Inspirational speaker and transformational coach, Huma Ahmed, speaks to Behnaz Sanjana about her personal paradigm shift and her book, which has been recently internationally recognised.
In 2015, a distraught Huma boarded a flight to the USA, to be with her ailing mother. “It was an extremely difficult time, as I had been her primary caregiver in Bahrain,” she says. “I was very attached to her, and the idea of losing her shattered me.”
During the journey, she awoke to an epiphany that changed her take on life. She says: “I realised that being only human, there are things beyond my control. It broke me down in front of God, and, out of that real place, I humbly and sincerely let go of my ego that expected a perfect life. It was a turning point, an intense time when I accepted whatever the future held – my mother’s wellness, or her departure from this world.”
Although the pain of her loss was immense, Huma felt blessed to be able to spend quality time with her mother in her last days. “Complete acceptance of the situation enabled me to not linger in grief and sorrow,” she says. “Everything in my life was really easy after that.”
The Call to Write
Huma remembers: “When my mother’s friends met with me, I could feel that some of them were still in pain over losing a loved one. I wanted to reach out to them and show them the path to healing, but didn’t know how.”
Around the same time, she started jotting down the emotions and outcomes she experienced in the last days with her mother and after she passed. “On revisiting my scribbles after some weeks, I realised that these were my life’s lessons, worthy of sharing with others to help them through trying times.”
Feeling it her moral duty to pass on her healing from a tragic loss to others, she embarked on writing and self-publishing 37 Lessons on How to Gain from Loss: A Believer’s Journey from Trial to Triumph. The book hit the shelves at the beginning of 2019 and was a finalist, in the self-help and motivational category, at the 2019 Best Book Awards, sponsored by American Book Fest. Huma’s work was up against contenders from mainstream publishers, making this recognition a meaningful one.
Message of the Book
“The main message is: You are born free, so be free – of grief, suffering, anger and negative emotions! Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional,” she says. “Accepting our experiences makes us grow and evolve. Holding onto misery is comforting, but getting out of our self-imposed prison takes great effort. That is the simple truth.”
Huma’s writing is far from being heavy and serious. Her lessons are practical ones for everyone, particularly relevant for caregivers of the sick, such as how to deal with stress, trusting in the Almighty and forgiveness.
Huma believes that had she not risen from her personal agony, she would not have written a book, spoken of her experiences, and helped others heal. She says: “It turns out my mother is not a loss; she is more present in my life than ever before, by way of talking and writing about her. I turned my loss into a gain, by recognising God’s blessings and following His way into the light.”
The book is available on Amazon and Kindle, as well as at Neo Books & Coffee.
