AM Magazine

Here's to a childhood milestone.

In a sea of dazzling wins, paraded on various virtual stages, by personalities from all walks of life - it's so easy to overlook a seemingly small achievement. All over, headlines and trending lists blast about top tier awards or egregious scandals, reminding us that only the most or the ~best~ counts in this current social landscape. Everyday we inevitably gorge on sensational highlight reels from all corners of the internet. So taking a step back to account for our own personal measure of growth feels like trying to calculate a basic equation while standing in a whipping tornado. 

How do you even find the silence or the space to check yourself out when there's so much noise trying to carry you away? How do you remind yourself that you're enough?

Last February I joined the Architectural Institute of Malaysia's publication committee. A couple of meetings, a couple of shoots, and a couple of weeks later, the 50th Anniversary Issue of this respected title came out. Seeing my name, in actual black and white print, as part of the Editorial Panel (as a photographer!) was a jolting, surreal feeling. I could've dismissed this as another notch in my belt. Taken it in stride, all cool and breezy perhaps. Tell myself, it's just another imprint in a world of imprints - who cares, really. 

But - No, this felt different. 

It felt different because this was a magazine that I truly had been familiar with since I was a kid. I had thought of contributing to it at the mere age of 14, when journalism and design first piqued my interest. 'Writing/photographing for an architecture publication', was probably on my list of Things To Do, somewhere slightly below 'publish in NatGeo'.  So this was a special one, because I am able to actually pause and say 'you did it young Sha! You get to cross this dream off your list!' This truly is a personal milestone, because it matters to me. And more significantly, it matters to the old me, the one who existed way before the world carried me away with its wants. 

So in a whipping tornado, in a sea of noise, the best way to remind yourself that you're enough, is to build your own house, where you can grow your dreams, and hold on to the things you value.