大象传媒

Change has always been a difficult thing for me to navigate, despite at times inviting it into my life. There is always a point听where I look back in doubt and question whether I have done the right thing.

For example, when I first converted to Islam, I spent a lot of times negotiating things like, do I date outside my religion, do I celebrate things like Christmas and birthdays, and essentially how do I embrace a faith without taking on other people鈥檚听cultural interpretation of听Islam.听For the first few years I was not sure I had made the right choice, and it took me a while to find my feet, and practice Islam with my own lens.

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More recently when I agreed to manage a team of mental health practitioners and therapists for a听 charity in Bristol. The appointment would be for one year.听 Prior to this, I had been working with the organisation for six months,听 as a project coordinator.听 I was frightened to commit to three days, because I had spent the last 10 years working as a freelancer, and often times travelling at the drop of a hat was the norm for me.听

So being responsible for a team of mental health professionals, who were supporting some of the most vulnerable young people in Bristol felt like the scariest thing I could do.听

Halfway into the appointment,听I still felt like an imposter, my email inbox was full all the time, if I had a list of ten things to do I would be lucky if I completed two, and I just didn鈥檛 have the answer to most of the questions that I was being asked.听

I was invited to听a training with other managers who I respected, and I realised everyone was going through the exact same thing as I was. These people who seemed to have everything under control were asking me what was my secret to success.听

Yasmin Mogahed is a specialist in spiritual psychology and personal development, she once said

听听听听听听听听听听听听鈥淕rowth never comes without pain, and success is听

only a product of struggle.鈥�

It is only now looking back over the year that I realise, that struggle and the quest to do better, put me on the pathway to success.

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