Believe in yourself

“One thing I’ve learned from the past is to never give up, no matter how bad your result is. Don’t let it stop you from achieving your dreams.”

In the name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.

It’s 9.03 in the morning and it’s raining here in Nathan, Australia. The weather influences me to dance my fingers on the keyboard. May Allah ease and open my mind, let the words and ideas flow through for this post. Firstly, I’d like to dedicate this post to all of you who’ll be taking their SPM result next week. This one is especially for you, love.

I was touched when some of you came to me for advices. MashaAllah. I, humbly say, at times I don’t feel myself competent to give you advices because I, myself, still struggling to achieve my dreams too. But I remind myself that I have nothing to lose if I share this to all of you. The best feeling in the world is when you become a part of one’s success, when you become an inspiration to someone.

Here is something that I can share that can help you to motivate yourself. InshaAllah.

I remember those days when I struggled to calm myself down. Those days were the days when I lost my appetite to eat and losing the interest to have fun with my friends. Those were the days when I spent my day working and the rest of it at home, completing Sudoku. Funny isn’t it? I was so scared, terribly scared, exactly the way you feel right now. But at the end of the day, I said to myself, I have to face it no matter what. Whether it is good or bad, I have to accept it and be grateful to Allah for it. Because Allah knows what’s best for me. My result wasn’t like what I expected, but Alhamdulillah, I managed to get all credits for 13 subjects with a small number of As, Bs and Cs. I am being completely honest; I’m just an ordinary student. But I believe in myself that I can go far beyond my imagination, beyond my expectation. And so do you. Yes you can. I believe that the only thing limiting you is your thoughts. Only you have the power to change your thoughts. Look forward and dream of what is possible for your life. With action, anything in life is possible. You can, yes you can.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

I love the quote. I’ve been keeping it in my heart and mind ever since I read it in Dato’ Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor’s book. Life has thrown some rocks in my stream and each and one of it has helped me to become stronger, to become who I am today. Sometimes challenges and struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. Challenges and struggles are the nature of life which has helped me to grow up to become more mature. One thing I’ve learned from the past is to never give up, no matter how bad your result is. Don’t let it stop you from achieving your dreams. Believe in yourself.

A few years ago, I was that girl sitting in her room imagining her dreams, putting her best effort to achieve her dreams. Alhamdulillah, with patient and faith that I have in Allah, I’ve achieved a part of my dreams. The key is faith. Have faith in Allah and have faith in yourself. Take a good care of your relationship with Allah. Never neglect your five daily prayers because that is the most important thing and the best communication we have with Allah, which is also the only way you can convince Him that you really want this. Trust me. If you have Allah, you have everything.

I look forward for adventures in my life. Now that I’m here, pursuing another dreams of mine, setting goals and resolutions. I’ve been planning to do an exchange-study program to UK, inshaAllah. In order to achieve this, I have to meet the requirements and to do that I have to work hard and be persistent. Please pray for my success in this world and Hereafter, to become the best Muslim Psychologist, InshaAllahu Taala.

To those of you who’ll be taking your SPM result soon, your result will show you the hard work you’ve put on for the past few years. It shows you how much effort you’ve put on. By the meaning of “effort”, it’s not just about burning the midnight oil. It’s also about how earnestly you pray to Allah. If you fail to achieve your target, it is not the end of everything. Bear in mind that Allah knows what’s best for you. Failing doesn’t mean you are a loser. In fact, failure is the best teacher. The reason why Allah makes it a bit harder for you is to make you a fighter. He wants you to feel and appreciate the feeling of victory and success. Set your aims and goals, and try harder next time. I believe you can. This time around, the only things you can do is pray and have faith in Allah for He knows what’s best for you. InshaAllah. Next week, if you pass with flying colours, then Alhamdulillah, say Alhamdulillah. All your hard work paid off. Remember, nothing great was ever achieved without Allah’s help. Last but not least, I wish you the best of luck.

Love,
Ieka Ahmad.

On my journey to Brisbane

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim.

7 hours and 45 minutes journey from Kuala Lumpur to Brisbane was indescribable. I can’t explain how much my back hurts sitting in the flight for too long. All I can think of back then was how can these people stand sitting in the airplane for about 8 hours or longer than that? So I told myself to relax and chill, you’ll get use to it soon. Well, I hope so. Thank God with the technologies nowadays, they provided us with entertainment i.e. movie, music, etc. They also provided us with The Quran Translation, which I enjoyed myself reading it and indeed, Quran is the best book of all.



Along the journey, I was touched looking at the beautiful creations of Allah Taala. The sun, the skies, the land and the moon, MashaAllah, Allah is The Almighty. Something beautiful happened and I can’t stop praising The Almighty for it, Alhamdulillah. The story which I’m about to share is something that I want you to see, feel and think of how beautiful and powerful Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala is.

Before, I was so scared thinking of the risks of studying outside Malaysia, being far away from my family and living in a country which Islam is being least practiced. Every wish I get from my friends, I can’t stop asking them to pray for me, to pray for my success in this world and the Hereafter.

Beyond my expectation, in the airplane, my dad and I met a married couple who are currently staying in Gold Coast, Australia. The husband is a Turkish and the wife is an Australian citizen. Both of them are Muslims. We swapped numbers. Coincidentally, the husband’s name is Mohd Zaid. And by the meaning of “coincidentally” is what actually happened at the same time. Before my dad told me the husband’s name, I was looking outside the window, reminiscing back the beautiful memories I had with Zaid. I really I miss him. And I can't described how much I miss him. When I asked my dad his name, I was, of course, shocked. I said to myself, only Allah knows the reason why it happened coincidentally. Wallahu’alam.

The husband and wife soon became my foster family. Subhanallah I was touched when the husband said to me,

“Nurul Afiqah, from now on, my wife is like your big sister.
If you need anything, just contact her number”.

From that moment, I was so relieved that with Allah’s permission, He destined me to meet this Muslims couple. Alhamdulillah, I can’t stop thanking Allah for every beautiful thing that I’ve been through before and after.

Alhamdulillah. I thank Allah for everything, for making things easier for me. I still have loads of stories to share. Stories which can make us all amazed by the power of Allah Taala. InshaAllah, I'll try to find some time to write it down. I'd love to share this experience to all of you. InshaAllah. Please pray for me, for my success here in this world, and in the Hereafter. Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin.

A new melody of life

Happy New Year 2012 everyone.

Like everyone else, I’m blown away by the beautiful melody and lyrics of A Thousand Years. I love listening to the lyrics. I agree. It is a beautiful song. Sometimes, words which are unspoken are best described by song, isn’t it? Well, same goes to me. At times, it’s hard for me to explain my situation by words. And to express it, I’ll listen to a song which suits well with my feeling. I guess that's one of the reasons why I rarely blog nowadays.

Anyway, all I want this year is to let go of my yesterday, move on with what I have today and complete my future with something good. No more ‘sad song’ playing everyday in my life. It's time to sing a ‘happy song’. I know I'm stronger than this and I'm sure I can make it through. So last but not least, I wish you all a good year 2012. Happy New Year again from me, love.

Somewhere far away

“...it feels like you want to travel away from where you belong; somewhere where nobody knows who you are. A place somewhere that no one knows.”

I’ve decided to be away from every social network I have and stick with my blog since this is the only place where I feel safe enough to express my feeling. Everything about my personal life has turned into something complicated now. I don’t want to make it even more complicated by posting it randomly. Hence, I’ve decided to let the feeling go here, in this blog. There are a few things that my head can’t stop questioning and I can’t sleep thinking about it. Even worse, I cry myself to sleep.

Let me take a deep breath.

This ugly feeling, it feels like you want to travel away from where you belong; somewhere where nobody knows who you are. A place somewhere that no one knows. It’s too hard to express it by words. It’s just too hard. I’ve packed it all in my head but I couldn’t express it any better. Forgive me, dear heart. I have to burden you with all these. I know this is a test. Deep down inside I don’t want to feel this way. But I’m only human. Sometimes I keep too much, and I end up crying all night long. It’s like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water.

Whenever I cry, I tell myself; “this is life, Ieka. We can’t always have the sun shining every day. You can’t have a rainbow without a little rain. Someday you’ll taste the feeling of happiness again. Allah has a better plan for you. Stop crying and be thankful to Him.”

Patience

“...And the most important thing I’ve learned is to never hurt your parents feelings because in life we need the blessings of our parents in everything we do...”

Well, it's been a very long time now. I didn't write much these days. After all, I really miss the feeling of expressing every thought that I have in mind. For some people, they might think that writing is easy, but for me it isn’t. I must say that I miss all the fun that I had here in this blog. I love to write. First and foremost, forgive me for any of my grammatical errors in this post. Life for me, as for now, not much of an adventure. I’ve been spending half of the year doing nothing. I miss studying. I miss all the chaotic life I had as a student. I tend to be a little bit jealous looking at those who’d finished their first semester. I’ve been waiting for the offer letter almost six months now. And I have to admit that I had almost given up. To be honest, I didn’t get accepted to enter my dream university. I was rejected. I should’ve known it better, but I was putting too much hope instead of putting too much effort. Six months of a very painful waiting, I began to realize that this isn’t just about a-painful-waiting. I’ve learned a lot; I’ve learned to be more patient. I’ve learned to rely on Allah. I’ve learned that in order to achieve what I want; I have to put in extra effort. I’ve learned to accept the fact that sometimes we cannot always have what we want no matter how much we’ve tried. Sometimes, things happen for a reason and if Allah wills it, it will happen. I’ve also learned a valuable lesson from my own mistake, do not delay things that you’ve intended to do. And the most important thing I’ve learned is to never hurt your parents feelings because in life we need the blessings of our parents in everything we do. Please, take whatever I've shared here as lessons of a lifetime. I believe that Allah has a better plan for me. Maybe even better than what I have in mind, even greater than my plan. Maybe someday I will fulfill my dream, but not now. Whatever the reason is, Allah knows what’s best for me. For now, yes, I am still trying, but this time, I leave everything in Allah’s hands. Again, if Allah wills it, it will happen. I pray for the best. Amin.

Of sadness and tears

Wednesday.
October 26th, 2011.

“To me, the only thing which feels so real is this place. Where I can narrate my story and let go of my feelings. My sadness. My happiness. A space for me to breathe freely. A place where I can write everything about you without knowing if you've already moved on or not.”

I wish you could understand my feelings.

I wish you could see what I had to go through. I wish I could turn back time, but sadly, the only thing I can do now is just flashback our memories with tears. Before, I used to do it with a smile on my face and laughter. But I realized it has already ended, it's over now between us and then I continued to cry.

Memories

Now I understand why memories can be painful.

Year 2008.

“The day I met you, my life changed. The way you make me feel is hard to explain. You make me smile in a special kind of way. You make me fall deeper for you every day and when I look into your eyes, I know it’s true. There’s no one else in this world for me but you.”

It's time to let you go

“I think it’s time I let you go. And that’s so hard to do because some part of me will be in love with you for the rest of my life. But the daydreaming, the running in place, it’s not healthy. So this is me, cutting the cord. This is me, doing what I should have done months ago, saying goodbye.”

Nature

“My greatest pleasure was the enjoyment of a serene sky amidst these verdant woods: yet I loved all the changes of Nature; and rain, and storm, and the beautiful clouds of heaven brought their delights with them.”

— Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Hiding a little bit inside

“Are you happy living in a lonely world?”

To me, friendship is important. The world will be a boring place to live without friends. And I think that’s why He created us differently, so that we can meet new friends and learn new cultures. To me, friendship is all about helping friends and always be there together through thick and thin. But other than that, to me, the most vital thing in friendship is to take care of your friends’ feeling. I believe that everyone is sensitive. If any of you say no, you’re different, you’re not sensitive. I take it you must be a very egoistic person. Forgive me if I’ve hurt your feelings.

I’m only human and I have feelings too. Sometimes I don’t understand a friend who considers the sensitive things as jokes. It’s not funny, not at all. I can’t respect friends who disrespect their own friends. To joke about others’ weaknesses once is fine but more than that it isn’t normal. You’ve just created an unhealthy friendship. If I’ve avoided you, it is probably because I am not comfortable around you. Not because I hate you. I don’t like hating people because I believe everyone makes mistakes. I was ignorant back then and yes I did it too, hating people, but I’ve learned that instead of hating, it’s best to forgive. I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect.

We are all born with different strengths and weaknesses. We just have to appreciate what we have and help our friends to be thankful for what they have too. Besides, what are the benefits of letting your friend down? None, in fact, you’re just going to lose more friends. Without friends, your life will be lonely. Are you happy living in a lonely world?