THE ONE WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
This week we were asked to reflect on the first two weeks of Amal, and not only reflect on them but also to visualize them. To identify one object that reminds us of that time. I was pretty confused on what can I possibly think of which summarizes my first two weeks. And after days of thinking (yeah my creative juices were really not helping), I finally realized that the thing I have been trying to identify had been right in front of my eyes all along. You see it for yourself:
THE VALUES MODEL!
The one thing that hangs on the wall of my room, stays in front of my eyes and constantly reminds me of my values in a beautiful way. This is the thing that reminds me of my first two weeks at AMAL. The story goes something like this ;
Our first ever project at Amal, we were told to make anything that represents our values. I started doing some casual research and I came across the concept of symbolism. “Various things, and various colors represent different abstracts”. I wrote down my values and then started combining the things that represented them to make an aesthetically pleasing symmetry.
This is how this symbolize my values:
-The wolf is known to be a symbol of loyalty
-The butterflies and the circle are a symbol of change and constant movement, which for me represent a will of continuous improvement.
-The flower is Aster, which is a symbol of patience:
-The trees are a symbol of growth.
Having said that, let’s talk about the reflections in detail:
Ngl I was feeling a bit disinterested in the beginning. I had just gotten free from my exams, and I just wanted to relax. I remember telling my parents that I will be putting in an average amount of effort into this and I am not going to take it too seriously.
I remember being a bit nervous before the first session. The first activity we had was about telling a story related to our names. And I made sure that everyone knows it’s SIJAL not SAJAL. 😂😂. As the journey kept advancing, I started getting fonder of Amal. I started enjoying each and every project. I unknowingly started putting my best effort into each activity, and Amal became my no. 1 priority over everything else. Me @ Amal after the first few weeks :
In the second week, we were told to make a 1 minute video on one of the four traits of MVTP. I made a video using my “okayish” drawing skills, but I was super proud of it.
And in the second session, I won the award for the “Most Thoughtful Project”.
This definitely gave me a lot more confidence and an instant boost to work even harder. I remember literally checking my email on a Saturday afternoon to see if we have received the next week’s project yet or not, and then remembering that we get them on Sundays (at least we used to- in the first few weeks).
In the first two weeks, one of the most important things that I learned was the importance of “Values and Principles”. I remember having a really long conversation with my friend about the importance of “Amal”. When we were told to identify the “why’s” behind our goals, I spent a whole week trying to reach to the absolute bottom of it and find out the deepest “why” behind each of my goals. The following week we had a really cool case study, and we also learned about “lollipop moments” and the concept of “leadership without authority”. Something that I exercise till date, and find to be one of the most crucial lessons I have learned in the Amal course.
And that brings us to .. Drum roll please
THE SELF DISCOVERIES!
One of the most important things that I discovered about myself is that I can actually be a lot more creative than I had previously expected of myself. Back when I was a child (I mean I am still a teen, why did I say that like I am 70 year old — -), I used to have a passion for arts and crafts but after getting admission in Fsc I always felt like I lost that touch of creativity, But just with the first few weeks Amal brought it all back, and I am really glad about it.
Another thing that this journey has made me realize is the importance of honest hard work. I realized that I am probably not capable of giving “an average amount of effort” to anything. I discovered that I am the kind of person who actually likes giving my 100 percent to anything that I am associated with. This can be a bummer when you have to prioritize tons of tasks but thankfully I did not have a lot on my plate in these past three months, So the rest is a story of some other time. Now is the time to feel toit about moi self (If you read that in Jake Peralta’s accent, you can be my friend ❤).
FRIENDS and B99 references, both in a single blog! What is this, a cross over episode?! (Yep, I literally used another Netflix show reference there) (if you got all three, ily. k bye)
