LIFE-WISE

Advice to younger self

I know that you are enjoying life like there is no tomorrow. However, you have to work really hard before you could begin making wise decisions. Over the next ten years, you will make foolish choices. Your passion is where your heart is; rest is logic. Even right now, I need time to reach where I am no longer confined to society’s demands. Conformity is a sin and I advise you to step up to what you believe in and not bow down to what the world calls life.

At this moment, you are pursuing your Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and it is tough to study accounting, finance, economic, and statistics. These four years at the university, however, will polish your personality. A day will come when you will graduate and a couple of years later you will have your Master’s degree.

Last year, in August 2004, you signed an undertaking at your business management institute because of your low CGPA. Had you not secured a good CGPA in the next semester, the institute would have expelled you.

You survived and got an “A” grade in Microeconomics. I know how happy you were - certainly on cloud number nine. But, later this year, you are in for a real surprise. You have been aspiring to become a writer since childhood and on September 17, 2005, just turn to page six of the weekly science and technology magazine of a certain English newspaper. Remember, you used to read the same newspaper to your maternal grandmother when you were eight years old? And now seeing your name in this newspaper has strengthened your belief in yourself. It will fuel your passion for writing. Your life will never be the same again.

In the years to come you will face hardships. Your mother will fall sick; the love and support of your father and your maternal aunt and uncle will be crucial in her recovery. Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes, things have to go wrong in order to go right. A harsh reality, this will teach you who’ll be there in times of adversity.

You are experiencing this emotional rollercoaster ride at the same time as you are stuck with making notes, assignments and presentations, which you definitely are, then do not fret over it. Stay focused for your BBA; you will end on a high note and you will pursue MBA in Media Management from a place you love. You will make new friends with whom you will enjoy annual BBQ parties and hangouts and you will come to love every single day.

I must prepare you for what you will face after graduation, the time when you will set foot in the competitive professional world. You will get your first full-time job in a content management company where you would need to work nine hours a day, for six days a week, writing eight sports article every day on tennis, mixed martial arts, volleyball and yachting. You will only survive this for two-and-a-half months.

Freelancing next for a monthly magazine will eventually lead you to a job at the same publication. Come October 2014, something big, amazing and unexpected will happen: you will agree to work, despite your unwillingness, for a digital media agency, the largest in Pakistan. You have always been reluctant to work in an advertising agency because of client servicing, dealing with deadlines and for late sittings. At this agency, you will work on Pakistan’s largest telecommunications operator, handling all of its digital assets including website, social media and online advertising campaigns. Your life will change for the better. You will learn how stepping out of your comfort zone makes you break barriers and how it changes your perception and outlook.

You will also manage another client while working at this digital media advertising agency and you will visit Islamabad for the first time - you will love it! For nearly one and a half years, late sittings will become so normal you would not think of packing your bags until all work is completed. No matter if the clock strikes 10 at night, you will be willing to complete the work along with your colleagues. You will become an important team member. You won’t mind working from home and working over the weekends while serving in that agency. You will see a new you, you will accept new challenges, learn to handle one of the toughest clients in the country diplomatically, and will absorb the essence of a successful life - to accept what life throws and to become stronger by facing every challenge. I must tell you that whatever fears you have in your heart at this moment, ten years down the road you will not see them as fears but an extension of yourself living in doubt. You will easily detach that extension from yourself to become free from all doubts.

Enjoy your life, and try living spontaneously. Make friends while you are at your university, and keep writing.

You will have heartbreaks, a few of your relations will end, but you will enjoy new beginnings, and will conquer more thresholds until your major fears  fade away. One last advice: do not fall in love; it will not end pretty! Other than that, love yourself every day!