July Updates: New Beginnings, Travels, and Personal Growth

Hi everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

Today is Wednesday, July 17th, and I’m starting to send my newsletter weekly; from now on, you’ll receive it each Wednesday.

Generic Updates

In June, I published daily videos or short clips on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. But as of July, I stopped doing it daily. I have been doing it on and off. In the last year, I have been publishing my weekly newsletter, but I have not been able to do it in the last six months because of many other commitments.

I also recorded this video and shared these updates with my email newsletter subscribers. This video will accompany my newsletter, published unlisted on YouTube, only for subscribers. You can also watch it if you'd like :)

Where I’ve been?

In my last newsletter at the beginning of June, I said I was planning to go to Turkey. I went there on the 13th of June and come back to Germany on June 29. I was lucky to spend the Eid holiday in Turkey with my family.

I completed all my courses in my master’s program, so I don’t have any course-related workload now. I started a humanitarian consultancy project in Turkey, focusing on delivering training for humanitarian organizations. The training will be mainly in Gaziantep and the earthquake area. The first training will be at the end of this month. I will also be going to Amman, Jordan, in early August for a training on the governance of humanitarian organizations.

We moved back to Germany with my family. We had visa issues, and my family had to return to Turkey around March, so we were separated for almost three months. It was a difficult process, but now it’s ended, and we’re back together in Germany.

Last week, we have completed our city registrations, and next week, we will apply for our residence permit. We found a temporary apartment far from Bochum but will move to a new one closer to the city in early August.

What I’ve been doing?

I started the humanitarian consultancy project and have been working on newsletters and an educational email course. I finished a few projects in the last couple of months and am working on a paid project now. I’m focusing on becoming a certified premium ghostwriter by completing a course. I’ll prioritize writing daily and working on my newsletter. I might reduce the publishing of daily videos as it was paralyzing my work routine.

What I’m reading?

Lately, I’m reading religious texts like the Quran and in-depth translations (tafsir), finding peace and learning about the presence of God and the stages of life and death, especially considering the situation in Gaza. This focus on faith-based reading has been quite fulfilling.

I’m also reading the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” by Stephen R. Covey, I’m reading it again, as it’s related to my thesis topic; effectiveness of humanitarian professionals.

What about fitness, health & running?

I haven’t been active in the last two weeks since coming to Germany. I don’t have a gym subscription and haven’t found the energy to run, but I’m walking around 10,000 steps daily. Maintaining a workout routine has been challenging with the ongoing travel and administrative tasks, but I hope to start running again soon.

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, reply to this email or comment below!

Regards,

Selim

P.S. - I’m starting my free email course on Newsletters! If you’d like to start or grow your own newsletter, join the waitlist here!