And if you should count the favors of Allah, you could not ennumerate them. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (QS. An-Nahl (16):18)
We could make things into a list. Shopping list, expense list, invitation list, to-do list, friend list, place-to-visit list, and much more. But we CAN’T make and count a list of ALLAH’s favors and blessings.
Well, the year in calendar has numerically turned from 2016 to 2017. Yeah, no celebration, no special wishes. (Better to put wishes to daily prayers, right?). With fully charged laptop and a glass of water, the idea to write this self-reflection post suddenly came up as I tried to be more and more grateful of what ALLAH has given and how this life changed a lot. Also, I finally proved that “Time flies so fast. The great news is we are the pilot”. How's your 2016? Here's mine.
January: the Risk of Quitting a Job
People kept telling me that life would be so hard without fixed monthly income. At first, I thought so and had a bit confusion before deciding to resign in the end of December 2015. “Too risky” my brain whispered. Not to forget how much I love being a part of DBI and how Kak Andri and Yuk Gita, the managers, inspired me. There’s no excuse to forget the first time I learnt online marketing, a wonderful 4-day Malaysian trip in 2014, and the great impact of this job to my study and life, for sure. But, in the end, heart always wins. I took that risk. It’s time to take full control of what life was going to be. No idea what to do to pay all college needs ahead until graduation. I just know there’s always a way. Yeah, I believe that. Then, a 12-grade student, Putri, wanted me to give her private English lesson. I taught her from January till March. Also, there were opportunities from my dad and sister (I was helping their jobs). “See? All you needed to do was trying, and all the worries disappeared. You survived, right?”
February-April: The Life of a Final-year Student
In 2015, I couldn’t wait any longer to start writing my Skripsi after seeing my brother joyfully did his. The truth was once I began the first step in February 2016, I got a lot of headache. My hands and legs got stiff. No one told me that the life of a final-year student would be this challenging and boring, huh? Spending most of the weekdays in campus, waiting for advisers, reading references, discussing with friends, or just sitting around. I know I wasn’t the only one doing this. I know it's going to be worth it in the end. Well, college life sucks if we think so. Thus, why don’t we think it is precious? There’s so much beauty behind the hardship. Every final-year student, including me, is growing much stronger and wiser. This phase of life gave us strength to keep moving and holding on to what we've started.
May-June: Sensus Ekonomi 2016
“Can I be like an amoeba, splitting into two, so I could handle both skripsi and SE2016?”. Well, in these two months, I focused more on my job as a field supervisor (PML/Pemeriksa Lapangan) of Sensus Ekonomi 2016, forgetting my Skripsi for a while. That was my very first experience in census. And yeah, I had trouble with statistics. Thanks, God, I thought wrong. Being a census worker had nothing to do with all those mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and everything I learned in Statistics class. Lucky me for taking this opportunity. Despite being a supervisor, I chose to be a part of census taker who did door-to-door (direct) interview to meet respondents. Meeting a lot of new people (whether they were fellow census workers, employees and head of BPS, and respondents) was my first favorite thing about SE2016. Interviewing the respondents was second. By doing so, I could see the unseen, hear the unheard, and touch the untouched. People with various characteristics from low to high income, small business to large companies, or small to big houses had something in common: hope. They really hoped that Sensus Ekonomi 2016 was the bridge between them and policymakers. The bridge to guide the government in making policies and improve the economic sector.
In May, I had a field work as census supervisor, but in June, I worked in the BPS office as a document editor and coder. All the hard work was surely paid off. Apart from the wage which was enough for my graduation needs, I got some lessons. Becoming a census worker taught me about accuracy, honesty, perseverance, and openness.
July: Thesis Examination
Three weeks after Idul Fitri, I (finally) was eligible to take examination for my skripsi That was exciting and disconcerting at the same time. There’s no more word coud describe how happy I was at that moment for being in the final phase of college. My advisers were sooo kind and understanding despite all my bad. I couldn’t thank them enough for guiding, advising, and helping me in doing my study. For me, the lessons learned during the process to reach this phase were much more important than the GPA and compliments. Staying late at night or looking busy doesn’t always mean working hard. Working hard doesn’t always means doing someting effectively. I spent days and nights doing my task, but the fact that I was among the five students who had to retake the exam. I knew that was my responsibility, so I had to get through it, no matter what. And, the most important lesson was as my examiner told me, “Your skill or your competence is not enough to succeed, your sincerity is what does matter.”
August-September: The Graduation Euphoria
If I could pick my favorite month in 2016, there would be two; August and September. Yash, graduation!! Indeed, the graduation euphoria didn’t last forever. We’re just becoming the happiest people on the earth for just some hours. Above all, I loved to see the smiles on every parents’ face during Yudisium and Wisuda. I loved to be around friends who had been there with me since the beginning. I loved to prove to myself that God’s timing is always perfect. I loved to see the fact that unconditional support and guidance from all college authorities, especially lecturers, really meant for us. Well, once the euphoria was over, countless questions turned out all over my head. What should I do next? Which path should be taken? Should I go out of this place? Most of my friends had already worked at school, should I do the same? Thinking/planning about the future makes me as excited as I was during graduation party.
October: The Life of a Job-seeker
People started being so attentive to fresh graduates. Everyone was like, “What are you doing?”, “Where do you work?”, “Have you tried applying to this and that?”, “Why don’t you do this and that?”. That’s life. The life of a job-seeker. I even got more, like “Too bad you quit your job!”, “If only you’re still working, Ga”. Well, the answer of all those questions was just how it’s supposed to be. They just don’t know what someone they question about had been through. A number of job applications had been sent to local private schools. Some others were going out of the city. Yes, I planned to leave the hometown if only I got an interview call. Day by day waiting for something, but nothing happened. I didn’t belong to any of the places I was applying to, let alone the local schools/institutions. In other hand, while applying for a job, some opportunities were actually coming (Alhamdulillah). I didn’t take any because I just need to focus on who I want to be.
November: Officially self-employed!
So, who do I want to be? I simply wrote “be self –employed” in my 2016’s wishlist. As a matter of fact, the only thing that sounds simple is just its word. It didn’t happen until early November. Lucky me for having highly passionate sister and parents with their never ending support. November 28 was my first time promoting Seblak on BBM and Facebook. I started Waroeng Seblak Riga. Friends and family started placing an order. Some took the orders at home while some others needed our delivery service. I have been doing the same daily activities for almost two months: grocery shopping, cooking and preparing, and delivering Seblak. That’s enjoyable! Meeting more new people, learning to communicate effectively, shaping ourselves to be disciplined, beating the procrastination. Being in this business turned me from a girl who can make fried noodles only into a enthusiastic cook. Also, working for our very own self means that we’re taking the risk and becoming a friend of uncertainty. No monthly income, just daily revenue. No boss, just myself and family. Indeed, a dream must keep developing, right? ;) I am truly committed to what I am doing right now and making sure that my daily action gets me closer to my big dream in this business.
December: Volunteering with SOSB OKU
I always remind myself that whoever I am and whatever I am doing, I’ll take part to give contribution to the education in Indonesia. Volunteering with SOSB OKU was the first milestone. It was the most priceless learning moment. SOSB (Satu Orang Satu Buku) is a community that concerns on donating books and teaching elementary students in a remote area, specifically OKU, South Sumatera. I joined the third event called Teaching and Sharing 3 as a volunteer in which we were going to Desa Sadau Jaya Kec. Sungai Are Kab. OKUS. We stayed there for one night and two days with no proper network and electricity. Well, we felt relieved enough after the survey team said that it took only around 6-7 hours to get there. In fact, we hadn’t even reached the place after 10 hours due to vehicle issues and damaged road. Another thing that surprised us that there’s no other school except the one we’re heading to. The school with only three classrooms, 30 students, and 1 student in the second grade. The school location was on the top of the hill with amazing view all around. That was a gift for us. The children’s smiles were actually the greatest gift we could get after all this exhaustion.
Oh, hello, 2017! Better things are coming! The only way to achieve them is to be better or do better. We deserve what we truly deserve, right? No need to count down the days for something because the most important thing is to make each day, each moment count!
And for every nation is a [specified] term. So when their time has come, they will not remain behind an hour, nor will they precede it. (QS. Al-A’raf (7):34)
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