Hi !

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

If it's not too late, I want to wish all my Muslim friends a very Ramadan Kareem - may this beautiful month be full of blessings and joy for you and your loved ones.

And, yes, I know it has been two months since you last heard from me (sorry about that!). I had some personal issues I was going through, and decided to take some time off writing in general (so, yes, no new blog posts since February either).

Anyway, I'm back now, with some new things to share (as always).

My initial CTG mentor experience

This year, I signed up as a Closing the Gap mentor. For those of you who have never heard of Closing the Gap, it is an organization that aims to empower bright and deserving students and motivate them to pursue higher education. As a CTG mentor, I am paired with a Form 5 student, where we will be working together on her higher education aspiration for the next two years.

(heads up: you may hear a lot about what I've learned throughout my CTG mentorship journey)

When I first met my mentee (virtually, of course), I was taken aback.

My mentee reminds me a lot about my younger self. She is ambitious and resourceful, she knows what she wants, she is super independent, and she's not afraid to say what's on her mind.

We have a lot in common too (we both like chicken rice, we both enjoy anime, etc), and so it was easy for me to click with her and build that relationship.

However, the first thing that came to mind after I talked to her was, How can I be the best mentor for her and help her be the best that she can be?

I honestly didn't know what I would be able to do to help her as she seemed to have everything figured out. She knew what she wanted to study (and why!) and she has done all the research beforehand.

And, guess what? Even though CTG provided us with a Mentor handbook with guides and prompts of topics to cover in every meeting (one meeting every two months), my mentee and I were so advanced in the sense that we covered 3-4 meetings worth of information in our first unofficial meeting.

So I was lost.

What else could I do for her, or with her, that she hasn't already done on her own?

She was so much like me, so well-prepared and independent, that I didn't think that she needed a mentor.

But then, it clicked.

I needed to be a mentor for her, just like how some of my seniors were mentors to me when I was younger.

Like my mentee, I did a lot of things on my own. I researched universities on my own, I found scholarship opportunities mostly on my own, and I navigated a lot of the paths on my own.

But I wasn't always alone - my seniors were around to help me.

Some of my seniors, who were scholarship holders themselves, shared various opportunities with me and encouraged me to apply.

Some of my seniors helped to read my personal statements or shared their own experiences of going to interviews.

Others help me to understand better about different courses and options and connected me with their friends.

And, personally, just being around them made me feel more motivated in chasing my dreams, just because I can imagine myself to be where they are.

They did not laugh at me when I talked about what I want to do - but instead, they encouraged me, challenged my thinking, and pushed me outside of my comfort zone.

All of these, and more, eventually helped me to make a better and informed decision about my future and allowed me to be more confident in chasing the unknown. They were not officially my 'mentor' like I am to my mentee, but their presence in my life was vital in shaping me to be the person that I am now.

I realized that that is exactly what I need to be for my mentee - her sounding board. The place she can come to be challenged and to help her see things from a different perspective. To help her tap into my networks and learn about different things.

And all these little things, although they may not be obvious in the short term, can hopefully help her in the long term.

Because, at the end of the day, even if the CTG mentorship program is a 2-year program, I do hope that some of the things I do and share with my mentee will be beneficial to her, even after our mentorship officially ends.

And, not to forget, mentorship is a two-way street. I hope that this experience will also help me to be a better mentor (both to her and others) and that I can also learn from her enthusiasm and energy.

What about you?

We all live in a community - so like it or not, we cannot survive the world on our own. We all need people to guide us and help us navigate the sea that is the world and equip ourselves with the necessary skills and knowledge to survive.

So now, I want to pose the question to you - who was your mentor (or mentors)? What stood out to you from your experience with them? What was it that they do or say that has left a deep impact on your life? And what did you learn from them?

This can be literally anybody in your life, as you can find a mentor in anyone. It does not necessarily have to be an official mentorship agreement (like what I'm doing with CTG).

I just wanted you to sit and have a think about the people who have been influential in your life and played a role in your decision-making, and how you can use that to then go on forward to help inspire and motivate other people around you.

Additional note if you're feeling extra inspired: If you haven't reached out to these mentors in a while, why don't you give them a call or send them an email/text to thank them for the help and guidance that they've given you in the past? It'd bring them more joy than you can imagine, trust me. Don't just wait for special occasions (birthdays, Teachers' Day, etc) before you express your gratitude to them. :)

Before I end - Annual Projek Kad Raya

If you're new to this newsletter, or if you have never known me before this year, I send out Kad Raya every year (or almost every year) to friends and, well, readers like you. It's a passion project of mine that I enjoy doing every year, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

If you'd like a Kad Raya from me, please help me by filling in this Google form by 30th April. And, no, there is no catch. Just drop your name & address, and that's it. No need to pay or even send a kad raya to me in return - I honestly just want to send you one!

While I cannot guarantee that you will get one, I will try my best to fulfill all requests. I printed out quite a lot this year, so hopefully, that'd be enough to go around to everyone who asks for one.

I guess that's it for now. Until I see you guys again in two weeks' time, stay safe, stay awesome, and take care!

Love,

Nazu xx