Making changes for the sake of a bigger change

“Examine your immediate surroundings and find areas that you can improve right away”

This task was given to me in Amal career prep fellowship program. By reading it at first my mind, being it usual self, jumped right into what I should improve? Should I go out and stop global warming? Or, Should I wish for magical wand and swish it to eradicate war from the world. OR maybe,listen to this, I should eliminate poverty from the globe??

Then I gave it a 2nd read and immediately came back to reality and notice the world ‘Immediate surroundings’. I took a glance over my surroundings and looked at me bed. It was messy and gave out a vibe that it hasn't been tended to in ages and was desperately in need of some care. Like it was saying to me, “Why are you even thinking about world poverty when you cant even fix me- who has brought you so much comfort and given you a space to lie down and think about all those problems.” This is what it looked like.

And it hit me, maybe I should start from here- my own bed. Now came the hardest part. I had the idea of what should be done but for that I had to get up and do it. Took me a while to muster up the courage and get off the cozy bed and do something. When my feet touched the ground, it felt a bit different. Not like wind started blowing on my face, or an orchestra started playing some notes or the birds started chirping in their sweet melodious voice (although that would have been really cool). It felt different in the way that I had a purpose. no matter how small it was but I had a mission and I was going to do it.

I started working, threw away all the pillows and the blanket to the ground, picked up that laptop and placed it in the cupboard. Pulled the sheets on the mattress, made it feel comfy, cozy and tucked it in and said good night to it like it has done for me all this time. It did feel like I was tucking a child in bed and saying good night. I wanted to sing a lullaby but unfortunately I don’t know one and maybe it was for the best!!

I brought the pillows back, put them where they should have been, folded the blanket and it felt like I had achieved something. Something very unimportant to other’s eyes but very paramount to me.

It might not have been a very glorious task but it was a step for me. A step towards getting organized, achieving that thought process of accomplishing a goal. This can be a doorway to my future of solving the biggest problems of mankind. Who knows, maybe the eradication of global warming or the elimination of poverty.