Taking Flight
Farewells are always heart-breaking but they are bound to happen one day; sometimes earlier than expected, abruptly on few occasions, and at times the journey just goes on before we part ways with each other. Honestly, it’s not in our control that for how long we want to stay with each other, and as a Muslim I have a firm belief that everything happens for a good reason. We as human being bids adios to numerous persons on multiple instances and each time the intensity is different which depends upon the strength of the connection. Regardless of low-key moments, looking forward and progressing at a moderate pace is the way to go because over-thinking about the past activities no matter whether it was enjoyable or harsh upon you would not take you anywhere. Instead of regret, self-belief, persistence, and determination should be preferred because it initiates the wonderful journey towards self improvement.
Coming towards this fellowship, was one hell of an experience that was packed with high and low moments. The best thing about this journey was the learning atmosphere; every fellow sounded so humble and helpful that I cannot even explain this feeling in words. I got the chance to interact with few beautiful people and learned a lot of stuff that will be everlasting; I was like man this fellow is so brilliant at that particular thing so let’s connect with him and master that particular competency and this literally happened. Surely, these three months have instilled many technical and inter-personal skills which will be fruitful in my personal and professional development.
What was it like to just talk and connect?
Being able to connect and talk with your trusted ones is not less than a blessing. This relieves us of our worries to a great extent and at once we start to feel a lot better and motivated. I remember that in a session few of the fellows shared their painful life stories openly in front of everyone; this made us aware of the fact that almost everyone had gone through the harsh time, this not only inspired us but also established a deeper sense of empathy amongst us which eventually strengthened the bonds between us. Furthermore, the last session was absolutely different; there was no discussion concerning project works, progress reports, or any technical stuff related to the fellowship but it was based upon love, humility, and gratitude. Then the comments that we pasted on padlet board was the spectacular activity, the appreciating and lovely notes that we left for each other will stay in our hearts forever, and will definitely help us in the difficult times because exactly that sort of stuff will be required to push ourselves out of horrible situations. For the sake of enjoyment, a few of us danced, some of us were involved in singing the songs, and obviously, we exchanged jokes so all of us got involved and enjoyed it in the best possible way.
Do you think it is important to connect and do things just for your emotional uplift sometimes, even without a focus on work?
Emotional intelligence is one of the most neglected things in the world right now. Surprisingly it accounts for 80% while the Intelligence quotient is just twenty percent responsible for our success. A hell of work needs to be done before we can expect to have strong emotional quotients in ourselves. Unfortunately, society does not care about your mental health and peace. The cramming system and snake culture in our universities further destroy the element of prosperity so everybody runs behind the grades which is the cruel reality. So yes there should be regularly planned activities whose purpose should be to lift you emotionally so that you feel really good about yourself and be able to do whatever you are doing with one hundred percent commitment and dedication. It happens that we engage ourselves in our daily routines to such an extent that we start neglecting the people who are close to our hearts; hence there should be a proper balance between work life and enjoyment and it is completely fine to take out time for your loved ones just for long and healthy discussions which normally serves as a stress reliever.
How do you plan on keeping in touch with your Amal Family going forward?
Since I have made some lifelong friends so I would love to stay in touch with them forever. Ways to stay connected with these beautiful people are defined below:
· Helping the friends in continuation of their mega projects
· Finding common goals or interests such as doing an MBA from a foreign university and then applying for it collectively.
· Arranging meetup plans after every month or two
· If someone is already employed, he or she can share the resume of another fellow with the HR department of his/her company, this might prove helpful as well.
Last Saturday, we had our very first meetup which is shown in the picture below:
How do you intend to use what you learned in this fellowship in your future life?
During these three months, I have learned a lot of things such as preparing resumes, cover letters, how to be good at interviews, how to set up a LinkedIn profile, presentations, etc. Furthermore, I also got a chance to polish my soft skills such as teamwork, leadership, analytical thinking, and problem-solving. Only learning is not enough, now it is my responsibility to apply all of this stuff in my practical life and this could be done in the following ways:
· Attaching a cover letter with resume whenever applying for any position through an email
· Expressing gratitude and thank you email to the recruiters
· In-person resume drop and delivering the elevator pitch fully prepared
· Giving video introductions where applicable
· Applying the Eisenhower matrix whenever I will feel overburdened
· Visiting the balcony of life before going to sleep
· Converting goals into their SMART version
· Using Excel tricks such as VLOOKUP and COUNTIF for data analysis
In the end, I would like to present a bundle of thanks to Amal Academy, our facilitators (Ma’am Sahar and Ma’am Mishal), and my beautiful fellows for making this fellowship to be a wonderful part of my life. Yes, it was like a roller coaster ride, it was a bit hectic sometimes but everything related to this journey is totally worth it. Yes, it has finished but the friendship that was developed will forever and we would be there to help or support each other whenever possible.
Best wishes to batch-163 for your future endeavors. Keep shining, stay blessed!
