Hafsa (Arabic: [ħaːfsˁa])

The meaning of my name is young lioness.
They say that your name plays an important role in shaping your personality. I have always hoped and prayed for myself to be fearless and strong but empathetic and nurturing.

The most difficult time of my life was June, 2012. I moved to Lahore after spending 17 years of my life in Karachi. Having so much love for the city made it absolutely difficult for me to adjust here. There was so much chaos in my life; I felt completely lost. I went through a conflict of identity during this time. I went to college and I felt like the education system was so corrupt that I’d die. I felt like the people were so censorious of my personality; I lost track of who I was. During those 2 years, I stopped writing, studying, socializing and just mostly living. Fortunately, at the end of year 2, I became friends with Aqsa; who is now my best friend. It is very difficult for me to tell her how much she means to me even when I am so overly expressive and loquacious all the time. As Solene says in the movie ‘A Summer’s Tale,’ “Friendship’s serious. Maybe more than love.”

Apart from friends; I value family. I believe that family plays one of the most important roles in shaping your personality. Being the youngest, I have always been pampered immensely not just by my parents but by my elder sister and brother. I have always looked up to my parents because I have seen how they’ve fought the hardships of their lives and how much they’ve evolved. I wish I have that kind of courage one day to fight my issues and complications. Family has taught me a great deal about life.

One of the most important thing family has taught me is to read. My mother used to write poetry, short stories and articles when she was my age. My sister and my brother are frequent readers. Even though, they all prefer different genres, this is the most rewarding habit ever. I enjoy every genre as long as the book is well written and the plot is unassailable. I enjoy reading the work of great authors like Jon Elia, Khaled Hosseini, Paulo Coelho and Mohsin Hamid. I follow Paulo Coelho’s blog, too (http://paulocoelhoblog.com/)

Everyone has that one thing or activity in their lives that brings them peace or calms their nerves. For me it is the sky. I have immense love for the sky. I love how it can exist in so many patterns and colors. It changes. From the very first glimmer of the sun in the morning to when it submerges in the west, the sky continuously evolves. I feel like that is a metaphor for our lives. We live, we learn, we grow and we change. It might not always be easy but at the end of the day we learn. We become beautiful entities because we blossom. I post a lot of sky and nature related pictures on my Instagram profile (https://www.instagram.com/hafafaa/).

When I started out at LSE in 2014, I was a completely different person. My self confidence was shattered and my perspective was blurred; basically I had no vision (because of the shoddy college life). Fast forward to today, everything has changed. I have accepted a lot of harsh realities and my viewpoint towards life has changed drastically. I am proud of myself today only because I have moved towards being a more helpful and better person. I have grown. I have been loved and I have loved. I have started to cherish the little things in life.