Fit in like a charm

Everyone in this world prefers something over another, every single person has their priorities set. Most of them avoid changes, while others like to have new experiences and be open to new adventures. These are what we call comfort zones, where each and every individual feels safe and cozy and prefers staying like that forever! But let me tell you about my nature, always an introvert since the first day I remember being able to understand things around me.

I have had limited shares of friendships throughout my life, and I can assure you that my friends won't be more than the number of fingers on my hand which means of course, I can count them on my fingers. But as you grow and have to be a part of different communities or groups you are left with no other choice whatsoever, you have to take a deep breath and slowly place your foot out of your safety zone. If we look around us the reality is people who are reserved and tend not to sabotage the walls of their comfort zones soon enough fail to meet the requirements of this changing world. It is a fact that effective communication is one of the most valued skills in today's world and there is a concrete reason behind that too.

Humans have the tendency to excel in if not one then two or at most three domains at a time but all the big names in this world like Elon Musk, Bill Gates and others are known because they achieved something special in a single domain. We humans are designed to work together to be better and efficient at tasks rather than a single person handling ten sectors at a time, it's just not practical and efficient enough. Teams matter, people working together matter because in groups we are able to achieve those heights which people dreamt about in the past. From the first flight to the moon to the tallest building ever built, there were teams with each individual master of his domain and thus we were able to pull off these feats. So needless to say, effective communication plays a vital role in every task or project.

When I joined Amal Academy the one thing I knew was why I am joining Amal, which was to refine my soft skills. And throughout the first few weeks I knew what to get out of this journey. I wanted to be extremely open to new experiences, talk to people without any hesitation and share my experiences and learn from their experiences. But I wouldn't say it was easy, at least not for me. As I said I was an introvert by birth, and so it was hard but step by step, one thing at a time I changed myself. Many of my Amal friends always asked me questions like "Why are you so quiet during the live sessions?" or "I didn't know you were present today" and I always went "Because I feel lazy in the morning", little did they know it was because I was changing and gathering the courage to enhance my spoken skills and to communicate effectively and share my stories that just clinges people into them. Anyway, I felt like a small piece of a huge jigsaw puzzle trying to fit in, but just couldn't realize where and how! The first two week for me were a dilemma, in each and every task, session or meeting whether or not I can do this or not. But thank god we humans get used to things, become habitual and so did I but with time.

I started to gain courage and learned how to be a part of group conversations and I intentionally just to test my progress decided to become my circle's leader which is a great responsibility because now you not only have to give your hundred percent in your tasks but you also have a team to manage and communicating expectation, getting work done before time and managing day to day tasks were not easy, at least not for me. Time flew by and I learned even more, learning to step up for failures and sharing the happiness of success was very overwhelming. We are almost done with this journey right now with a week left to go and now when I look back I feel satisfied that I forced myself into this and my journey is a beautiful picture of a warm soothing sight of a huge grassland during mid spring which came together like a jigsaw puzzle step by step, gradually but when it finishes there is no better feeling that that and you realize that you never want it to finish because you loved it so much.

I feel proud to say I have grown out to be a totally different person, I am able to get things done from people and I can lead groups like I had never before. I have changed so much that I am now recognized for skills I was afraid to incorporate in the very beginning and there cannot be anything better than this! Cheers to this beautiful journey and hopefully many more to come.