To Win, Be Willing To Lose

This year, because it was my senior year, everyone was looking into colleges and making final decisions about their studies. But what was shocking was the fact that so many of my classmates were not willing to try out.  They knew what they wanted, but they were not willing to work for it. They were fixated that they will not get in the college they want because they are not good enough. Or because the competition is very tough. And that really pissed me off. One of my own best friends was afraid that she might not be able to handle the responsibility of becoming a Doctor. I think, being a human being is the biggest responsibility. Because life itself is a competition. Its the biggest race there ever is.

I was watching a movie, involving a figure skater and her life and one of the characters says, "To win, you have to be willing to lose." What makes a winner, a winner is losing the first 100 times. Losing does not mean giving up. It just means working harder. For me, in order to win, whether it is Olympic Gymnastics or a History test, you have to be willing to try your best. Work your butt off, wake up when its still dark and work on your piques or learn the French proverbs. You have to be willing to push yourself, to let yourself go out there. And you have to be willing to face your fears and failures. . 

I remember when I was doing five sports at once in 5th grade. There were before school practices, after school practices and weekend practices. I used to eat on the way. And then I wanted to do Skipping as well. It was something I had never done before and a friend of mine was excellent at it. The first time I did skipping, I did 25 turns. Then I started working on it and in the competition, came second and I did 250 turns. I nailed it. That rush of adrenaline pumping through my body, my face all flushed and my coach telling me to go change for the next sport, it was surreal. 

My mom always says that you do not get anything handed to you on a silver platter. Figure skaters, gymnasts, swimmers, etc turn their whole lives around just to get a single gold medal. For them normal is not a word. A Gymnast lands on her butt 100 times a day, yet she still gets up and then nails her routine. They do all that just to stand on that podium, wear that Gold Medal and be called an Olympian. I used to see Gymnastics with  my Nano and I always wondered how beautiful, bold, graceful and enchanting they look. But none of us get to see the purple bruises all over their bodies, some brand new, some days old, bags under their eyes and hands hard as a rock. Those injuries are what make them capable of winning. 

Like Iqbal said, 

"Tu shaheen hai Parwaaz hai kaam tera  

Tere samne Aasman aur bhi hai"

Work for it. Work till you fall. Pick yourself up. Fall again. And then again and again. Than pick yourself up again. And keep picking yourself up till you forget what falling is. Work for it, till every bone in your body wants what your heart desires. Till every damn muscle aches and all the ice packs in the world cannot make that pain disappear. This is your fight, only and only yours. With your demons of fears and failures. And only you can defeat those demons. 

...SAP...

Friendship Came As A Girl

I ask myself, what this school gave me and my heart whispers, friends...friends...friends.
Friends are rain, which makes you happy and full of life.
Friends are the voice in your head which says tomorrow is going to be fun.
Friends are thumbs, your whole school life is of no use without them.
Friends are people who eat your lunch and you starve all day.
Friends are people who have seen you at the bottom of a giant pit and at the heights of Mount Everest.

Friendship came in unexpected ways, at unexpected times and touched the deepest corners of my heart.

FRIENDSHIP CAME AS A GIRL.

• A girl who is 4'9. 
• Someone who eats my lunch all the time and even ties my laces. 
• her signature is her hair in her face.
• the face I search for on entering the classroom.
• a girl who agrees to disagree with me in every single matter.
• someone who wouldn't think twice before giving me her dearest things, her books.
• someone who knows me better than I know myself at times.

She and I polar opposite but at the same time we are as similar as two chocolate chip cookies. Two halves of a single soul. You are my significant other, my best friend, the sister I never had and never wanted.

When I look at you, I am reminded of my favourite book, I remember cherishing each and every word it had to say, that moment when I closed that book, tears streaming down my face, because just like that book, you will forever remain in my heart.

So friend, I would like you to know:

• You are the engine to my Bugatti
• You are the cherry to my pie
• the smile I cannot replace
• the chocolate to my sorrows
• the coffee to my crappy mornings
• Cheesecake to my good old Biryani
• prologue to the book that I will write someday
• punchbag to my anger
• You are my flame in the dark
• You are that one star on the night sky which says, I will be there if no one else is.

Friends are like pearls on a necklace, as each pearl has its individual radiance so does every single friend.

Friendship blossoms like dandelions in an orchard.

Friends light your days like the sun glowing on an afternoon sky.

I consider myself the richest girl alive, I may not own Jimmy Choo heels, Gucci handbags or hundreds of silk dresses but I have you all as my friends and that is all I can ever ask for.

Friends are my strength, my arms, my legs, my heart and my soul.

So lets hold our hands and make a promise, together as we step into the future that we'll do our best to be our best as we have been with each other.

                                                                               -By Muteeba Fayyaz and Sumaica Asad

P.S. This is what me and my friend wrote for our spoken word poetry. We would like to dedicate this to all the friends that we made in our lives and the ones we will make in the time to come. Special dedication to the four hooligans in our lives, Nadiya Siddique, Huma Nabeel, Ghina Haroon and Misbah Malik. Thank you ! Simply for being our friends. You guys are love. 

...SAP...