Even in my early childhood I realized that I wanted to tell stories, written, oral - it didn't matter how. I felt that the very process of telling a story gave me pleasure, and if the people around me felt the same way, I felt cool.

Later, when making professional choices, I combined my two incurable " illnesses " - the desire to tell stories and curiosity - and, from there, journalism came out.

And then happened what is called - life. I discovered that journalism is not about writing well on free topics and telling stories vigorously; a good report is not a beautiful description of the road from home to school, and an interesting interview is not a conversation with a friend. It is clear that this discovery did not go painlessly for me. Such discoveries, if not nullify self-confidence, then greatly reduce it.

For some, facing life is an incentive to start a new life, but not for me. Some people use failure as fuel and continue the journey with more courage. They set new, bigger goals and achieve them. My goals consist of two steps. They are to wake up, get out of the house, and get from point A to point B. However, achieving each of them gives me a sense of happiness. In this, I'm like the characters I've befriended at different stages of life and book reading.

Failure has never motivated me. However, it was the only opportunity to find out which of the people around me were real and which were bubbles. Real people (and among them were those spawned from fiction, i.e. characters that are sometimes more real than the real thing) gave me strength and hope.

How can I forget a report I read freshman year that was more like "what a raindrop tells me" than journalistic writing. I wanted the earth to open under my feet back then. But I also remember the words of Nika Esebua, sitting next to me....

In general, I believe failure is a necessary seasoning. I'm not trying to romanticize failure, I don't mean to say that it should outweigh the happy moments, I just believe that it's only one's own failure that turns life into an experience. Otherwise it would be a monotonous series of days and nights.

In my case, it has always been like this: as the famous proverb says - downs are followed by ups, and vice versa. One thing is that I have never tried to disregard the teachings of an intelligent person and never tried to get any benefits at the expense of my conscience, my own values and sincerity.

I'm no saint - I've had all sorts of things happen to me. Everyone has, but all my downfalls have been accompanied by anxiety and sleepless nights.

When it comes to advice (which I've been giving more and more thoughtfully lately), I can say one thing - I advise being honest to those who need such advice. Sincerity wins in everything - in reporting, in friendship, and in family relationships. Maybe not right away, but over time - for sure.