Magical Moments
Sometimes I think a lot about the endings. Endings can be good or bad, sad or happy, but they are never the finishing lines. Every end leads to a new beginning. Remember my words! This world’s dictionary doesn’t contain the word “coincidence”. Everything, every occasion, every event, every person, every start, and every end, all have a specific meaning. Sometimes, we do start a thing with proper planning, and sometimes, we start without even thinking. Those things come to an end, we may feel sad about them or may feel happy. But the thing is, those endings aren’t useless. They give us a lesson, a new start, a new thought, and an entrance to the magical world of self-discovery.
Have you ever seen a bright sun turning into a friendly, cool, and mesmerizing one, just to say goodbye to the old and tired souls? It’s an end too and it’s beautiful.
My life is also filled with a lot of endings that gave me a new start, and I think all of those are beautiful in one way or another. I want to share the ending of one of the most beautiful journeys of my life with you guys today.
Three months ago, I joined Amal Academy as an Amal Fellow. It was an honor to be selected for the fellowship. It was like a dream to me. Everything was going pretty well. I was busy managing my university and fellowship at the same time. Sometimes, it became difficult for me to accommodate, but it was fun and I was learning a lot too. But then came the day, I was afraid of. Yes, it was the last day for me to be with those helpful and kind souls every weekend, during the week too, working on the project works and making group assignments. It’s not like we won’t connect anymore. Of course, we will but things will not be the same I guess.
The last session:
Our last session was held online as usual, via Zoom, on 11th June 2023. I woke up early in the morning, tried to get ready as better as possible, found a peaceful corner of my house, and joined the session. Our last session was called “Taking Flight”. We began the session with Ma’am Lyba and Sir Afnan asking questions about our health and our feelings regarding the closure of our fellowship. It was a casual talk and everyone was allowed to answer the questions and express their thoughts.
After a few responses, we started doing some activities and playing games. First of all, we were sent to the breakout rooms and we were meant to give nicknames to our group members, depending on the qualities and traits of each other (that we came to know during our journey). As I stay quiet most of the time, I was given the name “Miss Silent”. Similarly, we gave each other fun names. I enjoyed this activity a lot.
Next was playing the “Scavenger Hunt” game. It was fun too. Everyone was busy guessing the right answers and running in their houses, from room to the kitchen and lounge. There were two teams and our team failed, but we enjoyed a lot.
Our second last activity was leaving messages for each other on Padlet. It was the most fun and memorable activity for me. It reminded me of my school days when we used to write wishes and messages for each other in our diaries before our vacations. In this session, I also wrote my thoughts for my friends, whose company and support gave me great strength. Unexpectedly, I got very beautiful remarks and comments from my friends and Fellows like Wajiha Khan, Dur e Aymen, Farhan, Hania, Hasin Nafees, Junaid, Adil, Sadeeq, and others. All of my Fellows are very important to me and I’ve learned a lot from them throughout my journey as well.
Our last activity was of doodling our memories at Amal. We were given enough time for this, so I completed it after the session ended and sent it to the WhatsApp group (as per the instructions of our respected Program Facilitator and Manager).
My feelings throughout the session:
The whole session was filled with emotional conversation and moments. It was like we were just talking and casually continuing the session. It was the first time, we didn’t get involved in our study-related activities during the whole session, instead, kept playing and talking. It gave us a sense of relief and easiness that we were continuing like this, forgetting our tensions, throwing away our stresses, enjoying the time, and immersing in the beauty of the present. It is the most beautiful thing to experience. Sometimes, it’s very important to stop running in the race.
It reminds me of some beautiful words by some great people. They say:
“If you have moments where
you feel happiness for a while
It’s alright to stop.” (by BTS)
It was such an experience for me that I forgot about everything else and just focused on the present moments. In my opinion, times like these are very important for us, for our health too. These magical moments give us inner strength and valuable memories. Not only does our mental health gets improved by staying away from stress, but it also improves our physical health.
Our connection in the future:
When someone becomes an Amal Fellow, it’s for life. We stay connected to our teachers, program manager, program facilitator, and our Amal team as well. We also never lose our connection with our fellow Fellows. We can never forget about our time spent here, our memories, and most importantly our learnings and skills that we learned just through Amal.
In order to stay connected with my fellows and the Amal team, I have decided to take certain steps. For example:
- Never leaving our Amal WhatsApp and Facebook groups.
- Connecting with my mega circle members and coordinating with them on daily life tasks.
- Carrying out our Mega project for as long as possible.
- Sharing my work progress with Ma’am Lyba and Sir Afnan.
Learnings and implementation:
Throughout my Amal journey, I’ve learned a lot. Be it online courses, weekend sessions, learning group assignments, mega projects, presentations, mock interviews, one-on-one sessions, or my mentors and fellows, every person and event was like a teacher to me.
Now that I know these new things, I want to teach others too and spread the light of knowledge everywhere and as much as I can. No doubt, it’s because of this ending that has led me to my professional life, full of opportunities and hard work. Not only in professional cases, but I’ve gained insight into my interests and capabilities. This way, Amal has shaped my personal and professional life.
I plan to implement my learning in the future. I have already started acting upon the instructions of our teachers like connecting with my mentor, managing time, building a network, performing teamwork tasks, leadership without authority, etc. Some of the steps that I plan to take in the future are as follows:
- Proving myself as a leader without authority at work and in other spaces.
- Practicing teamwork in university, mega project, and also in future jobs and internships.
- Be grateful and deliver my gratitude in my personal and workspace.
- Helping others and impacting the environment in a positive way.
- Proving myself as a valuable team player.
- Practicing courtesy, humility, and empathy in my daily life as well as work life.
- Maintaining a balance between work and personal life.
- Helping others learn all of these values as well.
This was all regarding my last session story.
Well, the story doesn’t end here. Actually, it begins here and this is a door through which I’ve entered a fascinating world of opportunities, knowledge, self-discovery, and empathy.
I hope every one of you not only gets beautiful farewells but also discovers the magical messages hidden behind those farewells as well. For these messages are the keys to the door to a new world that awaits your precious presence.
Have a wonderful week ahead.