Lessons are hard, life is not merciful, but winning feels great

Razan, a woman from Syria is now living in New York State wrote this piece:

Challenge game with me:

How can we be fair in our feelings towards life?

This life taught me a lot, and actually it still does.

Its lessons were so hard; not merciful, and…not easy. It didn’t have mercy on my weakness as a woman, or my loneliness as an immigrant and my tears as a loser.

I don’t know, I’m so confused in my feelings, I'm mad at it…and grateful for it.

Mad of course because of how tough it is, but grateful for how it taught me what I want to learn,  and how it turned me into a stronger person.  Now I’m no longer weak, no longer lonely and no longer a loser.

Its biggest lesson to me was how a woman can be whatever she wants to be in a different country, completely different from her mother country, it's not an easy game to win in the end!

But it’s such a great feeling when you win. By the way, I didn't win to be a teacher, I failed, it was too hard on me, and I’m not a doctor or leader or anything, but my win was that I could get over all of these difficulties and stayed smiling and standing on my legs, and never fell.

In my religion, the woman is the great strong mom, the successful doctor and teacher, the good wife, and kind sister, she can be all of this even more at one time, and she can win with continuing to be a lovely female. My religion encourages her to be all of these characters and taught her how to be patient, then rewards her.  This is how my personality was raised, it was raised from my believer, from my faith, and from my prayers to Allah who created me and gave me my path.

My faith makes me stronger despite my pain and brokenness inside me, because I believe in this woman who can be and can do whatever she wants in this tough life.

And I want to say to this life, since the beginning, I accepted the challenge game with you, and InshaAllah I will complete this game until the end, despite my fears of the end, but.. I believe in myself, I believe in this…woman….