8 months as a salesgirl

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

I planned to write about experiences & lessons as a salesgirl every 2 months (read previous posts here), but was really lazy to do so. But there were some things that happened in life recently that made me got the idea to write this.

Remember when I always said I finally found the dream job? Great bosses, nice pay, amazing team & the job I love doing. Complete package all in one. My boss once said, you won't get 4 things at once like you expect in terms of salary, location, environment & boss (TFN, 2021). But I did anyway. All perfecto, alhamdulillah!

Despite all the blessings I have, after 8 months, the challenges start to kick in.

I started to feel bored, exhausted & lost.

January & February were considered as honeymoon months because the targets were quite low. It's doable to achieve all the targets. When March came, I already felt so scared because it's the highest target of the year. But I still keep my mindset that I'll survive. I'll just give my best like always.

On the 2nd & 3rd week of March were when the problems started to kick in. Stocks were running out & there were delays in deliveries. But it's still manageable for me. 

However, there's one day, a doctor called me & I got scolded so bad because he hasn't received his medicine. Few clinics also followed up with me. It felt so overwhelming. On top of that, my sales started to slow down, & reaching to my customers felt so heavy. 

Of course I cried, I have even thought to quit. But to where? I have found everything I was looking for in a job. 

Then I started to realize this was where I got tested.

When I read back my previous posts before (you can read it here), there had been at the times earlier in my career when I didn't reach my target for few months. But I didn't give up at that time. I kept finding ways & went extra miles to seek for solutions. 

Now, after things already easy & cozy, when it started to be hard again, all I do was crying?

"When the sparks started to fade away, lights begin to dim & fire no longer burn"

Things were hard because, I stopped doing what I did before - putting so much efforts & endured any challenges like in the beginning.

That's human, when we wanted something we'll work so hard to get it, vowed to always be strong no matter what happened. When we had it all, got comfortable, even the smallest challenge will feel like the hardest one. 

Life will never be always rainbow & butterflies. There will come times when of rain & storm coming in. But would you quit life when things get hard? No you don't. You'll find solutions & get motivated again.

"You'll be the one to put the sparks again, make the light brighter & pour more oil for the fire to burn"

It's you. You can't depend on your surrounding to be happy & motivated. It has to be started within you.

Back to my story, after all the dramatic moments I felt, I decided to tell my bosses about my problems. So they set up a meeting & we communicate about the strategies to do. During that meeting I realized, what I was lacking was product knowledge. Recently too, we have a knowledge sharing session with one of the salesperson who's been here for so long & I was so inspired by that session. He shared about the essential qualities of a salesperson & I'll use it as a guidance for myself.

The second lesson I learn here - to always communicate. Nobody knows what's your problems until you tell them. Whether it will be solved or not is another story. But you have to step forward to communicate what you're facing. If you keep running away, you will never solve your problems. Then it will pile up until it becomes a burden to you & everyone around you.

So after all the sessions I had, I spend some time thinking about what should I do & executed them. It's started to work & I found my momentum again. Let's pray I will succeed excellently in shaa Allah. As always, never give up. 

Another key is to be grateful.

You could be blessed with all the good things in the world, but if you're not grateful, & think what you have are never enough, one day you will definitely lose everything.

Anyway isn't that life is all about? To always be tested, during ease & hardship.

Till then,

Adlina

Lucky to be you

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

I just finished a book today, the first one I finished reading this year! The book wasn't a sad book but it did triggered all sorts of emotions.

I had flu since few days ago & I cried for few hours today remembering a lot of things, reflecting on many things. I was thinking about many stuffs but one thing that crossed my mind was someone once said to me;

It's lucky to be you.

When she first said that, I was speechless & shocked because; 1) I wasn't that lucky & 2) I always had the same thoughts to other people too.

I asked her, "Why?"

She said, "You have everything. A good family, a career you're happy with & freedom of doing everything you wanted."

I replied, "it's not lucky. It took a lot of efforts to bring my family together, thorny journey to finally be where I am now & a lot of courage to be brave to do things alone".

"Yeah, at least you have yourself. I have to devote my life to my family, husband & kids". 

At that time, I just smiled and said to her she was a superwoman for being able to do all that.

But the reason I cried hard today (despite the book aftereffect) was because I remembered she said,

"At least you have yourself".

And it crossed my mind, it's not at least I have myself. 

It's I only have myself. 

Most of the time I'll be the only one with myself because I'm living 500km away from my family.

And that's the only person I can hold on to.

Myself. And only me. 

Then I cried harder because if I lose grip of this person, I'll lose everything. I had lost myself once for so many years but I only realized it at the peak of completely losing myself. I don't ever want to lose myself again because that pain was the most terrible feeling I've ever felt.

I sobbed my tears again when I remembered what I've been through with myself. 

I always had been tough & rough on myself. 

Sometimes I often didn't take good care of myself. I didn't drink much water, sleep early, exercise, and take good care of my skin. There were times I didn't eat properly, or didn't eat at all because I was busy with work until I lose appetite. There were times I cooked instant food instead of proper meals to make it quick. 

Sometimes I always make myself went through tough things. Because I was scared to drive, I searched for other alternatives like taking buses, trains & Grab. I loved all those, always, so much! But there were times when I arrived from my hometown to KL late night or very early mornings, I had to rush myself here & there. As a girl, it's also not safe to do that. I always feel scared but the only thing I could do was to keep praying God will keep me safe.

Sometimes, I loved others too much that I put myself aside, when I deserved so much more. I let love for others filled my heart until I couldn't let go until they eventually hurt me in the end. I almost lose myself because of this. It took me almost two years for me to find the person I lost for seven years.

Now I have learned to love myself & be happier with me. Of course sometimes I did neglect myself again as always, but I am improving over time. It's so nice when you're doing good things to yourself, giving yourself the care & the love you deserve ❤️ 

Perhaps one day, there will come a person who'll share my life with me but till that day comes, I'll be loving myself give myself the love I deserve (pray for me on this one!)

If nobody loves me, I'll love me, each and every broken pieces, I'll love them all. I'll cry for myself. I'll be happy for myself. And I'll always be strong for myself.

Because in the end, sooner or later all we have is ourselves. And God of course.

Moral of the story: we're all lucky in our lives in different ways. Sometimes we forgot to count our blessings when we're busy looking at other peoples' lives. 

Let's improve our lives if we feel we're lacking in a lot of things. But if there's nothing we can do, let's pray Allah will ease everything for us because doa is the most powerful thing in the world. Never underestimate the power of doa :)

Gratitude & efforts >>> luckkkkk

Ps: I really stopped crying after writing this post lol. Thanks for tuning in to my weekly rant!

Till then, 

Adlina.

The greatest love of all #1

Assalamualaikum and Hi,

I saw a picture of the post I wrote on Instagram last year with caption "There's more in life for you to feel than getting hurt".

Wow it's been a year since I wrote that. Let's flashback shall we? At that time I was still working from home in my hometown. I went out with my friends for the first time after a long time I stayed home. And when I saw the view outside the cafe, the caption just appeared on my mind. The view was there was light coming out between the clouds. & it kind of make me feel there's light only if we allow it to be there.

At that time I was still dwelling in much pain, not finding ways to completely heal myself. Since that day, I started to let lights to come into my life. Good things happened ever since.

So why the greatest love of all? Because it's the title of the song by Whitney Houston about finding the greatest love of all. We search for the best love everywhere only to finally realize it's within ourselves.

The greatest love of all - is learning to love yourself.

I never knew why my Mom love this song so much until I could relate with my life. We often love others or things so much that we forgot to love ourselves. I once thought loving yourself too much could make you became a selfish person. But that's narcissist.

Loving yourself will give yourself capabilities to go beyond what you can imagine.

Think of it this way, if you could love someone so much, wanting the best for them, not wanting them to get hurt - why wouldn't you do or feel the same for yourself?

Loving yourself means you will always wake up everyday to give the best not for anyone else but yourself. You're making yourself happy. You're being strong for yourself. You're not alone because you have yourself.

It also means when you're hurt, you won't allow yourself to live in pain for a long time. You will grieve but you will know it's time to move on with life because there's so much more for you in store.

When you love yourself right, you will be able to love everyone as much as you love yourself. You'll know what you deserve and what you don't. You'll learn that anything can be taken from you but no one will be able to take you from yourself.

Most of all, loving yourself will be stronger when you it's sync with your Creator. Because when no one else is there, He's there, waiting for you to come to Him - being happy, sad, angry or any feelings.

My parents told me, no one will understand you as much as God will. Our affairs in this world, all are handled by Him, so keep praying & asking from Him to ease everything in this life.

Other love will fade away over time, people will come & go, things too - but love for yourself will end when you leave this world, love for God & from God will always be there until afterlife.

My experiences in this life & also in sales taught me;

If you give up now, you will miss all the happiness you will achieve in future because you'll never know when you will find it.

To loving & appreciating ourselves.

Till then,

Adlina

10 years ago

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

Since now it's SPM season, it made me realized it's been 10 years since I took SPM. It's really a long time but I still can remember many things happening on that year. 

Just want to remember want happen each year in these 10 years.

18 : scored in my SPM trial examination  so I got scholarship to further my study without having to wait for actual SPM results . Completed my foundation year in 2013 (school related stuffs I wrote before)

19 - 21 : went to Monash uni, interned for 2 months at 21, work part time at library in my final year. Graduated on time! (Read here about my Sunway memories)

22 : unemployed, stay at home with my family. Trying to start a business but failed. Applied for so many jobs but always failed in interviews. (Read about mu interview experiences as a fresh grad)

23: became a replacement teacher. Received an offer as a SL1M trainee. Moved back to Selangor. Really enjoyed life back then. The only bad thing that year was I have to move out few times.

24: the best year of my life! Received offer as permanent staff at other company. Travellled a lot. Had the best Ramadhan ever! Enjoyed life but at the same time, started to stabilise my financial (I even have special tag for post I about 2019)

25: went travelling early of the year. Pandemic came. Unhappy with my job. Stayed at hometown from March till July. Life was normal from July till September. Broke up from my 7 years relationship in October. Cried for the rest of the year. Went back to my hometown in December.

26: stayed at home from Jan till July. During Ramadhan I prayed for a lot of things. In May, I finally decided to change my career so I applied for so hundreds of jobs and attended few interviews. Received an offer from the first company I worked with before and fall in love with the job right after. Had an amazing team & very understanding bosses. Went back to hometown few times. Learning to love myself again, so much that I won't allow myself to hurt again. Had few staycations too! Overcame a lot of fears also!

27: The beginning of the year was beautiful & I hope it'll stay this way forever. Had so many good memories at the moment.

I learn to depend on Allah and always pray He will give the best for us. Just put your effort & trust Him, no matter how hard it will be. If it's meant to be it will always find its way to you. But if it's not, please know that God knew what you didn't & trust He will always give the best for you. Always have patience because that will make you endure everything in this life.  

Anyway for SPM leavers, don't worry, life will never be easy, things will get hard but at the same time you will find good things in life, creating good memories & have amazing adventures ahead of youuuuu! It will always be fine, in shaa Allah. You just need faith & have courage to face everything. We adults also need constant assurance that things will be fine, so build that in yourself first, because you'll be the front liner of giving comfort in your life.

To many more years in life, in shaa Allah.

Till then,

Adlina.

2022: The fastest & quiet February

Assalamualaikum & Hi,

It was the early of Feb when I wrote this, let's see how it goes towards the end of the month haha. As the title said, this month I decided to be quiet. Being quiet means, I forbidded myself from posting anything on social media, but even if I did, it was meant to be seen by me & nobody (maybe by my family & close friends only). 

I wanted to focus more on myself to be the better & the best version of me. Thus, that's why I decided to live in the real world. Besides, I enjoyed January so much that I felt I lose focus in my career so I wanted to learn how to balance work & life. It's been 7 months of working but I need to learn to always keep my momentum going too.

I decided to do this because I think I posted to much & I wasted so much time on social media. So, in the month of Rejab, one of the blessed month, I wanted to build the best of myself 😊

It's the month for me to clean & reorganise my life including my wardrobe, my diet, my routine & my everything. Let's do this gurllll see you again on the 28th & write a review.

So, what did I do in silence & in February?

I was on leave for 1 week on the first week of February. I went to Penang for vacation with my family (Read here). It was on this week I decided to go for hiatus because I posted so much, for memories but it's somehow felt exhausting & wasting time.

Therefore, on the second week, I fully put my focus on organising myself especially for my work. I also clean some stuffs at home too. For social media I survived not posting anything during weekdays, but I did post on weekend because my bestfriend got engaged. I went to Baling, Kedah for that weekend! But good thing is I still feel don't want to post anything hehehehe.

During the third week of February I posted few times on Instagram because there were few things happened like me going out with important people & failed attempt to sign car loan. But still I managed to control posting hehe. 

On the last week of February, I managed to hit all targets 2 days before closing, alhamdulillah! So I took some time to rest & reorganised myself. During weekend I went to have a staycation with Monash friends for Dr. Farhana since she will be leaving to Sabah soon. 

I had other plans with some people that day but things happened so I have to divert my plans. Usually when things didn't go according to my plans, I'll be moody but this time, when my plans didn't go my way, I went to book fest instead! Randomly went to #KLBAF2022 alone by train at Pasar Seni to kill time. It was the best decision I've made cus the vibes there was soo nice & made me cried cus I was so touched with everything there. Met some of the authors I followed on social media & purchased their books. Was soo tempted to buy all Hamka's books but I managed to control myself 😂

Then my legs brought me to Masjid KLCC by train again cus I miss that place soooo much (teringat Ramadan 2019). Made so many prayers there, may Allah grant each one of them. It was just one of the days I made random decisions & follow my heart but it was one of happiest days in my life ♥️

I ended my weekend with short staycation with Monash friends. We went to Arte+ Ampang to sleepover there & had dinner at The Daily Grind Ampang because they had the best waffles every! Also I was so very happy cus we exchanged stories & have many fruitful discussions together! One of the things Dr. Farhana said that I remembered, in working life "being stupid is okay as long as you are willing to learn & have very good attitude". Till next time gurllsss & all the best to us in everything 😘

Overall, February was so short but fully occupied. Now it's almost mid March already & a lot of things happened too. 

To anyone reading this, may Allah ease our affairs, provide best of the best to us, may we will always have patience & sabr in life. At this moment there's quite a lot of things on my plate. The need to focus on so many stuffs, striving to be the best of me & praying Allah will answer all my prayers.

Till then,

Adlina.