MASTER'S DEGREE AND WORK!

Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I posted a new entry. Busy gila and tak sempat nak keep up with my blog. Thank you to those who have been following my blogs and given me kind words! Korang baik sangat, I can only pray to Allah to pay you back!

Okay, for this post, I am going to share about my master's life. Some of you guys know that I've just finished my 1st semester of my master. Cepat gila masa berlalu. I know I still have a long way to go, probably lagi setahun or setahun setengah (?), but I still think that it is one of the most challenging phases that I have experienced in my life. &&& I survived! So I want you guys yang tengah study tu rasa yang korang pun boleh buat! 😼  Yang mana yang baik tu, boleh la ikut. Yang buruk tu jangan ikut pulak.
 
I've received few questions regarding my decision on furthering my studies, like kenapa Mira ambil master? And kenapa kaunseling? & I am so happy to know that quite a number of people said that they're interested in Psychology. Let me answer the questions ya. So saya decide untuk buat master sebab saya memang suka belajar. I am surprised myself too, sebab masa degree dulu saya agak malas. But I think I started to fall in love with Psych after I graduated sebab saya rindu sangat nak belajar konsep and teori semua tu. They are really applicable in my daily life. In fact, I still use the theories and concepts I've learnt into my everyday life & relationship. They help a lot, I swear. Kenapa Kaunseling? Actually, I just went with the flow. Haha. I just want to study anything related to Psych. Not many university offer master's in Psychology. I prefer public uni sebab tak mampu nak pergi private uni 😭, only UKM je offer clinical psych but I didn't apply because of its location 😛 (P/S: Jangan ikut decision ni). Plus, UM offers coursework mode for counselling. Lagi kuat rasa nak ambil kaunseling sebab tak minat research, and I wanted to learn more theories and concepts instead of doing research.

Another question that I often received is about career in the Psych/Counselling field. Ramai gak tanya peluang pekerjaan bidang ni. Honestly guys, I can't really answer this. Psych field is not really popular in Malaysia yet. So, majority of psych students usually work in psych-related field such as special needs educator, or anything in the education field. Or maybe autism therapist (Macam saya! Hehe.) If you really want to become a psychologist, you need to have at least master's in Clinical Psych. Bachelor degree alone is not enough. Personally, i studied mostly sebab I wanted to learn. I enjoy studying. Counselling and Psychology taught me how to improve myself, how to cope with difficult situations. And so many more. I love that kind of things, I am not studying for career. To me, rezeki datang dari Allah, walaupun bidang ni tak banyak peluang pekerjaan pun, kalau Allah nak bagi, mesti akan ada punya. So I am going to pursue what I like to study eventho it is not a high demand field macam engineering etc. BECAUSE I LOVE PSYCHOLOGY & COUNSELLING! THEY'RE MY LOVE!😻

Those are the most common questions I've received la. Now saya nak share my ups and downs masa buat master and kerja at the same time ni. Okay, a little bit of a background first. I graduated in 2016 from UQ, then few weeks later saya terus kerja as an Autism Therapist in Bangsar. Takde break langsung, penat gak la jadi Mira Haz😭. Study jauh jauh, dah balik pun still kena duduk jauh dari rumah. Ceddeh. After a year plus of working, baru decide nak start master (Actually memang plan nak ada working experience at least 1 year dulu baru buat master). So I started my master at the age of 23 (2017), rasa tak matang lagi sebab semua classmate cam dah banyak experience. Huhu. And still kerja, but dari full time tukar buat part time, I only work from 8.30am-12.00pm. Kelas selalunya start 3pm above, so sempat lah nak kejar.

Masa awal awal start master tu, I really have no idea what to expect. I just went with the flow. So memang relax lah awal awal tu sebab tak expect langsung assignment banyak gila and due dates dekat dekat. Dengan presentationnya lagi. Omg. Kalaulah tau kerja banyak gila, awal awal lagi dah start buat assignment. Lessons learnt! 😆 Since awal awal dah relax, pertengahan sem tu dah macam orang gila lah. Paling stress dengan subject research method, because we need to conduct a mini research within 1 month. Gila tau. 2 weeks tu dah nak kena collect data, analyze semua. Another 2 weeks, buat report, 49 FREAKING PAGES IN TWO WEEKS. Assignment ni serious menguji kesabaran dan kewarasan. I didn’t sleep for nights worrying and completing it. Stress sangat it even affected my work. I cried, it was too hard. Thanks to Hanapi for staying up with me dekat library teman siapkan kerja ni. Best partner award goes to him lah, can't do it without him🏆. Thanks to my family especially my mom and dad who have supported me dengar my rants and even offered to stay up with me, OMG I am so blessed. My friends too, thank you for giving me all the supports I needed. Allah had lent wonderful souls to me thank you, Alhamdulillah! Huhuhu. Once I have submitted, LEGA NAK MAMPUS! I always told myself, this thing will be over, it will all be worth it. and at last, dah submit. Always remind yourself that whatever difficulty you’re facing now, is going to be over! You just gotta go thru with patience and strength! Anyway, lepas dah submit tu, I had a feeling that I can’t cope with this subject sebab rasa macam carry mark rendah, rasa macam nak drop the subject pun ada. Siap calculate berapa nak kena score untuk final exam kasi pass. Masa ni fikir nak PASS je ok! Nak pass pun at least B. B- dah fail guys😢 I personally have no issue with my other subjects, but for this one, rasa macam susah sangat. Even masa degree pun tak berapa nak minat subject ni. So maybe that’s one of the reasons lah. However, for finals, I really struggle, LIKE REALLY STRUGGLE. First few days of study week tu enjoy kejap lah. Lepas tu start stay up and study everything sampai rasa nak muntah balik. Jk. I mean, study sampai puas and faham. & ALHAMDULILLAH MY RESULTS PROVED THAT IT IS WORTH IT! Seriously guys, the pepatah bersusah dahulu bersenang kemudian is really applicable in study life. So that’s a wrap for my first semester.

 By the way, some people also asked how I managed my time to study and work.
 Here’s my usual weekdays schedule:
 8-12pm : work
 12-2.30pm : study/assignments/nap (I take long naps😂)
 3-5pm : class
 5-8pm : rest/dinner
 8-11pm: assignments/study
 11-12pm : entertainment

- sometimes I will spare some time to release my stress, main ping pong ke apa.
- one of the weekends (or both) are usually spent at the library. Library dates are cool 😎

 Before I end this entry, I think I’d like to share some motivations to keep you going. I’ve picked up so many new lessons along the way while doing masters and working.

1. Keep going, no matter how hard it is. It will be worth it. Nangis lah banyak mana pun, just keep going!

2. Sacrifice for better things. I really hate to sacrifice my weekends. Weekends sebelum ni selalunya pergi picnic, jalan jalan dekat taman, but after I started masters, my weekends are for assignments! Sacrifice and you’ll be rewarded better things in the end. It won’t take too long. Sabar sangat penting.

3. You can still enjoy your life eventho you’re really busy with work & studies. Masa dah start busy with assignments, I was so stressed, I felt lifeless, asyik asyik assignments. I hated the fact that my weekends are stolen away. But later on, I realized, actually, I do have time to enjoy myself. I kept seeing the negatives, sampai tak nampak the things to appreciate. The thing is, when you start to be more open and positive, you’ll see better things ahead of you, and benda yg tak best semua tu sebenarnya boleh diketepikan. When I realized this, I started to enjoy my library dates, I started to make time for anime (hehe) and so much more. Alhamdulillah. If you are positive, you’ll be able to do so much more! In sya Allah!

4. Allah is great. Allah always knows what you’re up to. How much effort you’ve put in, how much struggles you’ve faced. He knows. & He is the only one who can grant you success. Thank you Allah. Always communicate to Him. In sya Allah.


 Thank you for reading🙏
MAY ALL OF YOU READERS ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS IN LIFE! AMEEN!💖

Ending this post with a picture of my classmates (confidentals😹 ) & me during our final examination 😆