Moving on from news

Before she heads on to the next stage of her training programme in the sports department, Maryam Al Shamsi reflects on what she learnt in her three months covering UAE news.

My last week for the news section.

Time has been running by incredibly quickly. I have no idea how I can describe my three months as a trainee in a nutshell.

Ultimately, I feel blessed and happy with where I’ve reached, in all aspects of my life.

Maybe this is not my full potential yet. There is more to come on this journey.

This is just a glimpse of what I’m starting and I must keep on going.

I have to admit there was a rough patch for me at the very beginning and my negativity used to get the best of me.

In fact, my mentor Hugo would ask me: “Why are you so gloomy?”

I guess he had discovered it was just part of my character. I had my good days and bad days.

Sometimes I detested my surroundings and sometimes I embraced it. This is just me.

I have embarked on my mission to improve myself and feed my mind with every detail at work. I have learnt from here and there and shared opinions and stories with people at work.

Learning from the best is precisely what I was looking for. The great team in the local news department were more than just a help.

I feel I have made great bonds with them and also engaged with them.

I consider them more than just co-workers, they welcomed me with open arms and I cannot be more happy than I already am at this moment.

The great partnerships I worked with at the time in the local news has been fun.

I do not want to become an under achiever. I refuse to.

I feel I have been inspired by the lyrics of musicians such as Kurt Cobain vocalist from Nirvana and Syd Barrett, former vocalist of Pink Floyd, who both ended their life in tragedy.

They had so much to offer and it does make me sad that their rich intellectual minds be thrown away when they had so much to give.

Cobain and Barrett were similar in a way that they are more indulged in their creativity and people misunderstood their intricate mindsets. They thought ahead of everyone else they had seen things differently, given that they both had introvert personalities.

With that being said. their story gave me more of a boost to reach my potential.

They are my inspiration from what they had to offer, but I have learnt from their mistakes.

Working here is making me grow, to release my drive and make an impact for myself and I hope this all will pay off well.

Finally, I would like to end with a lyric from Pink Floyd’s song Breathe: “Long you live and high you’ll fly, and smiles you’ll give, tears you’ll cry and all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be.”