After seven days of training in our WAWCAS-group, we got so many opportunities to learn practical skills. I have never got a chance to learn important things before. My thoughts and my behavior have been changed through the SWOT-analysis.
Before conducting the SWOT-analysis, Samjhana told us a story about an eagle. A farmer, who always went to the forest to collect woods, one day found an egg. The farmer was very curious about the egg. He wondered what type of egg it was. He was sure that it was not an egg from a chicken, and therefore he put the egg together with other chicken eggs to inseminate the egg into the chicken.
After a few days, all eggs turned into chickens except one which was an eagle. Then the farmer thought that since all the chickens were growing together, he would see how this eagle would grow.
They went together to seek the food. The eagle was behaving exactly like the other chickens, but whenever he saw the eagle flying high in the sky, he was dreaming that if he was an eagle, he would also fly high like the other eagles.
One day he went to the pond to drink water. While he was drinking water, he saw his shadow in the water which 100% looked like the eagles he was dreaming about flying high in the sky. When he saw himself, he looked like an eagle, and he immediately tried to fly, but he did not succeed, because he had not been flying at all from the day he was born.
While Samnjhana was telling the story, I was comparing myself to the same eagle. The lesson learned from the story was, that we have to know ourselves. If we do not know our strengths and do not practice it, then we cannot grow ourselves.
After that Samjhana asked us to do our SWOT-analysis. While doing my SWOT, I asked myself what my strengths are. I came to the fact that I understand the training contents and the process, I am very helpful, a hard worker. Actually, I never think about my weaknesses, but I think my voice is very rude, I have difficulties accepting other people’s decisions, I am financially weak, I am not healthy, I have a bad temper, I am rigid. I also thought about my opportunities – training is my big opportunity. To be a WAWCAS member is also my opportunity. Natural calamities are my threat which hampers my business expansion.
After this exercise, I recalled my previous years. I went back 10 years from now and recalled and shared that if I realized and identified my weaknesses 10 years back, I would be staying with my husband now, but due to my rigidness and proudness my husband left me. To be very honest, I was always blaming my husband, but today I strongly feel that due to my behavior he left me. From this exercise, even though it is late, I realized my weaknesses. I commit myself to decrease my weaknesses, and I want other persons to like me.