Day 80: 5 Minute Freewrite - Prompt: Awakening

I've also been blessed in that I've never really struggled in anything I've done before. This definitely sounds like me bragging, but I just want to be open about it here(I learnt later in life, right now, that this is not a good thing because I don't know what it takes to persevere and work through difficulties). I used to be the kid everyone hated because I never went to classes, I was always messing around, but somehow always ended up top of the class, and school validictorian.

Usually, when I'm given a task, immediately a plan forms in my head and I just execute it without much thought. All that crumbled one day, when I was elected to lead a local chapter of a student organization called AIESEC in my university that had over 40 years of history but had been failing for the past 5 years and was on the verge of getting disbanded.

As I took on the role, and I learnt the full extent of how bad of a situation we were in. This was the first time in my life I felt hopeless and did not have a solution in my mind at all. I never actually had to think about things this deeply.

I remember, crying and struggling alone throughout the 1 week transition. No matter what scenarios I played in my mind, it only ended in failure. I finally decided to open up about it and the amount of love and support I felt was crazy!

At the end of the transition, I brought my team together and opened up to them. Showed them my vulnerability and sincerely asked them for help. Ask anyone of them today, and they will tell you that it was that moment they knew we were going to take this seriously and kickass in this job. (And we did! We ended up winning the national sales award for the year and breaking our previous sales records set 20 years ago)

I really don't know how to describe the feeling I felt. It felt as if there was a whole section in my head, of emphathy, of teamwork, of how everyone around me and beyond are connected. It felt to me like I opened a door in my brain that was locked forever and in it was a vast empty room ready to be filled with new experiences and feelings I never knew of before.

That was when I learnt how to be vulnerable and open, not just to others but to myself as well. That was the first time, I had a deep convesation with myself. That was my awakening.

The story above is for the Daily 5 Minute Free Write challenge by @improv and @mariannewest. It's quite a fun challenge, especially when using a tool like THE MOST DANGEROUS WRITING APP which was introduced by @maverickfoo. The app forces you to continuously write for the set amount of time or everything you wrote will disappear after a few seconds! Try it out!