By Farah Radzuan
There will be a time when you feel so empty, so hard to rise after a fall, facing difficulties to smile all over again like you did before. Yes, that moment, everyone will face it at least once in his or her life. Living without being hit by adversity is not called “life”. This is who we are, and for what we are made.
Know a thing where the obstacles that you face whether it is going to give positive or negative impact in your life, depends on you, really. Because you are the architect of your life, you sketch everything before you make it real. You are the painter, and the ideas come from you. Same goes in this life, you have the power to choose, to make it right or wrong, to fix it or burn it down.
There was a time I faced a lot of problems, no place to go, I didn’t even find my way to go back home which I can call “peace”. The pain that I felt was unbearable, I can’t describe it in words. I frequently went back to my hometown to meet my mother. Yes, she’s my best friend, a good listener who never condemn and complain about anything, she will always be there for me. But when I came back to IIUM, I still felt the pain. Until one day, I met this one girl, physically she’s small but she has a big heart, and a big dream to accomplish.
She was always there whenever I needed her. She taught me a lot about life. The real life, not the fantasy one. This life is just a journey, and before we die we must leave something behind. Something that is beneficial to others not to harm people, but to shape a new brand as a Muslim. People tend to see big thing as their real achievement, perhaps something that can be proud of, but they forget about the small thing that they do because for them, it is nothing much to bother.
We have to open our eyes, big things happened because of those small steps that we take. Learn to do the small things as much as you can, even when you are just giving a bottle of mineral water to the cleaners. You will never know how much they need it and appreciate it and their prayers will always be with you without you expecting it.
Whenever you feel so hard to keep breathing and continue this life journey, just remember there will be people behind you to support you. One of my lecturers once said, “Do good, and be good. Life is getting tougher day by day and in life you must open your eyes, heart and mind. Then, you will be so special.”
We as youth carry huge responsibilities for the future, we are going to lead the world onwards. If you feel like wanting to give up, just remember the people who hope and wait for your success to change your life and theirs. Life is about giving your very best to others so that you will taste the sweetness of the journey after the hardship. By seeing their smile, their satisfaction with the achievement obtained, you will also be happy for them.
In a nutshell, life never promise to get easy when you started to grow. Be strong, because behind every fall is a rise, and life is not that bad. People might be able to build you up or tear you down, but you have the power to lift up your own spirit. Spread happiness and love others like you dream of.
Go and make an effort to get what you want to acquire in your life, probably you will not be able to get all of those things that you aimed, but at least you already made a few steps forward rather than doing nothing and stay still. You are born to be a fighter in your own life, and grow strong. Grow good and strong, people!***