Did You Pass Your Test? | 5 Mental Health Tips that Will Help You Get through Difficult Times

Hi, if this is your first time seeing me live, my name is Zaakirah. I am a creative strategist, a photographer, as well as a cancer survivor. I have been professionally photographing since I was in college. How long have you been doing this? I've been doing this since I was in high school, maybe about 10 years now. However, I've been a photography lover since I was about 5 years old. Now what I do when I'm not photographing, I help women to step outside of their comfort zone and to grow their business and grow their brand. And when I'm not doing that, I am all about mental health. Mental health is super important to me because I am a cancer survivor. Of a childhood eye cancer called retinoblastoma. And I've been blessed to be alive and in remission for 28 years now. So I wrote a book, my mom and I wrote a book called Seeing Life Through a Different Lens: A Cancer Survivor's Memo on Overcoming Adversity with Resilience. And when we're not, you know, staying alive, eating healthy, getting enough rest, Um, you know, life has its tests and its challenges for you, all in the ways of developing you to be a better person, be the woman that you're meant to be, right? Hi, Maiza. Assalamu alaikum. So I wanted to come in and ask you, um, did you pass your test? And you can interpret that in any way that you can imagine, but, uh, the way that I want to talk about that is basically, you know those scenarios that keep coming up in your life, right? The scenarios where you find yourself asking yourself, why me? But let's not do that. Let's reframe our question as to what am I supposed to learn from this? What am I supposed to take away from this? And how can this scenario, this situation make me better? Or how can I learn? What can I learn from this? You know, so I can pass the test and it won't Either it won't come back around, or when it does come back around, you have the tools, you know what you need to do to better handle it, right? This can be conflict, this can be relationships, this can be communication, this can be anything that you would define under personal development, right? So Most scenarios come back around in your life because there was something missing, right? You may think, oh, okay, I get it now. I get what I was supposed to learn from this. I get it. But maybe there was something missing. Maybe there was something that you did not get yet. So I think the biggest thing about knowing if you passed your test is also knowing when to To let things slide, let it go, right? Because sometimes the test is supposed to be that. Your test is how well can you just let it go? Do you still feed into it or do you still cause your own heartbreaks? So sometimes your test is supposed to be you're supposed to let it go. You're supposed to trust your intuition and you're supposed to let it go, right? So 9 out of 10 times your test will return until you have either learned the lesson or you start to see the blessing in it, right. So sometimes we find ourselves wondering about, you know, the tool. What tool should we be taking? What should we be doing? Like, how can we avoid this happening again, right? So a lot of times we have what we need right in front of us. It's either in the person that's closest to you in your circle. It's either in a song that you play over and over and over again. It's in the courses that you've taken previously that you neglected or didn't fully do the assignment or forgot about. You've invested in yourself already by investing in certain courses or investing in a consultation with someone who knows the scenario, the topic better than you, and then you just brush it off, right? So a lot of times you have the tools which you need to pass that test, no matter what it is that's going on in your life that you feel is kind of keeping you stagnant, that you feel is kind of feeling, having you feel like you're in a hamster wheel, because it's right there in front of you. So I think even for me, I think I've spent so much time on personal development. It's something that I love to do, right? And so 9 out of 10 times, I think most people tend to come to me for advice because I've spent so much time investing in myself, developing myself, and figuring out what, you know, what works, what doesn't work. Self-reflection, self-awareness, right? Right, opening your, your, your other senses, right? And already for me, I have all 5 senses, but they're very limited, right? So opening up all the rest of your senses, utilizing all of your senses. So scenarios— think about it though, there are certain scenarios you remember things based off of scent, right? You remember certain trauma based off of scent. You remember the smell of— A person, a place, or a thing, right? And sometimes it'll be certain words that will be repeated, and then you'll hear it again, and you're like, why am I hearing this again, right? So there'll be familiar senses that will help you to remember what that test was last time and how you should really— what you should be doing differently this time around. Right. So utilize all your senses, revisit the, the songs, the courses, the words of wisdom from books and movies or podcasts that you've heard before. And then when you hear it again, it'll feel like an aha moment for you, right? And just be sure to take note of that aha moment. Take note of it and utilize it to remind yourself, like, okay, I remember what happened last time. And I remember how I reacted. I remember what I said, what I did, what I didn't do, and how I can do it differently this time, right? Because here's also the thing about personal development. These certain scenarios, certain traumas will feel like a movie on a loop or a broken record until you have the tool to address them. And it may feel annoying. It may feel scary. It may feel heartbreaking. But if you think back on all the things that you've been through, right, all of the things that you've been through, the ones that you claim that no one else has been through it, or the ones that it took you a while to really talk about, think about how long it really took for you to get over the hump, emotional hump. of being able to talk about it and also being able to, you know, work through it and heal yourself basically, right? So personal development, the funny thing about personal development is that it will always show its face until you have fully developed or fully healed from that situation. But make no mistake though, healing is always A never-ending journey. That's what we're on this life for. We're on this life to go through experiences, to learn from these experiences, to share these experiences. And so it's never-ending. But just understand that every step you take, every progress you make, you'll be better off as far as having better ways to handle the tool and better ways to handle, you know, what would happen if it does happen again, or if you see it not through yourself. You see it through someone else. You see it happen to someone else or someone else come to you and talk to you about it. And it sounds familiar because you've been through it before, right? So now you have a tool, you know what to do. And so for me, that's always been the exciting and fun thing, you know, with no matter what I do or where I am or who I talk to. I think that's always the fun part about— healing is that when someone else talks to you about what they're going through, then you think back and realize, been there, done that. Not necessarily in that way because, you know, not many people would appreciate hearing that in that moment, but it's literally like been there, done that. And you have, you know, the words to express of, you know, what you did and what you can do to basically, um, help someone else overcome. You go through what you go through because you're supposed to grow through it, and you help someone else to overcome. All right, so I think I definitely wanna wrap this up and end it with recapping what I was sharing about how do you know if you passed that test in life. Those tests, those scenarios that come over and over and over and over again and what to really do about it. So revisit the courses. And if you need some new ones, maybe you're just— the specific teacher. Sometimes you just need a better teacher, and then maybe the specific teacher will be able to teach you better, right? Revisit courses or find another teacher. Maybe you need to learn from me, from someone who just kind of teaches things differently, right? Whether it has to do with your business, whether it has to do with personal development, whether it has to do with mindset. Mindset is 99% of everything you do in life, really. That's why spirituality is so important. That's why choosing your circle is so important. Choosing your environment is so important. Um, as you get older, as you begin to be more in control, as you've been able to see what you can control, what you cannot, right? So mindset is 99% of everything that you do. So choose wisely. Choose the courses, the course teachers, the social media posts, the emails. You subscribe to, the books you read, the podcasts you're listening to, all of it, you know, you're digesting and dissecting in a way that can either help or harm your healing. So choose wisely. And remember that healing is a never-ending process. And also remember that it's okay to just let things slide. Let it go. You don't have to give everything your energy, even if You're so— people are so used to getting your energy for everything, getting a reaction for everything. Sometimes it's okay to— silence is also an answer. It's also okay. There's a difference between silent treatments, yes, but silence is also an answer as well. All right. So if you loved what you heard in this video, definitely be sure to share with another woman who could use these tips, who could use the aha moments, if you think that it just may just be timely for her. And also, if you need more sources of inspiration, I have my book, Seeing Life Through a Different Lens: A Survivor's Memoir on Overcoming Adversity with Resilience. It is available for paperback and audiobook and ebook. You can go to my website, zakirahmuhammad.com, to learn more about that. Or if you have ideas, say you are starting a business, but you just feel like you are stuck on something. And you just need that one person to really talk to you and make sure that you're answering the questions that you need to answer to help you get to that next step in your business and unlocking your traumas and setting those boundaries, feel free to also set a call, schedule a call with me. It'll be a short 15-minute call. And I basically, I don't necessarily give you any immediate tools. I just ask the questions that It will help you get you thinking and get you moving because that's all we— that's all I want for you is to not be stuck, right? Not be stuck, um, and to be your authentic self and live your best life. So thank you for watching and be sure to go to zaakirahir.com. The, um, link is also in the comments or the description, and I can't wait to see you live your best life. So make sure you Prioritize your mental health, because like I said, 99% of everything you do is mindset. So prioritize your mental health. And feel free to leave a comment and send me a message. Let me know what you think and let me know what you learned. And I will see you soon. Thank you for watching.