What is it that i’m getting at? Look around you, look at the people you know so well yet feel like you don’t know enough. Why is that? You might wonder where I am whilst writing this, but that will remain a mystery for the majority of the readers. For the rest, well done for guessing right.

If you still don’t get where I’m coming from, think about how people act different around each and every audience, perhaps it would be reasonable if this was something natural, but sympathy strikes when you realize that this has become an act which is natural after trying so hard.

Keep thinking. The different scenarios seem to be flashing back, is man afraid of being rejected? Is their natural state feared to be unbearable? What happened to being a diverse world? Where each and every individual should appreciate the elements that distinguish them from another, not aim to be like the one who is…[now I could just write the word, but each person in this world will have a different word to put here, some might just be in a different language].

If I have been able to lift even a grain of sand from the ocean floor in this article, then that blank word will get you thinking, appreciating the diversity you were created to accept. Be a part off.

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Money can build houses
Money can break houses

Money can build futures
Money can break futures

Money can build nations
Money can break nations

Money can build healthcare systems…

Money CAN’T buy a longer life…

Be careful with what you earn, for its only a means to live, not life itself.

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It becomes a constant battle in ones mind, for getting a job might make life easier and then harder, but not getting one might make life harder and then easier. For many, this just gets ignored entirely.

But that’s when there comes a life question for most, where am I going with my life? And what do I see myself doing? For school kids, it’s the aspiration to attend a renowned University, and for Uni students its a big job, maybe the corporate world-or not. For employees, it’s the next step between jobs. You’ll soon recognise the trend here, that the aspiration never dies, and the continuous search is what keeps the blood flowing, the mind content- but it’s not all bad, think about it the other way; if your mind was stagnant and you had no drive to get somewhere, you might just not make it.

It’s that excessive importance placed on these goals which has proved to cause more harm than good. For many it becomes a source of inferiority, where success is measured according to those amongst them- leading to questioning ones capabilities and worth. For others it’s that nightmare of a worry, of sitting old one day without that job they always wanted. But it shouldn’t be. Or should it?

It’s about time we all question what we want from our lives, and rather than doing what’s the most popular and book worthy, let’s take a step back and question what drives us out of bed, rather than that which drives us too bed.

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Have you ever thought about the power of truth, the strength of your word? Your agreement? Ever wondered why we even need a signature on a contract when our word should be enough?

Prior to the discovery of ink and pens, people would use ‘blood’ as a means to sign contracts. It gave an authoritative approval. This was the form of trust that dominated previous times.

In an ideal world, if I left you with 1000 pounds of mine, and I had no idea who you were, the power of trust would be enough to guarantee you return that someday. You wouldn’t even consider spending it, because your conscience wouldn’t let you.

This thought emerged in my mind some months back, when I was in Egypt, as I witnessed a rather peculiar scenario. A man arrived at the airport from Khartoum, back into his hometown Egypt, as he shared a taxi with me as well as another individual; soon into his conversation he realised that the other individual was from his village in Egypt, which was where he needed his passport to be delivered to. Once he realised the other individual would be visiting this village, he quickly asked whether the “stranger” would deliver the passport to a certain address for him. I was shocked. I had never witnessed something so astounding. Such trust is beyond our normal expectations.

After some time, and pondering over this occurrence, I tried to think of how much we doubt people and what it takes to trust people.

Obviously, the answer isn’t to begin trusting every man on the street with your belongings, but avoid the doubt, and before anything else, make sure you’re the person who can be trusted. It’s a life-changing quality to hold.

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More recently, the view people choose to adopt is that that the result could sway either way, so why the anxiety?

The common answer is that it’s normal and natural for people to be anxious, and then we go on to say that it’s healthy, but no one questions why it happens.  If we do, we are quick to ignore any potential threats to our minds- ones such as paranoia, pessimism and the whole lot.

So before reading on, one thing we could all begin doing is admitting the truth, that we are ‘normal’ people who get anxious at any matter which holds weight in our life. Most times our thoughts, however, don’t actually have a say in the final result, because we have no power over the future…and once we’ve admitted this we can carry on.

We continue admiring our bravery for having accepted the last 300 words, at our rather selfless attitude in being so courageous…

The answer lies not in the midst of this article, but upon your own judgement of your character. For some it actually may be healthy, for others a waterfall into their ocean of worries.

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I knew why I was hopeful, because I knew that there was always some plan destined for me, whichever university I was accepted too. And on top of that, I knew that if things didn’t go the way I planned, there were ample chances to improve. The reason this all struck me was because, just four days ago a few people approached me and asked me for advise, they must have heard of the Yourtwocents career guidance which was offered in late 2009. These people seemed to be in a frenzy, having no idea whether they will even make it to university, with the news broadcasting that over 50,000 people had been denied university places, it was quite unfortunate seeing how many had lost hope at even persevering and trying to make it up there.

They began talking to me about how they sent their applications thinking they’d get in, as they were fully capable of doing so, but how it all went wrong with results, and later thinking that it was where things ended. I went on to tell them that whenever there is a problem, there’s always a solution out there, and brought about some personal experiences relevant to their circumstances.

Their panic reminded me how we are all so similar, whether at a secular level, social level, or even a personal level; when it comes to any unforeseen circumstances, our common tendency is to shy away, and brush it under the carpet. The solution is perseverance, and in order to succeed we need to remember that word, interpret that word, and act upon that word.

The solutions for these three A-level students weren’t quite clear as soon as their results were out, but a few hours later when their mind had digested the fact that something went wrong and there is a way out, solutions keep flowing in, and that when we all forget it ever happened. Next time, if something of the sort approaches you, sit patiently and think about some solutions, because every problem was created with a solution.

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I was about to start a trip which consists of the most manic 10 days ever; 5 cities in 10 days. By this point, there will be some readers who will have come up with an average of 2 days per city, but not this time, here things were slightly different, and plans were to be made after landing.

My first stop was Cairo, Egypt. As I landed on Egyptian turf, I could already see the beautiful pyramids right before me, and this was just the beginning.

We got out of the airport only, attempting to speak our little bits of Arabic, in order to seem like we’re locals. But soon enough, we realised that our attempt failed and taxi drivers ripped us off!

As many of you may have experienced when travelling either alone or with one other person, you always fear the worst possible circumstance in a foreign country. This brought about the illusion of doubt, many events led to this, for instance stopping at a petrol station just one minute away from the airport for over 40 minutes, he must have told us why, but we lost track of his words as soon as they got longer than 4 letter words.

We were soon on the five lane highway in Cairo, which had conveniently been extended to 8 lanes by most motorists. Upon arrival at the hotel, we spent our first night in eager anticipation of what to expect in the forthcoming days.

It was now our second day, and the plan was to fly off to Saudi Arabia in the middle east. Normally, this would be simple, but we decided to complicate ours with a coach to Alexandria, and a cab to one of the worlds tiniest airports (Borg el Arab, Alexandria).

At this point you should be aware of the purpose of our visit to Saudi Arabia.

Most of you will know that Muslims from all over the world face a certain direction during their daily prayers, this is called the “Qibla”, this is the Kaaba which is based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia; built by Abraham with the command of God, there is a great significance to this “Kaaba”, which you will find out by reading the rest of this article.

When Muslims have the privilege of visiting the “Kaaba”, and the mosque which accompanies it in the holiest of lands, Mecca; we take it as an invitation from God, for us to visit his Holy House. Therefore just as anyone would prepare themselves before visiting any royal figure, you aim to be in your most humble of states, and try to be yourself. This journey has a great significance in Islam, and I will dwell into this shortly.

You should also be aware that no planes are allowed to fly through Mecca, which explains why I travelled through Jeddah, around 70 miles away from Mecca.

There are two types of visits one can have at this holy land, the first being “The Hajj”, a journey which is obligatory on every individual at least once in their life, as long as it is affordable. The second is “The Umrah” which is optional. There are substantial differences between the two, however I will explain my visit (The Umrah).

After leaving Jeddah, and before entering Mecca for the first time of that particular visit, every individual must ensure that they are clean, both spiritually and physically. Another requirement is that each individual must be equal. To promote these values there are two guidelines set for muslims.

One is to take a shower, with the intention being for the Sake of Allah. The second is wearing two pieces of white cloth (for men) which covers your whole body. Although some people may not be able to picture this, a google search of “ehram” might suffice. There are several reasons for wearing this, one as mentioned earlier is to promote equality, this is served by every man wearing the same two pieces of white cloth, therefore you cant tell the difference between rich or poor, royal or layman, everyone looks the same. At this point you should also be aware that once these two pieces of cloth are worn, 25 things are forbidden, again I won’t dwell into this but a google search may be sufficient once again.

This marks the beginning of “The Umrah”, which can take around two hours to complete. As you enter the main mosque called the “Haram” you begin by circumambulating the ‘Kaaba’, the reason for this is to show that Allah is our main focus, therefore by revolving around the same cube which we pray towards, we are emphasising its spiritual focus.

Next we head off to the hills of ‘Safwa and Marwa’. The Qur’an (holy book of Islam) explains the story of this great place. It is said that Abrahams family were once in a dessert where they were struck with hunger and thirst. As Abraham continued praying for relief from this, he was called by Allah, to which he questioned how he could leave his wife and child all alone; God reassured him, saying that he will protect them.

Abrahams wife and child were now left in the middle of the dessert, and in order to quench her thirst, she ran between ‘Safwa and Marwa’, she did this for 7 consecutive times, on her 7^th run, God made water flow out in the middle of the dessert, this continues to flow today and the water is called ‘ZamZam’. We therefore perform this act again showing our humility and inadequacy, this is called the ‘Saiee’; Once this is complete, the main ‘Umrah’ is complete.

The journey continues.

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“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Benjamin Franklin.

A quote I had drilled into my ears ever since childhood, meant nothing to me until a few days ago.

The alarm bells rung, it was 6am, time to wake up for an early start to my revision. It was the first time I had ever done this, for I never felt I was the morning type of person, and always thought that nights were the best time to work, when it’s all so peaceful and there’s no one around you to keep you distracted.

I decided it’s time to try this new routine, as without trying it I could never know what it has in store for me? Well anyway, I reluctantly managed to wake up by 6:05, at which point I just took a minute to reflect on the strong will power which got me up four hours earlier than scheduled time.

Each minute went by, and I seemed to treasure them, for I didn’t want to waste even a minute of that thinking of anything else but completing that module; for those of you that know me, you’re probably still in shock.

I looked outside the window, and not a single person walked past, it was deserted; a place where hundreds walk past each morning. It was that serene and peaceful environment which led me to think about how the day already seemed like such a success even though it had only been one hour since my waking.

By 9am, I realised that this had been the most productive three hours spent on revision. I began thinking about implementing this on a regular basis.

The reason I thought of sharing this article is because, especially around me, there are a lot of people going through a similar dilemma. With exams approaching for most of us, and even coming to an end for others, it’s good to spend some time thinking about the productivity of your day, and don’t let yourself be convinced by the time you sit on your desk trying to work, but get distracted by everything other than your books around you.

There is little benefit in waiting for a new day to get yourself into mode, when all it takes is for you to just make the most of the time you have, rather than waste it, and later regret.

From a personal experience, I finally realised the value of this phrase, quoted years ago…

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I thought about my initial article, which happened to be my gap year article; I wondered whether I felt the apprehension before posting it up. At the start, writers inevitably face that fear, of having their name besides their article, the truth is, that’s how we all started!

Fear plays a pivotal role in our life. It’s what keeps us breathing, because if we didn’t for a second we’d be scared of the worst. Fear keeps us working hard, because if we didn’t, we wouldn’t achieve our ambitions. Fear maintains honesty, because if we didn’t, there would be consequences. Fear stops us from making silly decisions, because if we made those decisions, we’d live or die to regret it…

So why does it strike us in the first place?

Well, psychologists suggest that a concise definition for the word is “Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we couldn’t feel it, we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate threats”- Is it only a response to danger? Isn’t it a response to paranoia too?

Most readers will have, at some point of their life, be it in their youth, or old age, experienced some sort of paranoia. For instance, when something isn’t going according to plan, people feel there’s a bigger reason to it all. Sometimes, it’s just the simple reason which, if accepted, could save us years and years.

Think about the simplest of fears, say for instance the fear of rides or heights. For some people, fear is the epitome of our adventures. For others, it’s something they dread…Where do you fit in? The reason I brought up rides is because it is common to everyone, and whether we admit it or not, we all face some degree of panic when swivelling around at such a speed. The point is, just like any other fear, we have to face up to the challenge of overcoming the fear before admitting defeat…

The point of this article is to express this feeling as one of normality, albeit one that people can change. Most people just need to give their minds a break from all the worry, and think to themselves, that if it’s all gone right in life, why would things go wrong now?

To end this article, I’d like to encourage each one of you to face your common daily fear, live up to it, don’t give up on it…because if you do, these fears will keep piling up, and up, and up. Remember, that for some of you, it won’t be as simple as the fear of rides; it might be something completely off the board, but who’s to say that it can’t be overcome?

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It’s that time of the year, when the sun’s out, the barbecue’s are out and the parks are full. It’s also the time when most students are buried in their books, so to speak.

No matter what level you’re at, be it GCSE, A-level or University, you’re all cursing the system for having something called exams, which happen to fall when the sun’s out…

Mostly everyone within these categories will complain about their bad weekends, of how they’ve tried waking up at 9, snooze it until 12, and eventually started their work at 2. The work day, which may end past midnight for those all-nighter students amongst you, consists of a lot of procrastination.

Beginning from the mobile phone vibration, to the facebook news feed to even the football scores, there’s always something we’d prefer doing when it comes to revision time.

Then there are those, who just struggle to revise. A bit like this; the one who goes to the library on a Monday morning, with a bag full of textbooks, maybe a laptop if the need arises, and sets a goal for the day. As you enter the library, you know there are no possible distractions in an area so silent…where it’s just you, your books, and maybe a pen.

You realise noon come before you know it, and are already sighing worry to yourself, about how the day is flying without any progress. The clocks strike 3’o clock, and for some libraries there are only 2 hours until closing time…in which you must complete…70, no 100, no 200 pages!

Although, this thought becomes almost impossible to achieve, you still feel there’s a chance that maybe today, you will manage to work hard…

Many question how they made it to such a level, and what methods they used to revise for these exams which seem so perplexing in nature. That’s it.

The method of revision, although the material changes from level to level, the techniques used for revision during GCSE’s are the same all the way to University, albeit on a higher level of difficulty.

Everyone has their own ways of working, and although many people would love to be told how to revise, what pages to read, what questions to attempt, what times to revise between, it all comes down to your character, and more relevantly- your concentration span…

The next time you pick up a textbook, think about how you want to revise, the time you want to revise for and maybe even where you want to revise…

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