Many years ago, I experienced serious difficulties in my life. At that time, I had 27. I faced financial, psychological, spiritual crises. I felt that I needed to go somewhere to spend time with myself alone and in silence. I talked to my friend, and he recommended a retreat house, and the next day, he took me to the place. It was a turning point that changed all my life.
It was summertime. The place where was that house was in a beautiful park in the seashore on Long Island. The window and the balcony from my room were facing the beach. To the left and the right of the building were trees. Behind the house was situated a beautiful Monastery. I did not breathe fresh air like that for a very long time. There was a lot of chirping of the birds and a pleasant and robust smell of flowers and linden trees. Every morning, I went outside barefoot on the lawns, which reminded me of my village and childhood. The sky during the day was blue and clear, and you could see the stars at night. The temperature was warm and humid during the day, but it would cool off close to evening.
The next day I went to the chapel for the religious service. In that Monastery, I met a priest and monks. I felt I could trust them myself. One evening, I decided to talk with the priest more deeply and share all my pain and problems with him. One of the issues was my opinion of education in the country. My English was very poor. I told him that I would like to study, but I was sure that I could not do it because I did not believe in myself. I thought I would never know English enough to start college. The priest gave me a lot of hope. He told me that he came ten years ago to the country and learned English from zero. He was able to learn English and to start college and got his profession. His personal account inspired me to trust myself and pursue my dreams. It was not the last conversation and visited the monastery. I continued to speak with pries and monks because I felt big moral support from them and my English practice. If it were not their support, I would have never succeeded in my English.