before I took time off from MIT, I wasn’t feeling good. And I knew that running would help me.

My mom had told me that if I wanted to run regularly that I should do it every single day instead of a couple of times per week. The reason being, if I run every single day, my body will adapt to it. And it will be a lot easier to do regularly.

I had run before, but it wasn’t consistent. I had gone for a run maybe once a week, skipped the next week, and maybe went for a run the following week, but I did know that would make me feel better. So I went up to the cardio room in my apartment and went for a exercise on one of the cardio machines. And it was like hitting a release valve. I came in with a set of problems.

I had stresses, burdens, worries, and as soon as I finished my run, those were all gone. And on top of that, I was in a mindset where I could deal with these issues if they were actually issues and not just worries. So a couple of months after I picked up running, I decided to take some time off from MIT.

I went home to my parents’ house. And I realized that I wanted to make some changes in my life. And I sought out spiritual belief that worked for me. And because I had time off from MIT, I was able to seek this spiritual belief.

And that gave me a lot of strength. It gave me a lot of tools to cope with life. I spent a lot of time learning tools on how to cope with things, everything from stress, to worrying, to accomplishing goals.

I learned all these tools. And I spent some time learning about them, seeking them out, seeking out spirituality, and this gave me a lot of strength, specifically it gave me the ability to ability to really live life well. And because of this, I also developed the strength to overcome challenges.

When an issue would come into my life, I had the tools to be able to conquer it, to solve the problem, and also do it while maintaining happiness and peace. Even though I had picked up regular running and had found a spiritual belief, I still wasn’t feeling as good as I would have liked. I wanted to feel happy. I wanted to feel energetic.

And I had tried changing my diet around multiple times before, but I never really stuck to it. I tried again one more time, and I found a diet that really worked for me. I found a ketogenic diet, which helped me immensely. I not only was able to stay consistent with it, but I also found immense mental benefits.

I went from eating a lot of desserts, processed food, a lot of junk food, to eating practically no refined sugars, no junk food, and most of the food I ate, I cooked on my own. And it was whole food. And I noticed that I was more energetic. And I was happier.

I noticed that I could follow through with tasks better. I noticed I could start tasks and goals a lot better. Before I took time off from MIT, I was not resilient.

After I took time off from MIT, I developed resiliency. The time off from MIT forced me and gave me an opportunity to develop strength and resiliency. That has paid off so much now in my life.

I am able to accomplish a lot more goals. I am a lot happier. I am able to endure a lot more things.

And I’m one semester away from graduating. And I have been having a lot of fun at MIT. And it’s been a real blessing to take time off from MIT.