Greetings everyone! I hope you are all doing well. By the grace and mercy of Allah, I am doing well too. Today, I am here in this community with my second participation in SECS Week 6. I hope you will like this post.

“There is a first time for everything” is an ancient saying that describes the reality of life. It means that for any task or desire in the world, you have to do it for the first time. Sometimes we are afraid to do new things, but we should know that it is necessary for everyone to do it for the first time to gain a complete experience.

When we think about doing something new, our mind shows us negative thoughts such as failure, people laughing and other negative things that make us afraid of shame. But if we fill our minds with positivity and prioritize the task, we have the opportunity to gain a new experience while doing something new.

Similarly, if we ever want to do something for the first time, we should try and increase our learning. Always remember that “There is a first time for everything”, so not only should we be prepared for the first time tasks with joy but also be ready for them.

Tell us about the first time you won an award or contest

Thanks to Allah and the efforts of my parents, I have always been a capable student. Throughout my educational career, I have received many awards. However, in response to this question, I will not mention those awards here but will mention the first engagement challenge contest I won here on Steemit. I am talking about this SECS 8 week 3 contest in which there were a total of 193 participants and I came in third place. This was my first time experience winning the Steemit engagement challenge. As an appreciation, I also received a vote from Sc01. I will share the link to this post below.

	LINK TO THE POST

When was the first time you had a mobile phone? Did you get it as a gift or did you buy it?

I can’t remember exactly whether I was in 9th or maybe 10th grade when I got my first mobile phone. And I didn’t buy this mobile phone myself, but it was a gift from my parents. The funny thing is that I don’t even remember the model of the mobile phone now, but I do know that it was a Nokia phone. This was about 15 years ago when there were no android or touch screen mobiles in our city, but keypad mobiles were very common and Nokia was at the top at that time. I was the eldest among my siblings so my parents gave me this mobile first.

What did you buy with your first salary or your first payment?

This is a story from 2018 when I had finished my M.Sc exams and had a lot of time before the results came out, so I came back home from university. I started applying to some private colleges because I didn’t want to be idle. One day, a private college called me for a demo and I was selected as a chemistry teacher. I still remember that at the end of the month when I was supposed to get my salary, I was very excited. My first salary was 25000PKR which is equivalent to about 360 STEEM at today’s price.

When I came home with my salary, I placed it in my mother’s hand. Tears welled up in her eyes and she hugged me and kissed my forehead. It was a very special moment for me that I will never forget. My mother gave me many blessings and while returning my salary she said, “Son, this is your hard-earned money, keep it with you and may Allah grant you success in life.” Later on, I deposited that money in my bank account.

Share with us a first time that has been special for you

There are many special moments in my life, one of which I mentioned above. In answer to this question, I would like to share a special moment from last year.

It was last year when I was free from my MS research and was still in Lahore city because there were still a few months left for the result to be announced and for me to receive my degree. I was also working on my freelancing skills and in this regard, I joined Enablers’ Worc.

Now let me tell you that Enablers is the leading institute for Amazon and freelancing in Pakistan with offices in almost all major cities of Pakistan. Worc is a kind of co-working space where freelancers sit together to learn and collaborate with each other. I was part of the Enablers ecosystem for about five months and then when I felt that I had learned enough, I left it.

It was during these days when I was a member of Worc, one day the Worc in-charge came and announced that we were going to have a lucky draw in which 10 members would be selected to be shifted to the executive floor for a week.

The membership of the executive floor was quite expensive so most people were on the standard floor. After this announcement, all Worc members were excited. Anyway, according to the given time, the lucky draw started and my name also came up which I was not expecting. In fact, when they called my name, I didn’t even get up from my seat because I thought there would be another Waqar. But when no other member got up and my name was called again, I got up and went to collect my card. This was a very special moment for me.

^{Author: @waqarahmadshah | Date: 07-Apr-2023 | Achievement 1}