From being introvert to extrovert
We deal with many kinds of people in our life. Although we live in the same world but there are different kinds of people around us. Some people live in a bitter, angry and hate filled world. Some people live in a friendly, caring and love filled world. Some may inspire us through their positive behavior and some people behave as if they are superior to others. The type of people around us, change the way we think, live and react. I am Muhammad Tashfeen, a boy who used to enjoy his own company and don’t interact with people. I always try to develop and learn new skills. A few months ago, one of my friends recommended to enroll in Amal Fellowship program, an education venture to enable the society to reach their full potential through lifelong learning and continuous actions. In pursuit of developing and learning new skills, I applied in this program and got a selection email.
On the very first day of this program, I was not much excited to interact with my fellows as I was an introvert. I thought that these fellows would be same as other people who criticize and degrade others. We can change one’s mindset by changing the environment around him. In this program we were divided into groups to complete weekly projects. While interacting with fellows in these groups, I shared my life experience with them, and I always received appreciation and motivation from them. All the fellows were so empathizing and optimistic. For the first time in my life, I realized that not all the people are same. I realized if we want a positive environment around us, we have to be made us positive first. With time I interacted with almost all the fellows of this program, and I felt like we are a family. I never share my weaknesses with anyone because It’s hard to find people who are trustworthy and honest with us. But in Amal I made close friends and shared my weaknesses with them. They empathized with me and ensured that they would be with me whenever I need them.
As this program was going to be end, we all started talking about a special thing about our fellows. This gave me an idea that I should use my design skills to create a poster that highlights the memories of every fellow including our program manager and program associate. I asked two of my fellows to help me complete this poster as I had to make a list of a specific memory of each fellow. Both of them helped me assigning titles to the fellows that would remind us about them in just 3 words. The posters that I designed are attached below:
After I shared these posters in the group, all my fellows were enjoying their titles and all of them were appreciating my efforts to make these posters. This was the first time; I dedicated my time to make something for others. The positive feedback that I received paid for my efforts. These fellows made me change my mindset from being introvert to extrovert and from being pessimistic to optimistic. I realized if we are positive and appreciating with others, we can make others to feel the same for us. Our behavior reflects in others. If we want to know how important we are for others, we just have to ask ourselves how much importance we give to others.
This was an amazing experience for me as it changed my mindset about people. In future, I will try to interact with others with a positive mindset and behavior because positivity is contagious, and it will make them be positive and empathic with me as well. That’s the rule of this world, ‘we only have what we give’.
