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Five years

Updated: Oct 2, 2019


Photo credit: Meiying Ng on Unsplash

Before I jump straight into this, I want to make one thing clear: this is not where I will be. This is only where I hope, wish and think I will be according to my current situation and goals. The purpose of this post is to come back in 5 years and read over it and see how many things have come true. Things might not work out, things might work out, or things might work out differently than I (thought) have written here. 


In this last post for 2018, I will cover 5 different aspects of my life, starting off with:


1. Chosen Blog


Most of you know how passionate I am about this blog. To me it’s more than words written and published. It’s more than the numbers of people that visit my website. It’s more than how many followers I have on social media. Its purpose is far more precious than numbers – it’s about you. It’s about encouraging you, motivating you and inspiring you.


Within 5 years, I hope Chosen will have reached and blessed more people. My vision is far greater than keeping it just as “personal blog”. And so, in five years I genuinely hope and pray that my friends and I will have at least put our foot in the door for the vision behind Chosen. I hope we will have started what we have always dreamed of. I will not go into details now . . . but it’s worth mentioning there is a reason and a purpose behind it all. To give you a hint, let’s hope within 5 years it will go from chosen.blog to chosen.org. (Yes chosen.blog will remain).


My goal for this blog is to continue thriving and impacting my readers.  It is also one of my dreams to collaborate with other bloggers/influencers, interview a different demographic of people, share powerful stories, and keep it influential. 


2. University


For the next three years of my life, I’ll be studying Bachelor of Journalism. I am excited for this new phase of my life.  It has always been a dream and I feel blessed that I got the amazing opportunity to fulfil this dream.


Since my degree is three years full-time, I assume I’ll be graduated in 5 years. However, I have a desire to learn and gain more knowledge in different fields. The other fields I am interested in are psychology, business and leadership, human rights, and bible college. 

I am not sure in what degree level I'd like to undertake these subjects but I know if I were to study further, it'd be one (or more) of those listed. 


When I was 15,  it was one of my dreams (and still is today)  to study at Hillsong International Leadership College. My plan is to do it after my bachelor degree. But the 'when' is still unknown. If things do work out for me and I am able to study there, I'll either do Worship & Music (Songwriting) or Pastoral Leadership. This means I'll have to move to Sydney though! But I don't mind moving there and I believe it would be one of those life-changing experiences for me. 


3. Career Life


With the assumptions that I’ll graduate within the next five years, I hope I’ll find a job in Journalism. My dream jobs is to work as a creative writer and content creator at a magazine company. I would love to work with a company that has a vision and is on a mission. 

I also enjoy interviewing people. One of my dreams is to travel around the world, visit countries that people rarely visit. I want to hear the stories of the unheard and share them with the world. 


I would also be down to work as a radio hostess and TV presenter. I mean how cool would it be to have celebrities/famous people featured in a radio session or be guests on my show. 


4. Goals 


I have many goals. I have major and minor ones. I have long-term and short-term goals. I have any kind of goals you could think of. For real. I’ll list three goals I hope I’ll achieve within the next five years of my existence.


- Write a book

I want to write a book about my journey from Iraq, to Jordan to Australia. I will write it with a raw heart, honest thoughts and explicit feelings. I’ll share about my experiences both the good and bad. Its purpose will be to give hope and something people can relate to.  


- Go on a mission trip to Kenya

Since I was 12-13 years old, I’ve had this passion and desire to go on a mission trip to Kenya and serve the young girls there. This passion continues to burn in my heart today. And I look forward to the day I'll be there fulfilling the purpose. 


- Reunite with my two best friends again.

It saddens me to write this as one of my “goals” in life. It’s been 4 years since I have seen my two best friends and I miss them every day. I don’t think any of us would have imagined that we’d end up living in three different continents. We live far away from each other and it’s not easy to just casually meet up. But I genuinely hope that I’ll be able to reunite with them sometime soon.


5. Relationship Status 


Why do I feel like this will be most people’s favourite bit to read. First things first, let me start by expressing how awkward it is for me to write this.


In five years I will be 24 years old. I honestly don’t know what to write in here because I don’t have a clue of what the future holds. To narrow it down, I will definitely not be married by 24, so let’s tick that one off. Now there is a chance that I might be in a relationship or engaged to someone, or still single.


Regardless of what my Relationship Status will be within five years, the following are my reactions:

- Lydia Manshi single – you do you girl

- Lydia Manshi in a relationship – you still have time to reconsider your decision.

- Lydia Manshi engaged – have you reconsidered your decision?

- Lydia Manshi (or whatever my last name will be) married – it’s too late to reconsider your decision now. If he’s got blue eyes though – we’re good.

- Please don’t tell me you have kids already. 


To wrap it up, 5 years ago I did not imagine my life would be the way it is now. I had drawn out a completely different map for myself. I have briefly talked about this in my other blog post “Victim or Victorious”.


The other day I was having a conversation with a friend and he said something that stood out for me, “Structure doesn’t mean happiness”.


In every stage of our life we think to ourselves, "when I am X years old, I will have my life together". Truth is, you never "have your life together". Life is a journey (as cliché as this sounds), do we live in consonance with that definition?


We’re constantly putting effort to “structure” our lives because we think then we will find happiness, then we will be content, then our puzzle will be complete.


Five years ago, I thought I’d have my life together and settled down. But here I am still trying to figure things out. I’m still learning how certain things work, how to make the right decisions, how to mend what is broken. And what’s been the most challenging thing for me is holding myself accountable for what I do and say.


To take it back to what my friend said, there is nothing wrong with structure. Structure is, required – I’d say, to make sense of your life. However, structure isn’t the source of happiness and contentment. Many people live a structured life yet are the unhappiest. 


The older I get the more I understand the importance of making the right decision. It's both crazy and scary to think what one small decision can lead you up to and the consequences you'll have to face later in life (or maybe for the rest of your life). 


Whatever you experienced in 2018, please don't let it hold you victim. Don't bury yourself while you're still alive. Take the pain and mould it into a new strength. 


I hope and pray 2019 will be your best year yet! Love you and thank you for being a great support the past few months!


Inner beauty

Imagine if we checked our heart as much as we checked our face in the mirror. We constantly strive to look good. But how often do we strive to be good?


Photo credit: Benjamin Manshi

What is the difference?


We are all beautiful and unique. However, there is a huge difference between looking beautiful and being beautiful. It takes physical energy to look beautiful, but it takes mental and emotional energy to be beautiful. “Why so?” you may be wondering . . . Let me break down for you: to be beautiful means to be loving, caring, forgiving, graceful, compassionate, considerate and etc.


It takes strength and grace to be and do all those things and more. Because if we are honest here, it is a lot easier to criticize people than to say something nice to them; it is easier to hate our neighbour, than to love them; it is easier to judge people than to have empathy on them; and it is easier to hold grudges than to forgive those who hurt us.


Imagine having the prettiest vase, holding the prettiest flowers in your home, but there is no water inside? Yeah it looks stunning, but what’s the point when it doesn’t contain the content it needs in order to grow and blossom.


Now the vase is going to make a great impact on people’s eyes, every person who walks in will probably have a positive impression on it – which is great! But imagine if they decide to take a look inside and find the vase is empty. From being amazed at the way it looks, they will be shocked and have questions raised in their head. And automatically, they will stop thinking about how it looks and focus on how can it be empty.


This goes back to us. Most of the time we make a great impact one people’s eyes, but how often do we make great impact on people’s hearts?


Impact hearts


Did you know people won’t remember the branded outfit you wore, but they most definitely remember how you made them feel.


People don’t seek to be amazed by your looks, they seek to be loved, accepted and get fuelled with hope. We live in a broken world, filled with broken people who are in search of some healing.


That healing comes when we let the hope that lives in us shine through us to brighten their lives. Even a small candle makes a huge difference in a dark room.


See here is the thing, when you’re in darkness, you don’t search where your prettiest candle is sitting – you just want any candle to light up the room. Because after all, it’s about what the candle does and not how it looks.


Gift


Since I was a little girl, my mom always taught me about self-confidence, worth and value. When I became a teenager, I was so focused on my outer look. I’d compare myself with celebrities and models and wished I looked as “perfect” as they did.


Moving on, this one time my mom used a simple concept to convey a powerful message.

She asked me, “when you receive a gift, what do you most care about?” I said “the gift, obviously.” She replied “See, you are more excited to see what is inside and not the wrapping paper itself. The wrapping paper may be pretty and excite you to open it, but once you open the gift, the wrapping paper doesn’t mean anything. Most of the time we tear it and throw it away. Because what is inside holds a greater value than what is covering it.


And it is the same with our bodies, it’s wonderful to look after ourselves, dress up, and look good. But if inside doesn’t hold something precious, what is the point of our good looks that makes an impact for a moment when you can make a greater impact with your heart?”


I thought about her words and since then my perspective has changed. I realized that I am overlooking things I need to be looking at. I realized that anything I want to achieve happens when I work on myself – from the inside – so that I am able to give. If I am not filled with love, hope, joy I am unable to give it to those who need it.


You can never give someone something you have never had. You can’t give someone water from an empty well.

I am going to end with this; imagine yourself as a well of water, people get excited when they see it, and usually get closer to see how full it is.  But if it’s empty, at first they are disappointed; second, realize it’s useless; third, walk away. How many times have people come across our path but our wells were empty? How many times people were thirsty but we were unable to satisfy their need because we were empty? A well is made for a great purpose, but if its empty, its purpose can’t be fulfilled. But remember that the emptiness of a well doesn’t change its purpose. It changes its impact.


I encourage to continue working on your “well”, keep digging, driving and drilling to access water from underground aquifers. Because our broken world doesn’t need any more “dry wells” it needs wells that will quench souls.


You have a purpose, take action.


Dig if U Will


Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?


A: My name is Vaya, and my background is of Greek Origin. I was born in south of Australia and I am one of three children –  I am the youngest.  I had a fantastic upbringing in Adelaide and my mother was a big influence on me. She had a lot of style and so I owe my taste to her.

I moved to Melbourne 15 years ago for work purposes – my career – my background is media. I worked at The Age newspaper for 6 years and then I moved over to News and I worked at News for 9 years.


A fun fact about me is I’m a big Prince fan. That is probably something my close friends know about me and I got to meet him two months before he unfortunately passed. So fun fact was that I got to go to the after-party and when he got on the dance floor, I danced next to him. That was a lot of fun for me – it was a dream come true.


Q: How did you start this business and what inspired you?


I have always wanted to do something for myself but I didn’t know how to. I have worked in corporate for so many years – in the office and managing other people. But in the back of my mind, I have always believed that there is something out there for me. And I have always loved beautiful things. So for me, it felt natural to try and do something later in my life where I could put the brakes on, and maybe create something from scratch.

The way that I started this – I feel like fate stepped in as well. Because I had tried to garner interest with retail and giftware with my friends at home and doing a little bit online. But it wasn’t enough and I needed to get more attraction. 

Then one day I walked past this series of little shops in Oakleigh and it was interesting because I’d only came to Oakleigh to get a cake. So I feel like, on that day, fate helped me make that decision. So I’ve had a little bit of a nudge from heaven sort to speak – in terms of you know, the next step. 

Did that inspire you? It did, I stopped and spoke to few of the store owners and I met with the real estate agent the following week. I just decided that I would take a leap of faith and do it. 


Q: What is your vision statement?


A: My vision is to provide personalized service, affordable but aspirational product. And I want everyone to feel like they also have a relationship with me when they purchase something from me. So for me, they are not only coming to purchase a product, but they are coming to engage with me and form a relationship with me. So I don’t have a statement per se, but I know what I have to offer; personalized service, above and beyond what you would normally get in a retail store.


Q: What is the story behind your shop's name 'Dig if U will'?


A: It does actually connect to what I mentioned before about my love of music and Prince. But last year I did some contract work for a small independent film company and I created the name Dig if U will because it’s a lyric from a song of Prince’s, 'When Doves Cry'. And I thought it would be a great intro for when I was to prepare my presentations. 'Dig if U will this presentation' or 'Dig if U will this idea, this pitch, this creative idea'.


I just kept the name from that and I transferred it into retail. So whether or not it lends itself to retail – probably – not necessarily. But it is a little bit of creative, cute and different name for the shop.


Q: What is the biggest challenge for you as a businesswoman? 


A: My biggest challenge is time management and resources. Because I've committed to getting this business on the ground and at the moment, it's just me. So I am here manning my store, I am also uploading and creating content for my website.


I am also purchasing all the products, seeking new product and I am managing my customer's follow-up needs. For me, my biggest challenge is keeping motivated and energized in that time frame. 


Q: What inspires you to be creative?


A: I love being creative. I think learnt to be creative in my previous role, managing bunch of young people and we had to come up with creative ideas to pitch to big advertisers. I was very fortunate to work in a publishing company that allowed us that freedom of creativity.


I find I am best creative in the mornings, when I first wake up and I think about things. My mind is always thinking constantly - 24 hours - now more so with my business. 


From a creative perspective, I try to think about; what are the next trends? what are people wanting? what do my customers seek out that they can't find? So I try and if something speaks to me, from a creative perspective, I'm also then drawn to it. 


Q: Vaya, I think you are wonderful and creative. I am so inspired by what you are doing! If you were to encourage someone with 6 words, what would those words be?


A: I would encourage them to - be brave, be grateful, and be humble.


Q: Lastly, what is one advice you wish someone told you when you were younger?


"I wish someone had told me at a young age that it is ok to go against the norm."

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© 2018 by CHOSEN

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