I wanna start writing again.
It's about time.
It's about time I wrote about the biggest failure in my life.
The story that might appear in Wikipedia one day if I were to be someone famous enough. *wishful thinking*
Before this, I have been getting everything that I want, my way. Everything was smooth sailing in my life. God had never given me a big challenge before. The worst failure of my life up to the age of 21 was probably with driving, as I had rammed my own car into, well, something (thank goodness not a 'someone'). Got a good education, good family, awesome friends, awesome teenage experience, a scholarship, managed to get thru my prep college with a decent CGPA, and even got into one of the top public universities in the States..then..
*WHAM*!
God gradually, yes slowly and painfully, gave me THIS HUGE CHALLENGE. My first ever major failure in life. No it's not like failing exams or your driving test or whatever. This is even major. You know when Alicia Keys sings "What goes around comes around, what goes up must come down"? The "come down" down part? Yep this is it.
I'd never be able to figure this out myself, but someone told me that EVERYONE WILL experience failure in their lives, sooner or later. Some people are doing so well right now, just because maybe God hasn't put that kind of challenge in front of them yet, or, they've had a really big one and they came out stronger and wiser than before. I'd like to think that our thoughts are controlled by God and we are only puppets on his stage, and the show will end soon.
No I am not trying to preach or give a sermon here, I know you must've noticed that I've used the word "God" a lot, but Islam is my faith, and my religion has made a huge impact on my outlook and philosophies on life.
I believe that God loves his children, and everything happens for a reason. EVERYTHING. There must be a reason why he challenged me, you, and everybody else, well, at different times and different degrees.
I still remember when I was 12, I was required to give a quote from myself so that it could go into my primary school yearbook and it ended up being something so unoriginal:
"Gagal sekali, bukan bermakna gagal selamanya".
HAHA. SOMETHING YOU COULD PICK OUT FROM A QUOTE DICTIORNARY OR SOMETHING HAH!
Well guess what? That, I think, probably became the mantra of my life.
So that is why, I'd like to believe that Islam also teaches us to always have an optimistic outlook on life. Moderation is always the key. Even though you are not as rich as the neighbor next door, or you've suddenly lost your job, believe in Allah, pray to Him, push yourself a little more, and Tawakkal (Hope for the best).
That is what I've learned so far. You probably might have heard this dekat ceramah agama on the TV or in school, but nothing beats REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE. God's challenge felt so real, it's almost under my skin. And now that I can see it with my own eyes, Masya-Allah, may I be a better person in the future.