Tuesday, September 7, 2021
6 ACTIVITIES THAT I OCCUPY MYSELF WITH; ASIDE FROM CONTINUOUS JOB SEEKING (4 MONTHS TO DATE)
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
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| by AliahMazli |
Have you ever felt numb as if you are living a monotonous and automated life every single day ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hits us? I do, I feel that way. This has been the 2nd year living with COVID-19, on top of the movement restrictions that are executed nationwide in Malaysia ever since 2020. In these two years;
- Homesick hits harder than usual. The longing has surpassed its normal level than I am able to comprehend and the need to meet my dear beloved ones has become surreal.
- My mental health is something that I need to take extra care for as to avoid myself from overthinking and worrying too much about my future. I need to remind myself to be optimistic at all times possible without neglecting the need to validate my own feelings upon digesting everything that is happening nowadays.
- My children has built a sense of fear to people especially my daughter as she has been living her whole life at home only. She rarely sees people physically and the nature as well. The sensory has somewhat become limited, for example her not wanting to feel dirty, not comfortable with being messy or have messy play. I believe it will take time for her in this aspect.
- I keep on searching for something that I am not sure of myself and the uncertainties keeps me feeling anxious at times but I am grateful to have such a strong support system to get me through the tough it.
- The need to have physical touch has increased immensely as we are not able to hug with our dear families and friends. When we are so used to have meet ups with friends, family gatherings and openly have social interactions with the people pre-covid, it felt really abnormal to not have that as of now where everyone is being very cautious of each other. It has come to a point where I am thinking for the other party of not coming any closer to them and the other party is thinking the same as I do.
Nevertheless, apart from the above that I am feeling and another long-list that I better keep to myself, I decided to do something to keep myself busy, be creative and thinking constantly. Since May 2021, I have been actively seeking for a job after I have completed my Master Degree. However, to this date I have not yet to secure a job offer. I do not want to have an idle 4 months and just sending resumes day in and day out. With the help of my husband in throwing ideas, I have planned a routine and daily schedule as to make sure that I have my days filled with productive activities. Similar to make believe that I am actually working.
What did I do? Here are the things that I have occupied myself with, aside from continuous job seeking.
1. I started to be active with my blog writing.
I have this blog created since 2012 but I have not being consistent with it. Hence, I need to sharpen my writing skills by sharing knowledge or anything that I feel can be of beneficial to others. I realized that my love for writing has never faded and it blooms when I started to be active back in writing on this platform. Writing has also become therapeutic for me where I am able to pour my thoughts, to organize my ideas and share what I write with others.
2. I actively post once a week as a starter on my LinkedIn profile.
I have my LinkedIn profile as long as I could remember but after attending various classes and sharing by others, I have learned some of the tricks to edit and personalize my profile. In August 2021, I took another challenge where I decided to be active in posting on LinkedIn once a week as a starter. I also started to follow those who are in the same field of my interest as I could learn more from them. There are mountains of knowledge that I can find there.
3. I surround myself with books and people that love books.
Taking some time to have a read everyday has made me feeling a little lighter than before. Sometimes I read silently, sometimes I read aloud many times on pages that attracted me. I followed some #bookstagrammers on Instagram to have a fresh insights on books that they are reading and enjoying the pleasure of seeing the aesthetic pictures of books.
4. I post 3x a week on my Instagram Feed.
I decided to make my Instagram platform not for the sake of merely posting without giving values to it. Hence I decided to create something, at least a post that contains something that is worth to be read. Here are some of things that I have recently started to do:
- Sharing reflections under my hashtag of #AliahMazliReflections and knowledge that I learned from various platforms.
- Sharing quotes designed by me either snippets from my blogspot or a simple quote that is related to any topics that interest me and that are close to me.
- Created an IGTV Series called Purnama Read Aloud Series where my son will be reading some books of his favourites. The main reason was to nurture the love of reading besides to have more intimate time with him while doing the recordings. I may have other plans to have other IGTV Series but well, this is a good start after all right?
5. I consistently attend online classes, listening to lectures/podcasts and have weekly sessions with family and friends via online platforms.
I believe I may not able to meet anyone physically anytime soon so, it is a must for me to keep check on my social interactions even though it means via online platforms. To me, at least I am able to see them, to hear their voice talking about any updates of our lives and to have discussions on certain matters. This is also important to keep the sanity in me.
6. I sew crafts for my pastime and I have enjoyed sharing the love of creating booksleves that fit the standard paperback books both softcover/hardcover. Seeing the feedbacks of those who received the booksleeves, made me beamed with joy and happiness to have their books protected.
Some people may question, why I don't just enjoy my time that I have with my children at home? Why do I have to burden myself having this schedule and to squeeze the ideas out of my brain to create contents on various platforms?
My answer is simple;
I believe in continuous knowledge seeking and I want to be a lifelong learner. I know that I am good in writing and I love to do that. If that can give self-satisfaction aside from knowing that I can learn more in improving my self-betterment, self-confidence, self-love and all the positivity available, why don't I? I believe that being consistent in the activities that I do now, may be fruitful in the future in ways I could never even think of (God wills it).
Thank you for your time reading. InshaaAllah see you in the next post!
Love always,
AliahMazli
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Salam !
Writing is a way that I can express myself and be connected with other people. Thank you for taking some of your time here--my blog, my space. I hope you benefit something from it.
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