After I was done with my exams for the 4th semester, a friend randomly send me a text and asked me to apply for this career-prep fellowship at Amal academy. First I ignored the text and then again, he inquired and insisted me to apply so I did. Now I thank myself for taking out some time time to fill the application form.
The orientation session was my first step towards embarking on this 3-month journey where I was introduced to the life at Amal. I was very excited for the interview but after selection, I felt a sense of achievement that I, out of 5000+ applications, got selected for an interview. I felt happier when I was selected after the interview. This process alone has been amazing. I remember writing descriptive answers to thought-provoking questions in my application form. Those questions had the potential to shake you and question your existence and purpose in life. This was just the beginning and the fellowship was yet to start.
On December 5, we had our first online session but before that, we had to complete an online course. This was like a head start. It helped us in knowing ourselves. I explored my traits, strengths, and weaknesses, which I might not have done on my own. I also made a life purpose map, where I had to add both happy and sad moments of my life and then had to upload it on Facebook. It has been 4 years since I stopped using Facebook. When we were asked to join the Facebook group, I was too hesitant but I had to do it and so I did it. This was the first step of coming out of my comfort zone.
No doubt, my first two weeks at Amal have been really hard and depressing for me. I never settle too soon anywhere. I always take some time to come out of my shell and interact with people. Besides this, my mid exams were also approaching and I had tons of assignments to complete. But Amal was also important. Our program manager Miss Naqsh Nasir quite often reiterates this which has been my biggest motivation to reach this far:
Nobody forced you for the fellowship. You signed up for it.
This has been a constant reminder till now. Keeping this in mind, I started doing online courses with full zest and zeal. I became eager to learn whatever Amal had to offer. Amal’s principle of Kam Kam Kam was introduced to us at the very start of the fellowship. The examples of struggles of NFAK, J K Rowling, and Quaid e Azam gave us a push to work, work and work.
In my life, I had never thought about my goals and the purpose in life. I never thought about where I want to be in the future. But Amal helped me in finding my purpose in life. It reminded me of my ultimate goal which I had long forgotten. It helped me to think about my interests. I had always hated working in teams but here I had to work in teams to complete my learning group tasks. This has been a bittersweet experience of mine. At first, I tried my best not to speak but again the constant reminder from our Program Manager helped me to overcome this issue. The reminder was:
Fellows you are compromising your learning by not actively participating in the sessions.
I am a perfectionist. I cannot compromise anything when it comes to my learning. Hence, I started participating in the sessions and learning group meetings.
I was also introduced to the importance and benefits of teamwork, the traits of the most valuable team player, the concept of leadership without authority, and persuadable versus traditional leaders. These concepts proved very helpful to me in my later half of the fellowship journey when I became the leader of my circle. My growth mindset helped me to accept and adapt to the change. The tips to become a proactive communicator, introduced in the 2nd online course, also helped me in working on my communication skills which improved eventually, and now my fellows admire my communication skills.
Now that we are almost at the end of the fellowship. Looking back makes me realize that I had so much potential in myself to do wonders. All I needed was a push and Amal gave me that push. This was not just a random fellowship. This was a journey of self-realization which changed my life at 180 degrees. I became self-aware. I never thought I could work in teams but here I lead a team. In a nutshell, I must say that Amal changed me in better ways. It moulded me into a person I never thought I could become. I pray we never stop this cycle of learning. May we all continue to strive for being better versions of ourselves.