Introducing Myself

Hi everyone. My name is Sumera Rizwan and finally, I have gathered up enough courage to introduce myself. Do not get me wrong I love to express myself and all my stories carry a piece of me but somehow writing an introduction was not the same. I have introduced my self to you a hundred times in my head before I actually got down to write this. Thankyou Saloni Joshi for telling me “just do it, like any other article that you write.”

I am going to start from the very beginning. I was born in the capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad the most beautiful city in the world. I have had an extremely lucky childhood. I am the youngest in my family and the only daughter. As a child, I have always been a dreamer and a thinker. I loved having a daily diary, swimming, and writing poems were my hobbies. I am a proud Muslim who has studied in a Convent for the first 10 academic years of her life. I am a strong believer in One God, peace, and religious Harmony.

I did my Graduation in Computer Sciences and started a master’s degree in the same field before getting married at the age of 22. Now I live a beautiful life with a loving husband and two amazing kids in England.

But like all interesting stories, my story also has a twist. At the age of 23, I was diagnosed with Lupus and since then most of my life has been dominated by this term. Lupus is when your immune system decides to go against you and instead of fighting an infection, it starts fighting with the body its self.

Due to lupus, I have had a stroke, a little heart surgery, a hip replacement, a trip to the ventilator, a couple of ICU encounters, and all this even before reaching my mid-30s. Lupus is all very deceiving but the worst part is that apparently you look healthy until you get a flare and it becomes a matter of life and death.

I have had many setbacks in my life but they don't define me so they don't get to be a part of my intro.

Enough about me and Now about my writing. Writing is my first love, it is the way I heal. I found out about medium in April 2020 and immediately joined it. Here I was welcomed by my Illumination family, till date I enter medium through the homepage of illumination, because this is where the link of my desktop icon is set to take me.

After one month of joining medium, I am still here only because of the immense support and encouragement, I receive from the Editors, writers, and readers of Illumination on a daily bases.

I have been highly inspired and guided by Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Dipti Pande Salam, Kevin Buddaeus, Dew Langrial, Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D., Lynette Clements, Amy Marley, Grey Hen With A Pen Henery X (long), Sana Uqaili, Martine Weber, Chirag, Gurpreet Dhariwal, Terry Mansfield, kurt gasbarra, Erin King, Isabela Vasiliu, Simran Kankas, and Selma.

I am sure I must have missed a few names but I am yet to find a single soul here at illumination who is not encouraging, helpful, and remarkable.

I seek to learn from these brilliant writers every single day. Thank you for always encouraging me and letting me be a part of your community.