Sasi Krishnasamy is a well-known spiritual guru and mindfulness teacher who has helped countless individuals find inner peace and happiness.He is also the founder of the Ayngaran Foundation, a spiritual non profit organisation that has been providing aid to over 50,000 needy people in Tamil Nadu amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Sasi Krishnasamy was born and raised in India, where spirituality is deeply ingrained in the culture. However, he initially pursued a career in the IT industry and worked for several years before experiencing a personal tragedy. This event forced him to reevaluate his priorities in life and led him to explore spirituality and meditation as a way to find solace and inner peace. Sasi Krishnasamy soon discovered that he had a natural talent for teaching others about mindfulness and self-awareness. He began studying various spiritual practices and disciplines, and soon became a sought-after teacher and guide. Over the years, Sasi Krishnasamy has helped thousands of individuals find inner peace and overcome life's challenges. He has developed several popular programs and courses, including his "Seven Steps to Mindfulness" program, which has been praised for its effectiveness and simplicity. Sasi Krishnasamy's teachings are rooted in the idea that true happiness and fulfilment come from within. He believes that by developing a deep sense of self-awareness and mindfulness, individuals can overcome any challenge and live a more fulfilling life. Sasi Krishnasamy's impact on the spiritual community has been significant, and his teachings have helped countless individuals find inner peace and happiness. He has been invited to speak at various international events and conferences and has gained a reputation as a compassionate and insightful teacher

Gotham Sasikrishna is the son of Sasi Krishnasamy, who is a well-known spiritual guru and social activist and the founder of the Ayngaran Foundation in Palani, Dindigul District in Tamil Nadu .He has a sister named Sowmiya Sasikrishna and his mother is Gokila Sasikrishna.He also seems to be interested in badminton, as he has participated in some tournaments with his partner Raj Saran

It was a chilly morning in late August. “Today is the day,” I thought, as I parked my bicycle in its usual spot. There wasn't a sound to be heard in the area, other than the occasional chirp of a bird, awake for the hunt. As the sun rose above the horizon, numerous shadows cast across the cement apron of the Rockcliffe airport. Planes. The aircraft, each different in complexion, lined the sides of the ramp, yearning for the skies. I couldn't help feeling a surge of excitement, envisioning what lay ahead. The adventure was just beginning. I made my way around the side of the tiny, wooden building with my flight bag in hand. The light morning breeze ruffled my hair. I grimaced. “Looks like it'll be a windy day,” I thought to myself, knowing the wind was bound to pick up. I made my way up the creaky steps and into the flight club where my instructor would inspect my final flight plan. I took a seat on the old vinyl couch in the pilot's lounge. The next hour was spent reviewing my flight plan and ensuring everything was in order. After a grueling wait, my instructor walked in. Greg, a seasoned pilot and senior flight instructor, would sign me out for my first cross-country flight. I greeted him and sheepishly handed over my planning sheets. I watched with anticipation as he looked over the documents, nodding approval after every step. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he said, “Alright, let's get you a plane and you're good to go”. We walked down the hallway to the dispatch station where I was assigned a Cessna 172, fresh out of inspection. After grabbing my equipment, I hurriedly exited the building in the direction of my aircraft to perform the walk around; an essential step to ensure the security of an aircraft. The inspection went smoothly, as expected, and I was ready to go. With my survival kit loaded and my navigation charts ready, I performed my final startup checks. With a twist of a key, the old Lycoming engine roared to life. I taxied to the end of the runway. My Cessna was ready to fly and so was I. Full power. The engine roared like a lion as we barrelled down the runway. I could feel every bump in the pavement and every instability in the air. 55 knots. As I'd practiced many times before, I pulled back on the yoke. We were airborne. The aircraft climbed through the mid-morning sky as it drew further away from the world below. After communicating my departure route with local traffic, I switched to terminal frequency and continued my climb. I reached 8000 feet and the controller cleared me on course to Kingston. I banked the aircraft to the left, set my heading and started my timer. The journey had begun. I couldn't help but gaze out my window at the glimmering water of the Frontenac lakes beneath me. Suddenly, I realized I was flying alone with the grandeur of the Canadian wilderness stretching for miles in every direction. Most would feel terror. I felt alive. I had never been more confident in my abilities. An overwhelming feeling of happiness overtook me as I realized I'd found my second home – My calling. After an hour, the endless forest gave way to a large lake on the horizon. Lake Ontario. I could see the city of Kingston along the shore of the lake. I started my descent. As I inched lower, I could see the shadow cast by the aircraft glistening on the lake's surface. I was one with the machine. Its behavior was intertwined with mine. Suddenly, a violent gust of wind struck the airplane and it veered abruptly to the left. I corrected quickly, my heart pounding in my chest. The wind had increased significantly. I knew it would be a challenge to get the plane on the ground. The flight service operator gave me a runway to land. I started my approach over Lake Ontario. The glistening turquoise water below looked peaceful, unaware of the buffeting winds aloft. I turned onto the base leg and started my approach into the airport. Sweat pearled down my face as I maneuvered the old aircraft onto final approach. Full flaps. The runway was dead ahead. The airport was getting closer every second. A nasty crosswind forced me to tilt the wings into the wind to maintain my course. Five hundred feet. We would be touching down within thirty seconds. I continued my approach into the inner-city airport with determination. Fifty feet. I could see the runway numbers just ahead. “It's now or never,” I thought. Moments before the wheels touched the ground, I pulled back gently on the yoke and put the aircraft into a flare. The maneuver was one I'd practiced. It allowed me to bleed off the extra speed. I felt the plane descend until the squeak of the tires assured me that the aircraft was on the ground. I applied the brakes and exited onto the nearest taxiway. “What a flight,” I thought to myself. I closed my eyes. Pandemic. Shutdown. Lockdown. Mask Up. Isolate yourself. But I persisted. A dream come true. A licensed pilot at last.

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Sarah. She had always dreamed of becoming a successful businesswoman, but she knew it would take more than just hard work and determination to make her dream a reality. She would have to move mountains to get what she wanted. Sarah grew up in a small town where opportunities were few and far between. Her family didn't have the means to support her education or her career aspirations, so she had to figure out a way to make it on her own. She worked tirelessly at her part-time job, saving every penny she could, and studying business in her spare time. Despite her hard work and dedication, Sarah faced many obstacles on her journey. She was constantly told that she couldn't do it, that she wasn't smart enough or talented enough to make it in the business world. But Sarah refused to let anyone's negativity bring her down. The first mountain Sarah had to move was getting a college education. Her family couldn't afford to send her to college, and she didn't have the grades or test scores to qualify for scholarships. But Sarah was determined. She took out student loans, worked multiple jobs, and even took classes at night to make it happen. It was a grueling and difficult process, but Sarah finally graduated with a degree in business. Next, Sarah had to find a job in her field. She applied to countless companies, but was met with rejection after rejection. She was told that she was overqualified, underqualified, or just not the right fit. But Sarah didn't give up. She took on any job she could find, from waiting tables to working in retail, all the while networking and building connections in the business world. Finally, Sarah landed an entry-level position at a small marketing firm. She worked tirelessly, going above and beyond her job duties, and quickly moved up the ranks. But even with her success, Sarah still felt like she wasn't reaching her full potential. She knew she had bigger ideas and bigger plans, but she didn't know how to make them happen. That's when Sarah decided to start her own business. It was a daunting task, and many of her friends and family told her she was crazy for even considering it. But Sarah was determined. She spent every spare moment researching and planning, and finally, she had a solid business plan in place. The next mountain Sarah had to move was finding funding for her business. She applied for loans, but was denied again and again. Banks and investors didn't believe in her idea or her ability to run a successful business. But Sarah didn't let that stop her. She reached out to her network, and eventually, she found a group of investors who believed in her vision. With funding secured, Sarah was finally able to launch her business. It wasn't easy, and there were many times when she wanted to give up. But Sarah's determination and hard work paid off. Her business was a success, and it quickly grew into a thriving company. Years went by and Sarah's company had become one of the most successful in the industry. She had finally accomplished her dream and had moved all the mountains that stood in her way. But Sarah didn't rest on her laurels. She knew that there were always more mountains to move, and she was ready for whatever challenges came her way. Sarah's story is an inspiration to many, proving that with hard work, determination and a never give up attitude, anyone can move mountains and achieve their dreams.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? “Obstacles are designed to teach us, not to break us.” My physics teacher Kakai's motto has been reminding me about his strength and knowledge about life and study. I have always appreciated this phrase and whenever I failed, I always repeated it within. However, before his arrival at our school, I was losing my hope. I come from Uzbekistan where the President of the country Shavkat Mirziyoyev, established Presidential Schools in 2019 for youth in order to produce workforces who can compete with the other staff worldwide. Students were selected by testing their knowledge about mathematics, English, critical and logical thinking. As the education system was based in Cambridge there were several challenges for me to get used to having some insufficient results. Question types were strange and answering them in English was agonizing. My results were falling consecutively. Then one day, an international physics teacher arrived. He was Kakai Wasula which then became one of my best friends who is always with me when I feel depressed. The main point in which he helped me was changing my mind about failure. Before his advice, whenever I get low results, I used to get depressed instead of learning from my mistakes. However, after a talk with him, I changed up my mind. After that time, I started looking at my mistakes from the bright side. Instead of being upset, I tried to master the questions that I had made mistakes. Then my results started to show an increase in my worldview. He has been telling me that failing is part of success and plays a good role in life. This golden phrase was my motto if I do something wrong. After a while, there was a big test at school and all the students were stressed because it was the Educational Agency of Uzbekistan itself taking it. The test was the most serious one, as its results play a vital role in my graduation marks. I went to Kakai and asked for some advice. He repeated his words: “Failure is the part of success; it is what you are going to learn tomorrow and don't forget, you are not going to fail. There is something inside you telling you that you can achieve your target. I believe!” I was so proud. Maybe Kakai was lying – there was nothing inside me shining so bright. But, after his motivations, there was a fire burning inside my heart and its sparkles were illustrated by my eyes. That was the time when I learned to be motivated and unstressful. Because I experienced how both ways, being stressed and in opposite being motivated, might have an effect on future progress. Whenever I believed myself and did the test I got high results. With these thoughts in mind, I went to the hall, where all the students were waiting for their papers to arrive. I preferred to sit in front of the camera, while the rest were arguing to sit at the backside. It was lovely to believe in yourself and to know that at least a person believes in you. When the papers arrived, I happily turned the page and saw an easy problem there. I was passionate to finish the test with the best result and justify the confidence of all who believed in me. The test was over and the results were out. I started to search for my name from the bottom so my happiness will be greater if I find myself at the top. There my name was! At the top of the page! Just as Kakai told me, failures made me stronger than before. It was part of my success. From that time on, I get happy when I face some challenges or failures that now I can learn something new.

Coronavirus...This was the disease that led to loss of thousand people, presented immense challenges to world economy, public health and many more. However, it was an infection that showed us the true values in this life. It was a disorder that taught us to appreciate things once we took for granted. Moreover, it was a time for some people to improve, to work on themselves more,including me I can clearly remember the day when it was announced quarantine for the first time in our country. It was Sunday. I didn't take it seriously until the moment our class teacher wrote a message saying "Dear students, our school is closed until the quarantine is over. Please stay home and stay safe". I was worried a little bit, but not much,because I used to go to the tutor from different subjects and I thought I could see my friends there. Unfortunately, the same message came from my tutor. Now, the real mourning quarantine started in my life. I didn't know what to do. It was as if someone took the essence of my life from me. Moreover I used to see 2-3 people's funeral a day since our home was close to the cemetery. Even though I was in panic at first, it didn't take me much time to take advantage of the quarantine. Before the pandemic I was rarely seen in the kitchen, since I was usually immersed in my studies. But now I had more time, so I tried making various dishes, watching Youtube videos. I spent more time with my family, listening to old stories of my grandparents. We knew that Covid-19 was extremely hard for the elderly to go through, so we paid special attention to them. However, it was against my nature, just sitting at home and reading a few science fiction books. I had to do something more academic. I was aware of the fact that most of the international exams were stopped,like IELTS. But I felt that one day everything would be normal and humans would be back to their pre-pandemic life. Nonetheless, I had to take my IELTS as soon as the quarantine finished and I was not prepared at all. It was at that time, when I started searching for online IELTS courses, but was not able to find the one according to my criteria. So, I downloaded online materials for self-study and started to prepare, getting some instructions from my tutor. It was at that time when I encountered the advertisement of the program that changed my life. Flex program which stands for Future Leaders Exchange Program is a program that provides 100% scholarship for high school students to spend one academic year in the United States of America, living with host family and attending U.S high school. After thorough research, I became aware of the fact that they couldn't send students this year due to Covid situation. But selection process would take a year and anything could happen in a year. So, spark appeared in my heart that I could win this scholarship. I finished my application and only thing that left was waiting for the answer whether I was in the next round or not. During that time frame, pandemic situation got better and I took my IELTS test . And guess what? I took overall 8.0 band score. But I didn't know that it was just a beginning. I took part in our national English olympiad and got the first place in town and region level. For my performance in the republic level, I got an admission into one university without any exams. Being occupied with competitions, I soon got the e-mail that I was in the next round of FLEX. Excited and worried at the same time, I collected the red tape I needed, even though it was a little bit difficult because of quarantine. I took some English tests, wrote few essays and was interviewed as well. Again, waiting...It was 24th of march, when I received a call from FLEX Uzbekistan with congratulations that I had been selected as a flex finalist. There are no enough words to describe my feelings I felt at that time. Even a year ago, I could not imagine myself in a U.S high school, chatting with American classmates and going home in that popular yellow school bus. But now, I will start living this life after 2 weeks. I know that Covid brought misery into lots of people's lives. They lost their loved ones, their jobs...However, it also brought solidarity. We learned to pay attention to the people who need our help, learned our family members' faces better and realized how much we missed around-table meals with our family. Moreover, lots of people realized what their true passion is or had a life-changing event in their lives like I had. (In the picture above, you can see FLEX 2022-2023 finalists)

I always thought of myself as being an open-minded person. Don't we all like to believe we were blessed or simply brought up with good values, which therefore established ourselves as virtuous people? It's the way humans are. But following whose rules is my supposedly open mindedness considered to be open? Mine? As a child, my report cards' soaring numbers, which lit up my parents' eyes and, let's be honest, mine too, every end of semester, were never obtained with much effort. I guess it made me think easiness in academics was a commonly shared characteristic; this simpleminded assumption is unfortunately overshadowed by an even more shameful presumption: that bad grades necessarily meant an unwillingness to work. I believe almost anyone can remember how and when they found out about the existence of COVID-19. My moment was on my way to school: I was riding the subway and reading the newspaper I had picked up just before entering the train. It was quite a small article, with a title resembling something like “An unknown virus' apparition in China”. Looking back, I am still stunned at how the subject taking up less than a page's space in the newspaper quickly became the star of its front page, second page and so on, until keeping close to half of its contents to itself. It all happened so quickly! One-digit numbers of cases became two-digits numbers, followed by the beginning of international cases, leading to the first case in Canada, where I live. Events of this kind finally ushered the world to shut down, countries by countries. How does that relate to my story? Millions of students including me had to deal with the dramatic cutdown of genuine social interaction while navigating through the perturbed waters all adults had had to someday overcome. The real difficulty for many was online schooling: filling our heads with knowledge that was sometimes staggeringly tedious, passed on from a screen that often stayed too still at times to my taste, and normality's. I saw myself become, from a student who used to nail almost every test without studying much, one who found it hard to even understand the content teachers were diffusing. I was a witness to my own fall. After handing over the last exam of that school year, I still remember the odd feeling I had. I was of course happy that at last, summer vacation had come, but... I wasn't able to walk into it with the same sentiment of gratification I had had the precedent years. I now realize it was because I wasn't truly satisfied and proud of myself: knowing I wouldn't get great scores on the exams made me feel disappointed, like I wasted months of my life. This past year, my province has let students of my age physically attend school half of the time, and learn by distant education the other half. I was thus liberated from some of the pressure I was under the year before, but I was still affected by its consequences. Participation, concentration, motivation, even finding topics of conversations with my friends had not only become harder, but problems I daily faced. Although I don't look at these consequences as wounds, I still can say that for my case, time served as healer. It took me months to be able to get back on track, but I did it! It did come at a greater cost, though, but late nights of studying do always bear fruits at the end. Today, I can for sure say that this experience taught me to be more open-minded. I cannot say that I truly understand all matters and circumstances of everyone's lives, but I do know now that grades are not only defined by one's work ethic. Numerous factors can come into play. For instance, parents' fights are greatly able to disturb both one's ability to focus and one's mental health; a family's financial situation can also be an unfavorable influence. This past school year and a half challenged me in a way that, oddly, benefitted me. I doubt I would have changed my work attitude if these difficulties had not happened to me, at least not until the inevitable moment when I would have to hit a wall, just like everyone does someday. To me, it was a reminder to not loosen up too much; a warning that life wasn't like I pictured it.

If you want to achieve any goal in your life. There are the same steps which you need to follow when baking a cake. 1) Choose a recipe. 2) Clean up the kitchen. 3) Get the ingredients ready. 4) Bake 5) Wait Now how can we implement these 5 steps in our mission? 1) Choose a recipe - First you need to find out what you truly want to do. For example, I wish to write something for my post. So the cake which I wanted to prepare is this post. 2) Clean up the kitchen - One has to be sure what to do and what not to. So I just cleaned up my mind and removed all those thoughts and emotions which were disturbing. In general, make space for the mission. 3) Get the ingredients ready - The ingredients which were required to 'bake' this post were words, thoughts, ideas, etc. 4) Bake - Just do it step by step and you will find yourself done with baking the cake. I wrote the content and posted it on my page. 5) Wait - After the cake is ready, you offer it to your family members and wait for their reaction. Just the way I am waiting now for you all to read this post and give your review. At the end, the cake is baked and the goal is achieved too. ✔ *TMI: This is what I prepared for my parents' 20th wedding anniversary.💞*

We learnt many new words in these troubled times - Pandemic, Respiratory hygiene, Quarantine, Discipline to name a few. This has been an unprecedented time in more ways than one and has taught the value of life to our human race, which seemed to have been forgotten in the mad materialistic rush. This pandemic unfolded when some news of this strange virus and disease was reported in media. I am not a news buff so news catches me unawares. I am normally immune to sensational news. Whenever such sensational news is able to catch my attention, I prefer to hear from my friends and fraternity. It is surprising to note what happens next --- I forget it. I was absolutely unaware of the magnitude of the problem. Every community takes pride in its genes and so the word spread that since India is home to several bacteria, viruses so we would not be afflicted since we have a lower level of societal hygiene based on our lifestyle and norms so we develop immunity since childhood. The government imposed a lock-down after Janta curfew i.e. curfew imposed by the common man (junta). Lock-down was not known to Indians yet. Indians are an exuberant lot like the rest of humanity. It is so difficult to chain them to their homes. Everybody subscribed to news channels to understand the seriousness of the problem. Children were restrained to their homes i.e. no colleges, no schools & no socialising. Initially though the kids were a little pleased but it dawned to them that a new normal was taking shape. A fear psychosis took hold of all of us. Lots of my friends advised us to stock food fearing doomsday. My wife however trusted the resilience of the community. The first day after lockdown was scary for me as people were scrambling for supplies. Now everything needed to be sanitized. It was an extensive activity and a lot of activities shifted back home. I was to iron the clothes and decided that not all clothes needed to be ironed. The domestic help was sent on paid leave. I helped with the house-hold chores but it was largely my wife who managed the show. Children demanded variety in food which we used to source from the restaurants & other eateries. My wife took up the challenge of dishing out tasty and aesthetic looking dishes to meet my children's culinary appetite. I could not help appreciate my wife's resolve and my children's belief which resulted in the culinary fest that I enjoyed as much as them. Luckily for my family, I was summoned to office within one week of the lockdown to brain-storm how we could contribute to fight Coronavirus. We not for once broke the lockdown rules which were enforced by our children. After several rounds of brain-storming, we started to develop a disinfection machine for sanitizing indoor spaces with minimal disinfectant and maximum spread. We got our act together and prepared hand sanitizers using WHO instructions for local community, security services, hospital, own teams & the district administration due to its shortage. We also made automatic hand-sanitizer dispenser, foot pedal dispensers and foot pedal operated water tap opener, soap dispenser & lifts touch-less also. We were contributing 12-18 hours each day during lockdown. All the activities were for our own staff and community at large and free of cost. The societal content of the work re-invigorated our team volunteers to do beyond duty's call and deliver. We were required to travel at the height of the spread so the team started looking at each-other about who would go. It felt like suicide but I felt obliged to go and so others joined in too. We took PPE kits also along in view of the scare. Luckily we did not wear the PPE kits we would have looked ridiculous indeed. In between a team mate tested Corona positive and all of us were sent for testing and quarantined. Those 5 days were indeed bliss considering we had not had much rest for over 3 months. The scare of the report however made all of us pray that we return to normal which fortunately happened. The experience has been an eye-opener and taught us that nature and god is all-pervading and powerful. A tiny creation in the form of a virus can bring humanity & the most powerful of nations on their knees. I asked our grand seniors if they ever heard or experienced anything similar and they vehemently said “No”. This corona virus has taught us to be in synch with nature and connected us with our family & friends as - Work is optional, Life isn't as long as you live. It has opened my eyes on the blatant consumerism that we are following as there are only a few essential things that we need to survive and thrive. Things will get better as day always follows a dark night but such an experience must have brought different learnings for each one of us based on our thought process and value system which we will surely carry with us till the end …… of our lives as humanity will continue to live and learn.

In our long and challenging life, we often feel the necessity for people who understand our feelings and motivate us when even our parents and friends cannot, there will be times when we try to escape from everything and begin a new life, nevertheless, there are some people who encourage us not to quit even though they do not know us, never seen or heard of us, and for me, the sources of this inspiration are legendary Eminem as well as his hypnotizing songs. He showed us that even a poor guy with a drug-addicted mother can conquer the world with his music. His main traits I found impressive are strong perseverance, firmness, and supportiveness. Marshall Mathers, widely known as Eminem is a rapper from Detroit who is going to be 48 this year. Despite he lived with a drug-addict mother and did not feel support from his father who left his family before he was born, he became one of the best rappers in history. In his childhood, he even did not have a real best friend. In his lyrics, he often recalls his youth memories saying everybody used to tell him he would be no one in the future, however in reality everywhere he went they had been playing his songs. Just because he was weak and white, other pupils frequently bullied and harassed him, once a kid named D'Angelo Bailey broke his nose taking all his money as he stated in the lyrics. After poor childhood, he could stand up and broke through and dominated all the charts with his songs. Likewise his childhood, his adult life was full of hardships too. In his verses, he mentioned he did not know how to be a good father, as he did not have one; he only tried not to follow the footsteps of his father. He showed us that deep inside he is a good man after the many scandals with his ex-wife Kim, admitting the mistakes he made and could not be with her daughter Hailie when they needed him most due to his career and moving to another city, but he always thought about his daughter and tried to give her the life he had never had, he could do everything to see her smile. Similarly, he also attempted to be a nice husband, after assaulting the man who was with his wife and protecting her, he ended up in jail. Apart from that, he is not afraid of saying what he thinks and this prominent factor attracts thousands of fans. He caused a lot of controversies and debates because of his straightforwardness and accusations of the government and other celebrities. He rapped even Presidents of the USA Donald Trump and George Bush because of racism, immigration, corruption, some laws, the Iraq War, and the Secret Service investigated him twice. In his last album, he criticized the gun laws in America and sang about the shootings in Las Vegas concert a couple of years ago and called people to care about the laws and vote against guns exampling several school shooting news. Eminem inspired plenty of popular singers and rappers with his charismatic career and supported them with duet songs. For instance, Ed Sheeran admitted he was a fan of Eminem since he was a kid and he always dreamt of singing a song with him and now he has collaborated in 3 songs with his idol. Moreover, once he said the only reason why he is still singing is that somewhere in the world some kid might be learning his lyrics looking in the mirror, and he does not care about anything else. In terms of awards he is one of the most successful singers ever, he has won an Academy Awards, 15 Grammy Awards, and numerous other accolades by international and American music organizations, with 220 million sold records he is one of the most-selling music artists eves. He is often compared to Elvis Presley as they both turned the music genres found by black people into the world style and became the best one in those trends. As a coin has two sides, Eminem has some bad habits too, such as inappropriateness of his songs for youth and women because of profanity; verbally harassing women a joke; blaming his mother for everything, and nosiness to politics as I wrote earlier. But I want to get only positive characteristics of him like stamina, determination, bravery, and supporting the rising talents. Whenever I feel depressed, I remember him and his struggles and it motivates me to feel better and stronger, I feel that a father-abandoned weak boy with a narcotic-addict mother became the best rapper in the world, why cannot I be the best in my field with my loved ones? I also want to help young talented people who need financial or moral support in the future just like him. He is a live proof of how great people can be if they never give up and do their best. “Everybody has goals, aspirations, or whatever, and everybody has been at a point in their life where nobody believed in them.” I believe you noticed who said this quote. Above all, he is just a musician and does not even know my existence in the world, yet he is the person who encourages me to be the person that I dream.

Where should I even start? I honestly don't know. It is not easy to put all the emotions, thoughts, worries and reactions I've had in the latest months into a couple of sentences. I guess it would be fair to say that this whole year was a mess and is still showing us how it is different (chaotic) than other years in the weirdest ways possible. I have always been an introvert, spending majority of my time at home is not a problem for me like it is for some people. However, during the first weeks of quarantine, it has been a complete disaster for me and I felt so bad because of many reasons. First of all, I realized that it is much more different than staying at home by your own choice and since you're not allowed to go out it simply puts more pressure on you. Also the ambiguity of the situation and the disease causing many deaths all around the world have made me worried like the rest of the people. I couldn't find the energy to do ‘productive' things and use the quarantine time efficiently like all influencers on social media have promoted. The ‘look on the bright side' motto hasn't worked out for me, especially in the beginning. I needed to sit down and feel whatever I had to feel without suppressing any emotion because acting like nothing has changed could have made me go insane. Talking to my friends and family members really helped me to rearrange my mindset, at least I've known that I wasn't alone and sharing experiences and thoughts made me feel a bit better. Not checking up on news every single day has helped me too because I knew that there is nothing I can do to end the pandemic, only things I can do are taking precautions, following the community health laws and boosting immune system by consuming healthy. After getting over the first weeks, I became more used to the situation and surprisingly okay with the fact that I haven't seen any of my friends since march. Even though the quarantine process is not as strict as it was before, I still think it's necessary to stay inside or go to more isolated places since the pandemic is not over (while wearing mask of course). I was missing my friends so much at first, I still miss them but right now I'm okay with being alone and not going out. Maybe this has something to do with my personality, I like spending time by myself, but I also feel like I found my inner peace and let go of trying to control what's happening around me. I can't change certain things so why not adopt to them in my own way? Not by other people telling me how should I spend my spare time and be ‘productive', but by freeing myself to do whatever I want I slightly become happier each day. Although I still have bad days and get moody sometimes, I am pleased with the way I chose to get through these days. I read, I listen to music that I like, watch videos and chat with friends, distance myself from all the toxic contents. I also stopped comparing what I do to other people's activities and their way of handling things since everyone copes with issues differently. This gave me such a relief, that I don't have to please anyone and don't have to be ‘ideal', and allowed me to enjoy my time more. During this process, I also noticed that we have lots of things to be grateful for yet we don't express our gratitude enough. Social interactions, going to a place without considering safety risks, school experiences, clean and fresh air,… most importantly health. Not going to mention how earth cleaned itself a bit, air and water pollution has decreased as seen in photos, with most of the human population staying inside the nature has popped its beauty out. Even a lot of people prefer not to care, the world doesn't only belong to us and we share our home with other species. This means we are responsible for the damage we cause and should consider the outcomes of our actions more. Not just specifically from the environmental aspect, but the social and cultural aspect too. Rather than spreading hate and being discriminative, we should aspire to be more embracing and kind because this pandemic also showed we need each other more than we thought. If we fill ourselves with love and treat people with the love we carry inside, it will spread across communities and without even noticing we may inspire lots of people and contribute to well-being of earth both physically and socially. As cliche as it sounds, it is so accurate that we can be the change we want to see in the world by altering our behaviours.

I remember taking a walk one day and seeing two young people, probably teenagers, sitting on a bench in the beautiful forest, gracefully touched by the sun. They were staring down at their smartphones. Internally, I judged them pretty hard. “Why would anyone spend time in nature just to stare at a screen?” I thought. This memory came to mind as I caught myself sitting outside during my 15 minute work break, eyes glued to my own cellular device. I stopped myself. For once, I decided to look around, to take in the present moment. Sure, I wasn't surrounded by beautiful nature, but it was still a chance to breathe in some fresh air - and more serene than inside my workplace. I realized I never paid attention to the sizes of the trees to the not-so-distant right -or the fact that one tree is shaped like a heart- even though work is somewhere I go every weekday, and my car is always parked by the same tree. Normally my 15 minute breaks seem to go by in an instant, barely giving me enough time to reply to a few texts. What gives? However, the end of this particular break felt as if I had just finished meditating. It turns out meditating doesn't always mean sitting in a special posture on a meditation cushion, breathing rhythmically or going “ohm”. And I needed this. Lately, I sense that time is slipping away from me, that somehow I slipped up and hit the fast forward button, failing to find the right button. Sometimes I wish I could press pause – sometimes I miss quarantine. When my complaints ebb and flow, I remind myself that I'm happy to have a job. Yet, sometimes the complaints come knocking at my door like an uninvited salesman. They say that there's no time to write. I make up for it by writing in my head at work. You know how they say the best ideas come when you least expect them? Well, in my experience, I would tweak this quote by saying, “the best ideas come when it's least convenient”. The other day at work, doing monotonous tasks, a beautifully scripted poem splashed in my mind like red wine on carpet. Since I was wearing lab gloves and had just touched tubes of bodily fluids, it wasn't the time to write. And when it is the time to write… Coffee ready, candle lit, I write and write until mere moments later I have a fresh poem??? I wish. Instead, I have nothing. NOTHING. My ideas have vanished. Maybe I'm too distracted by my phone. Maybe I just put too much pressure on myself. Probably both. With a job, my available time has become sacred, so whenever I sit down to write I have an expectation to create something worthwhile. Although, I know very well that the best ideas aren't forced, but the opposite. What even is my problem anyway? I can barely put it into words, other than stating that the working world has left me feeling cluttered. Why did nobody tell me that life after college is so hard? I wonder. Maybe this is what people mean when they refer to pursuing a career as the “real world”. Sadly, the real world has made me antisocial. I wasn't always like this. I went through a phase the beginning of 2019 where I hung out with people about every other night, and during this time I was thriving. I felt like I was on top of the world. Of course, I had the time for this because I decided to take a gap year after college to be an Au Pair as a nice adventure, or so I thought. My host mom ended up getting frustrated with me because I was going out so many nights. “We've never had an Au Pair that went out so much!” she told me. I took this to mean that she discouraged social Au Pairs because this meant less attention for her kids, or maybe she just wasn't used to having Au Pairs that made friends so quickly and didn't know what to think of it. The whole Au Pair adventure didn't last long and my little social circle I had built went crumbling along with it. I guess you can't have too much of a good thing, or really there's just not enough time for it. There wasn't enough time to upkeep my socially ideal self because consequently this meant I wasn't committing enough of my energy to my responsibilities. Not enough time. What a slap in the face that realization was back then, especially since I hoped working as a babysitter/ housekeeper in another country would've been easy, flexible, and fun. Nope. Also, there were some communication issues too, but that's another story. Now, I should go because I have stuff to do, like laundry. The reason for writing today was just to prove that there IS time to write. I need to stop making excuses, because writers don't make excuses. They write!

It's the 3rd of February, the world's at its best pace. I'm on my terrace, walking, thinking, dreaming. The sky looks beautiful in its deep blue. The orange sun is yet to set. I start browsing, I witness a myriad of vacant rooftops and just one or two human figures, either in search for a dependable cell phone network or peace. I come here for the latter. My father is a social worker, he has devoted his life to service. While I was in school, I wouldn't see him for days, even if he was still in town, by the time he'd come I was mostly asleep and by the time he was up, I was in school. My sister is completing her studies in a different state, I don't even remember the last time I talked to her for more than five minutes. My mother is a homemaker, but she's  barely home probably because she's a "social person" and when she is home, I either have an assignment to complete or some place to visit. It's been ages since I've had a proper conversation with any of them, or since the four of us sat together talking about the good times and amusing. My family is just one of the thousands of things that pop up in my head while I'm up here. I walk further to the edge of the terrace, I bend slightly to get a peek of what's going on in the world below. I discover a bevy of kids playing soccer, people wrapping up their days, cars honking moving around in a rush, a couple walking hand in hand, a small time grocer trying to desperately sell literally everything he has to a single customer. I see the kids again, this time half of them celebrating their victory by hugging each other and laughing in delight. Besides them, I see two women, probably neighbors, fighting and abusing each other with complete vigor. One of them is now looking  skywards and yelling some terrible words, I wonder who she's shouting at, there's nobody up here except me. Oops, I better get back to my walk. So basically today looks just like any other day! Now let's fast forward a little to when a pandemic took over our lives and everything just flipped. It's the 26th of march today. A few days back our Prime Minister announced a complete lockdown in our country. I still come up here, on the terrace, but it's an entirely different sight nowadays. The sky is still in its deep blue, I still hear noises, but this time not of the cars honking, today I hear the sounds of humans, a lot of humans, to be fair. The rooftops that once never showed signs of life, now look like a carnival, only a socially distanced one though. On any other day I would've been slightly disconcerted by the fact that the only place I turned to for peace had transformed into some kind of playground filled with people. But not today, and to be honest I actually feel delighted, because I don't just see individuals, I see families, families that have probably laughed together for the first time since ages, families that have conversed with each other as a whole, families that held hands like there's no tomorrow. Even I am not alone today, I'm walking alongside my father, talking about things we never thought we'd ever talk about, discovering interests, we never knew we had in common, exploring my plans for the future that I never thought would fascinate him. A few feet apart, I see my sister and my mother sitting together and laughing about how terrible my sister had cooked last night, and surfing for new recipes on the internet for my father who's next in line to cook dinner, and it's not just the four of us, I see joy and happiness all around me. Funny, isn't it? The times that are the hardest, are the times I am surrounded only by felicity.  My father went and sat next to the mother-daughter duo, gesturing me to join, I tell him I'll be there in a minute. I would've just gone and sat with my family, but I'm so amused by looking at everything around me, that I was tempted to uncover this new world. I see a young couple teaching their toddlers badminton, I see a mother teaching her kid to ride a bicycle next to her husband who was listening to his daughter explain some features about the laptop, I also see the neighbors who once used to come to blows quite often, today sit on their respective balconies, chattering. I smile to myself and go sit with my family. People feel that the pandemic somehow forced families and individuals to come closer, but I feel that the pandemic just gave us a reason to pause and reflect. We'd all been so worried and in such a rush to get the best of our lives that we missed savoring the most beautiful moments. The pandemic, let us stop for a moment and breathe, it let us contemplate, realize and understand all those pieces that we had missed in these hasty lives of ours. I'd once read "Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey. At other times, it is allowing another to take yours." This pandemic made us reach out and hold one's hand as well as let our hands to be held.

About 3 years ago, right after my high school graduation, I was lost. Not in the woods, not in the mall, but even worse, I was lost in life. Although I was enthusiastic to lead a successful life with a bright future; as a fresh graduate with diverse interests, I had no idea what to major in. There was a constant battle between my artistic side, dragging me towards journalism and my scientific side, dragging me towards mathematics. For the record, I even applied to a business school and changed major twice before taking that step back. When the university registrar asked me what I was going to major in, my response was;” Well, I'm good at math; I'm passionate about journalism; and I want to become a businesswoman”. He said, “Choose one ”. I always felt like I should invent a new major that would fit my diverse Gemini personality. But little did I know that what had to be invented was not a major but a future. And long story short, I didn't know how to predict my future. The only thing that helped me back then was the quote that kept echoing in my ears, “The best way to predict your future is to invent it”. From my personal experience, I've learnt that inventing your future means accepting failure, accepting diversity and becoming your own role model. To begin with, ever since from first grade, we have been taught by our English teachers that the antonym of success is failure. But the truth is that success is independent from the amount of failure. For instance, Abraham Lincoln, the prominent 16th president of the US, has actually failed more times than we can count, whether it's losing in business, enduring a mental breakdown, losing both nomination and denomination … But didn't he become successful at the end of the day? Of course, he did! What was pushing me away from majoring in Math was the fear of failure, but the truth is that failure doesn't matter if “one falls seven times but stands up eight”. Even JK Rowling, the first billionaire writer, the author of Harry Potter once highlighted the importance of failure in her life, she said, “Failure in life is inevitable, you can't live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not live at all, in which case, you fail by default” Secondly, there is no single rule in life which states that we should merely have one passion and devote our entire life to it. Just because I'm majoring in math, doesn't mean that I should become a mathematician. We all know Mr. Bean, right? But little do we know that behind this clumsy comedian, there is actually a genius who has a Master's degree in engineering from Oxford University. And is he an engineer now? Absolutely not! So change of direction in life is inexorable. After all, it's the different spices that make delicious. Finally, in order to succeed we all need motivation from our role models. It may be Angelina Julie for an inspiration-seeker actress or Gibran Khalil Gibran for an amateur Lebanese writer. But that doesn't mean that we should imitate their footsteps, but create our own. We should become our own idols. When I was going to major in math, everyone kept telling me the world doesn't need that since there are already plenty of math teachers. But as Dr.Howard Thurman once said: “We shouldn't ask for what the world needs. We should do whatever makes us feel alive. Since the only thing that the world needs is people who have come out alive”. So ‘Inventing your future' for me means accepting both failure and diversity and drawing your own adventure story, using your own set of colorful crayons. Let it be full of roller coasters. Let it be full of ups and downs, even a change of direction is fine. But don't forget to be authentic and creative. Let's take that brush, and draw our sparkling futures. Shall we?

Read This when you lack motivation to go on!!! #When you lack motivation to go on, you doubt everything. you may not realize it, but the way you view your worth changes. you may question what you are doing, whether it be your studies, your careers, or your life choices. you may be questioning your worth- does a failure like me deserve to be friend with someone as smart as him or her, do they actually care or am I just a piece in this game of life? #I know you probably know these voices are telling you lies. but when you lack the motivation to go on, these doubts becomes louder than the voice of the truth. #When you are lack of motivation to go on, you find yourself giving into your emotional more. you question your strength when you saccumb to your stresses, to your breakdowns, to your tears, you find yourself feeling more distracted and losing your concentration easily. #when you lack the motivation to go on, you sometimes find yourself feeling numb, you find yourself losing control. whether it being your eating habits or your discipline in committing to your responsibilities. I know you find yourself procrastinating as much as you can and as long as you used to love. #And I'm here to tell you that it' okay. It's okay that you may feel like this for a while.But when you lack the motivation to go on, know that you will get up again. #when you lack the motivation to go on, know what it won't be permanent unless you allow it to be. you will get up again because you are stronger than you think you are. you will get up again, just like before. When you lack the motivation to go on, know that this does not reflect on your worth. I promise, there will be better days and better moments ahead.