Appearances can be deceiving
10:23 Posted In assertive , Confidence , Courage , Degree , work Edit This 2 Comments »
I have been having infrequent discuss with a lady at work about goals in life. She is an intelligent, thoughtful, well-dressed pretty woman. She seems to ooze confidence and energy for life. I had this picture in my head of various achievements in her life like a degree, husband and well travelled. However, after a long discussion, she made me realise that appearances can be deceiving.
She had studied three years for a degree but had failed or dropped out due to difficult circumstances in her life. She explained that her father had died when she was young and her mother worked and brought up her, her brother and sister. She then went on to tell me she was 36 years old (I honestly believed she was 28) and had come to peace with not completing her degree. She expressed she was happy and content with her achievements but she could not hide the fact that there was something missing in her life. Maybe a husband? I dared not to ask!! She was brought as a Christian but was not practicing. She carried herself with respect, honesty, dignity and humility; qualities I believe are Islamic. However, what made her even more interesting was the fact that she had helped her mum to raise her brother and sister. She stills lives at home and it appeared to me that her mum is a strong source of comfort and love for her. Her mum gave her the freedom to go away to university but unfortunately that did not work out for her. I loved the fact that she was content with not going back to uni. She is proud of who she is and what she has achieved. I want this - InshaAllah! However, subhanAllah, she came into my life at time when I am struggling to make sense of my academic achievements. My current battle with whether I want to go to uni has been with me for seven years! The time has come for me to make a decision and I don’t want to defer for another year. For me, I believe it’s either now or never. I don’t want this decision to be the vane of my existence (I know, it is putting it strongly but unfortunately my emotions are running high on this subject). May Allah help me make the right decision.
I look back and I think back to all the things I have achieved compared to what I haven’t. I think the proudest moment of my academic life was representing my husband in Immigration Tribunal Court and finding out that I had won his case. Hooray! I want to hold on to these achievements regardless of whether I go back to uni or not.
I think the moral to this story is firstly, don’t judge a book by its cover, be happy and content with your life as Allah knows what’s best and even if you are 36, not married, no kids and no degree – just enjoy what you have in life and keep making achievable goals. I will try to put this into practice especially in analysing whether getting a degree is an achievable goal.
She had studied three years for a degree but had failed or dropped out due to difficult circumstances in her life. She explained that her father had died when she was young and her mother worked and brought up her, her brother and sister. She then went on to tell me she was 36 years old (I honestly believed she was 28) and had come to peace with not completing her degree. She expressed she was happy and content with her achievements but she could not hide the fact that there was something missing in her life. Maybe a husband? I dared not to ask!! She was brought as a Christian but was not practicing. She carried herself with respect, honesty, dignity and humility; qualities I believe are Islamic. However, what made her even more interesting was the fact that she had helped her mum to raise her brother and sister. She stills lives at home and it appeared to me that her mum is a strong source of comfort and love for her. Her mum gave her the freedom to go away to university but unfortunately that did not work out for her. I loved the fact that she was content with not going back to uni. She is proud of who she is and what she has achieved. I want this - InshaAllah! However, subhanAllah, she came into my life at time when I am struggling to make sense of my academic achievements. My current battle with whether I want to go to uni has been with me for seven years! The time has come for me to make a decision and I don’t want to defer for another year. For me, I believe it’s either now or never. I don’t want this decision to be the vane of my existence (I know, it is putting it strongly but unfortunately my emotions are running high on this subject). May Allah help me make the right decision.
I look back and I think back to all the things I have achieved compared to what I haven’t. I think the proudest moment of my academic life was representing my husband in Immigration Tribunal Court and finding out that I had won his case. Hooray! I want to hold on to these achievements regardless of whether I go back to uni or not.
I think the moral to this story is firstly, don’t judge a book by its cover, be happy and content with your life as Allah knows what’s best and even if you are 36, not married, no kids and no degree – just enjoy what you have in life and keep making achievable goals. I will try to put this into practice especially in analysing whether getting a degree is an achievable goal.
