I'm writing these stories as a way to look back — to connect the dots between growth, struggle, and the unexpected things that push us forward. Each chapter is a memory, a lesson, a quiet shift. This one begins during my Master's.

It was one of those long nights — the kind that stretches endlessly before a review. I had worked through the night, refining every detail, obsessing over the why's , how's & the story behind the work.

But still wasn't enough to impress the professors & got of course got scolded… Embarrassing? Absolutely.

But in hindsight, that moment did more than sting — it taught me something. Something I didn't yet have a name for.

Embarrassment isn't passion. It's not a feeling you chase. But it can be a turning point. For me, that was the night I learned what it meant to care deeply — to fight for the quality of what I put out in the world, even when it hurt.

For someone else, the trigger might be different. It doesn't really matter what took you there. What matters is what you carry with you.

For me, it was ..fight, fear and eventually… a quiet form of perfectionism.

In practicality— not everyone gets the space to be a perfectionist. It's a privilege shaped by context — deadlines, cultures, roles. But most designers I know struggle with it at some point.

Because while perfection is subjective, the pursuit of it teaches you a few things:

The vigour to make something better. The patience to keep trying. And the permission to keep pushing your own boundaries.

And that's how I like to remember that night of hard work. Not for the scolding. But for what it sparked in me..