"It's just another normal day, Isra! You can do this!" Diligent Isra hops off her bed, excitedly tiptoeing across the frigid wooden floor to her window, gently brushing her favorite pastel curtains to reveal the outstretched rainbow across the crimson red dawn sky.
With high hopes and self-esteem, she was ready to start this day. She tucks her neatly ironed shirt in and wears her shoes she had been waiting for since last birthday.
She heads out and starts walking towards her school, on her way to school, she saw a skinny white cat limping across the street, the cat went towards Isra and started rubbing her body on her feet." You poor furry creature" Isra said as she gave a portion of her food to the cat. She continued walking for minutes when her pace slowed down.. until she stopped.
Negative thoughts constantly stormed through her consciousness uncontrollably when she realized that she had been through all this many times, for three years she had been waiting for this moment, in each year she would apply for the school captain, but it only led her to disappointment.
This time she was hopeful and believed she was gonna nail it, she says to herself:" You can do this, just be confident and believe in yourself and never lose faith in God" .When she arrived she could see everyone gathering at the indoor hall, so she went to check the matter. She got slightly nervous when a student told her that it was time for announcement of the winners. She knew she was the one ,and above all, this position really mattered to her.
Isra was almost done with her studies and this was her last year, she really wanted to graduate with satisfactory and photographic memories by achieving her goals and being an eager beaver. Not only did she wanted to convince herself as a great leader, but also wanted to prove her aunt that she can gain achievements without her parents presence, she wanted to show them that she is all grown up now and has moved on after her parents died in a car crash, even though she knows she has forgotten about it, a little downheartedness can make her think back to the most awful memories.
This made Isra to always look on brighter side of things ,otherwise things would get more difficult for her. Similarly, she knew she was going to win as she had prepared since days for her interview.
When it was time, lights were dimmed in the hall and a bright screen appeared before all the students and teachers on the wall. The Principal walked up to be stage and said : "Good evening respected teachers and staff members, today is a big day for our students, today these young and talented students are going to know which position they stand in, now as we all know there were more than fifteen candidates for school captain, only one can be worthy of wearing the badge, rest students shouldn't be disheartened and disappointed, because there are many other opportunities in life and they never get over, plus, you all are grown up students and I don't think so one should remind you to keep moving on and never give up. Now without further due, let's announce this years selected students".
As the principal said the nominated students name, the teachers handed out the badge to a girl named Zara. At first, Isra was happy and spend time with the Zara, talking about the challenges she was later going to face and the hard work she had to do as a school captain.
After the event, everything was normal for Isra until her vision blurred out when she got a flash back of a time back when her parents were alive, she remembered a time when she had applied for school captain, she remembered when her lovely parents were cheering and motivating her, but, when she came back to her home, she ran into her parents arms and cried in sadness. Isra was too young back then and was too emotional, now she knew she had to fight it away when her eyes started twinkling in tears, she knew it was too lame to cry for such thing but she couldn't help, nothing could help her now, because a storm of negative and awful past had took over her brain.
She ran to the restroom to wash her face when she stopped to her thoughts,
"I am not able to make anyone proud in, not even my parents. Reason why everyone underestimates me is that I lack a lot of knowledge, I don't have the abilities to be a leader, I am not worthy of being chosen. I haven't achieved anything in life yet. If I acted a bit smarter- "ENOUGH!" Isra yelled at herself. She wiped her face and later that day she headed home.
On her way home, she saw the same cat she had met earlier, except it's beautiful white fur was now all grey from dirt and mud, it's adoring meow was no longer there, and her eyes were paler than ever. "My kitty what happened to you, here help yourself" Isra said as she handed out the last portion of her food left, but this time the cat didn't eat it, she gave food to her little kittens who were hiding beneath a dry bush. The cat was barely able to walk when she took the food to her kittens. With her large beady and sunken eyes she looked upwards at Isra while rubbing her body on her feet. Isra felt pity for her and took her home.
Isra's aunt used to be a vet, and she knew how to handle such situations. Later that day, Isra didn't feel emotional at all but she feared her grandpa was going to scold her for not trying harder.
She was meditating in her room when something struck her mind, she thought of the incident with the cat, she thought that even when the cat was in a life-and-death situation, she still continued living and feeding herself and her family, even though she was suffering from starvation, she still took time to thank her for feeding her family.
Just then, Isra's aunt walked in and got to know of what had happened, she giggled and said: "Silly Isra, you never change". " But It really affected me at first" Isra said. "Listen, now that it's happened, you cannot rewind time and you can't go back and change your decisions, whatever has happened ,it's only for good reason" Her aunt said.
"But what reason?" Isra questioned. "I will leave that up to you, it's your duty to find out". "Life is full of challenges, to proceed and become better, you must accept them, and as you age, your life gets tougher, and someday when you are thinking about what happened today, you will laugh and say how silly you were back then, these kind of situations are preparing you and are taking you to next level" Her aunt said with a warm smile .
At this point, Isra felt really stupid for giving up so fast in herself, she realized that the thing she was crying for was not a problem ,but a preparation for being stronger later in life, she realized that if she starts taking everything In a positive way, she could get a chance to see more what's in the world and become a better version of herself.
She had never felt so relieved before. Not only did she regain her confidence back, but also she became more closer to God and had faith in herself. From this day, Isra came to knew her self-worth and studied the keys to success, two of the most important were persistence and self-confidence.
Next day...Isra wakes up on bright Tuesday morning as the egg-yolk sunlight greet the eyes of Isra through the pastel curtains. She rubs her blurry eyes and sits down on the chair, she notices a paper and a pen on her desk, she smiles and writes down:
"If a bad memory is like a bird, it is okay to know it is sitting on a branch nearby. It is okay to notice it fly and sing. Yet move in calmness with eyes only for the nature around you, with skin that feels the wind and eyes that open for the light. When your mind naturally moves back into the present, into the moment that is the gift of life, the bird will be gone.
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