About Me — Humaira Iqbal
This is my story (dramatic pause).
Hi, I’m Humaira and I’m from Manchester. That’s in the UK, for those of you that don’t know. I’m a freelance writer for hire over at haychwrites.com and am also an English Literature graduate. My favourite colour is lilac and I won a poetry competition in year 2. Now that’s the important stuff sorted, let’s get stuck right in.
I graduated in the Summer of 2018 and worked in retail for a couple of years. Working in retail was always supposed to be temporary for me, however, I got a little comfortable — hence why I ended up staying for 2 years. I finally plucked up the courage to quit my retail job at the end of 2020, praise be to God. And now, I’m trying my hand at freelance writing.
I’ve always liked writing, and have been writing since I was a child. I had a little green notebook that I’d write my stories in — I mean, I know I wrote one story in that notebook. I must have written the others elsewhere. I seem to collect notebooks, you see. I have a load over there, right in front of me. But let’s forget about those for now.
As I was saying, my little green notebook. I’ll tell you something, I still have that notebook all these years later. I’m never getting rid of it.
I’m passionate about mental health and hope one day I’ll be able to help children struggling with mental health issues. I’m also a qualified Master Coach, which means I’m qualified in Personal Performance and some other stuff. I like using my writing to motivate and inspire others as I genuinely believe writing has the power to do so. If even one person is left feeling inspired by my writing, then that’s a job well done.
On a lighter note, I also think I’m pretty funny (even if I do say so myself). I love to laugh and I love to make others laugh, both in person and with my writing. I recently wrote a funny little piece about how my English degree ruined my ability to spell. You might like it. You might even have a little giggle.
I write about life, motivation, poetry and other stuff. I especially like writing about my life experiences and lessons learned. This month (as of April 2021), I’m working on a fundraising project which involves donating my Medium earnings to charity this Ramadan. Essentially, I’m trying to write as many pieces as possible so I can raise as much money as possible. You see, the more time members spend reading my stories, the more money raised.
One of my biggest achievements so far is passing my driving test. The reason why it’s such a great achievement for me is because, at first, I failed. And then I failed again. However, I got there in the end, praise be to God. And the whole process taught me something huge. Here, I wrote about how failing my driving test was one of my biggest blessings.
Another of my biggest achievements is graduating from university. Not even getting my degree, just the actual graduation ceremony itself. Just kidding — the degree had a little something to do with it. My graduation was fun, praise be to God. I actually took a selfie on stage at my graduation — yes, I’m one of those.
I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. God truly knows what’s best for us and all we have to do is have faith and trust Him. Nothing in life is worth stressing over, because God will always protect those that have faith in and trust Him. (That’s a reminder for myself, first, as I tend to stress myself out a lot…only sometimes. I’m working on it, though!)
I also believe that there is good to be found in every single day, even the bad days. Although it may not always seem like it at the time, even our bad times teach us crucial life lessons. We just have to trust God’s Plan.
I like challenging myself, as I believe it’s one of the best ways to expand my capabilities and learn new things. Every single one of us is capable of doing amazing things, God willing. We just have to believe that we can.
As I mentioned before, I like poetry. Remember that poetry competition I won back in year 2 (aged 6/7)? Well, it turns out my winning poem was put on display at my local library. That was probably one of my biggest achievements in year 2, if we’re talking achievements.
Another is when I was asked to spell ‘people’ and remembered the ‘o’. I was so proud of myself, which I mentioned in the story about how my English degree may or may not have ruined my ability to spell. Maybe year 2 is when the writer inside of me began to develop. Who knows? I definitely don’t.
And that’s all I have to say about me for now. Thank you so much for reading! Did I do it right? I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll come back and revisit this page one day. For now, I hope you’ve had a chance to find out a bit about me and what I do. I’m excited to connect with you all!
If you’d like to read more of my work, here are some recommended stories (aside from the ones mentioned throughout – you should probably read them first, they’re the really good ones):
I hope to see you again soon!