Hey hey! 😚
Welcome to my new 51 subscribers. Super excited to have you here ;)
Also, thank you all for the feedback on the last letter! I'm glad that it resonated with so many of you. Really, we're all just figuring out life.
Here's to figuring it out together in this little corner of the internet!🥂
PS - Belated Eid greetings to my Muslim people! May Allah subhanahu wa t'ala accept all the good you've done. (I'm still open to some late owo odun 🤭)
My first experience with AIESEC was in 2019. AIESEC in Ilorin was organising her AIESEC week and it included events like Global Village and Skillsfor2030, two events I attended and enjoyed very much.
For Global Village, people were expected to represent any culture around the world and then make a presentation to everyone. The Korean representation was fun & the Arab representation made us all laugh because the guy (who was first my VP, then my AIESEC buddy and now a good friend) came and sprayed paper money.
For SkillsFor2030, I got my first exposure to design thinking. I totally sucked at the exercise we had to do, lmao. But I totally enjoyed myself.
There was also another event at Kwasu where I remember my friend KK speaking but I can't remember what event it was.
Overall, I had a fantastic introduction to AIESEC and of course, when it was recruitment time, I signed up immediately.
AIESEC's recruitment is a whole other experience on its own. I can say that it's even harder than some job interview processes.
There was a written test. Then an interview. Then a group dynamics project.
My one takeaway from the interview that has stayed with me up until today is that when you go in for an interview, you greet and then keep standing until you're told to sit. Who knew that?💀
I loved the group dynamics project because it was so challenging & I also had the best team members! I created our presentation slides and they were so pretty.
The email would come some weeks later that I had gotten in as a member. I didn't expect anything other than that but the tension was a good experience too.
AlhamduliLah.
Fast forward to 2022, I had worked as a team member in 3 different teams and had been a team leader in 2 of them. And most recently, I had just led the recruitment process for the year & yet I wanted to quit.
The decision to quit wasn't an easy one and I said as much in my exit interview. But I had become very discontent about a lot of things in the organisation. From my chapter (AIESEC in Ilorin) all the way to the national level (AIESEC in Nigeria).
I had lost that AIESEC energy and love that I had when I first joined and everything seemed like a chore.
As much as I wanted to quit though, I was still afraid to. I mean, this was something I had committed to. I had my role and people I was managing. How would I just say “Bye bye” to all that.
What I was experiencing was the sunk cost fallacy.
The Sunk Cost Fallacy describes our tendency to follow through on an endeavor if we have already invested time, effort, or money into it, whether or not the current costs outweigh the benefits.
I told myself I only had 1 year left, I could just wait it out. But I found myself slow to do assigned tasks and just concluded that it would be better to leave than to keep doing a mediocre job.
Being committed is a really good thing. But it can be bad too.
Commitment makes good things better and bad things worse.
The more "all-in" you are on a good relationship, the better it becomes. The more you commit to a toxic relationship, the deeper you get trapped.
The more you invest yourself in fulfilling work, the more your effort fuels you. The harder you work on a bad project or in an unsatisfying role, the more of a grind it becomes.”
Resigning has been one of the hardest things I did this year but you know what? I'm glad that I did.
I now have time to focus on things that are important to me and are better aligned with my values. AlhamduliLah.
I'll forever be grateful to all the experiences & the opportunities I gained from AIESEC (and they were a lot) I invested ₦2,000 in 2019 by getting a form and my ROI (return -on-investment) has been unquantifiable but if I could put a number into it, about ₦1m+.
What's the point of all sharing this?
Are there any commitment that no longer serve you but you're still holding on to? Now might be a good time to let them go. It'll be painful but I promise you that it'll be worth it.You are deserving of everything good.
If you're not sure if your commitments are serving you, now is a good time for a check-in with yourself.
Are the things you're doing aligned with your values?
Do those things bring you fulfilment?
Are you showing up your very best?
Ask yourself these questions and I hope it brings you better clarity.
Lots of love,
Nusaybah xoxo
Podcast Update;
In sha Allah, my first episode will be up this Saturday.
One Question;
Have you ever gone off social media for longer than a month? Why did you do that? What was the experience like?
I would really love to hear from you.
I'm glad you weighed both options and chose to quit rather than do a mediocre work. I've always wanted to join AIESEC, but wasn't ready to do the "socialization" part. God have mercy on me. 😂
To the last question , yes.
I stayed off social media for about 10 months when I was doing my A levels. Idk how to narrate the experience but at some point, life was just there. But, I survived. 😁
It made me realize I can actually do without social media distraction, otherwise, I'm just being lazy/unserious. 😂
Oh yes, the first few days/ weeks, you feel time slow down. You get bored and want to scratch the wall with your nails. Then you adjust and fill up your time with other things. I get less irritated, and I tend to have a longer attention span. All in all, it is always a net positive experience. I do this at least once a year.