Awe-Inspiring Us by Dewi Nur Aisyah: On Chasing Goals and Making Them Happen - Nia M Wardani | A Logbook of Life Discoveries

 

When I first decided to write about this book, I didn’t know which blog I would publish it on. Should I post it to my personal blog, as a book review, or family blog? The niche of the book is quite complex, but it depicts the real situation a human being faces every day.

We, human beings, are complex creatures. It is impossible to define a person only on one role. Someone might be famous for her/his one particular role, but we can omit other important roles she/he carries in her/his life.

Let's take a famous actress, Michelle Yeoh, as an example. We know how successful she is in her acting career. But, other than that, she is also a daughter of someone, a friend of someone, a neighbor of someone, a student of someone, and soon. Yet, unless we have a close relationship with her, we would not know how successful she is in her other role. Did she achieve the same success in her other role? What sacrifices in other roles did she have to make?

This book, Awe-Inspiring Us, is written by Dewi Nur Aisyah. She is a successful researcher in epidemiology, a wife, and a mother of two young children. In the book, she shares her experience and motivation for young people, especially fresh graduates or final-year students, who are still not sure about which path to take for their future: should they choose a career or family?

Although I might be too old to read such a book, I get so many good insights about how I should move on with life, especially since I consider myself ‘restarting’ (more about that, next time).

Such books like Awe-Inspiring Us are rare. Most motivational books I read talk about success in a specific niche. It’s either about business, career, mental health, or relationships. They rarely talk about the combination of all of them.

Dewi, however, showed us that not only balancing all roles in life possible but also doing the best for all those roles is not impossible!

Below are several points I would like to share with you from the book.

1. Don’t just be ordinary!

God has created each of us with different potential. With all the lifetime given, don’t waste it doing meaningless things. Use it to give benefits to mankind. Make accomplishment by accomplishment.

This point is actually described better in Dewi’s previous book, Awe-Inspiring Me. Since high school, she already practiced making a long-term life plan. She wrote down what goals she wanted to achieve, and broke them down into how she can achieve them. Those action plans brought her to various activities, organizations, and achievements.

Just before graduating from university, she was still holding on to the same long-term life plan. She applied for numerous scholarships for graduate studies and failed a lot, but she finally succeeded in getting a scholarship to Imperial College London.

But she didn’t stop there.

During her master's and doctoral studies, she still aims to get more accomplished. Her academic life juggled between lectures, research, projects, conferences, and awards. All while caring for her children and serving her husband. She refused to be just ordinary.

2. If no one has ever achieved what you aim for, you might be the one who is going to make it first.

Set your goals high. Go for it. Try every possible way, as long as it is not a sin.

Dewi was the first in her family that continue her education until a doctoral program. Frequently, she was also one of the very few (if not the only) Muslim female in the conferences she attended. Her religion and appearance (wearing a long hijab) did not hold her back from doing her best on the international stage.

Sometimes, the limitation is created by ourselves. As long as it is halal, nothing is impossible. Go for it.

3. Family and career is not a single-answer question.

Many graduates question whether they need to continue to master study or work or get married. Dewi chose to do it all at the same time. For her, there is no option like doing great in a career or nurturing a family. For her, there is one only option, and that is to be as best devotee to God as she can. That option includes studying, working, and nurturing her family.

During her study, she took care of her babies, without a nanny. At that time, she would set a schedule with her husband, taking turns taking care of the children, bringing them to and picking them up from nursery. She divided responsibilities with her husband: she would cook and her husband would do the cleaning.

Family is not an obstacle to achieving her goals. Family is her best supporter.

4. Plan your best, but God will give you better.

Dewi is huge on planning. She would always find a way to complete her goals. But she said God has always had a better plan for her. It is always better.

She initially planned to directly study master's degree, but God chose her to work first. Later on, her experience in work supports her research.

She planned to get married after finishing her master's degree, but then a good man proposed to her and they got married. Soon after, she was pregnant while still doing her master's thesis. After her baby was born, she had to bring her to every conference she attended overseas. It might look hard and bothersome, but she said, being a mother made her stronger.



In this book, Dewi also talks a lot of important things, such as about marriages, how to choose a partner, time management, etc. But I will not write about them here. I suggest you read the book yourselves.

Through this book, Dewi Nur Aisyah has set me a new standard of being a woman. After reading this book, I feel encouraged to achieve my long-forgotten goals. I know I am not young anymore. But, let’s try, as long as trying is not a sin.


See you in the next post.