August 10, 2010.
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My best friend from High School and I get dropped off at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport to catch our flight to Boston. It's not even 4:30am yet. I think back at my mom crying as she waves goodbye to me and tosses a bucket of water to wish me a smooth journey as the taxi drives away. In about 15 hours, I will take a bus I've never heard of before to get to a town in Connecticut I've never been to attend a school I've only seen in photos. This is all I've wanted up to that point.
A sudden wave of fear hits me and I know exactly why. The moment the plane takes off, it is all on me. Every decision I make, everything I experience, everything I get to build or not will be on me, my own choosing...my own design. I have no examples to go off of and no one to blame if things don't work out the way I hope they will.
I feel the heat of anxiety on my cheeks and go to the bathroom to wash my face. Here she is... 18 year old Hazal. I made her, cultivated her, fed her curiosity, filled her heart with courage and her mind with dreams and possibilities. She deserves a better life in however way she chooses to define better. I can't let her down now.
All my bets on her.
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The story of
Handmade
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I learned pretty early in my life to measure my story in chapters, marked by periods of change, transformation and self revelation. It is a beautiful thing to know we have the power to create...all the skills to shape it as remarkably as we have the capacity to envision it. Each person deserves to have an incredible life story that unfolds uniquely. No two people's lives will have the same chapters in the same order or the same chapters at all. We create our own reality - some of us following a path that's chosen, some of us daringly, defiantly against all surrounding circumstances, expectations and limitations.
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Handmade tells the story of those who dare. Dare to want something different, dare to plan for it, dare to work for it, dare to continue to believe in it when things get tough, dare to defy those who challenge their dreams, dare to have conviction that's based on nobody or nothing but themselves.
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This isn't a recipe book. It won't have any quick lists or how-to's. There are no tips or frameworks. It isn't a roadmap. It doesn't have checkboxes. This book isn't designed to give you a starting point.
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This is a book about feeling understood and not alone. Not alone in dreaming big, fighting hard, believing deeply and standing strong.
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It is a book about experiences and observations that make each person uniquely them. It is about perceptions and realisations...about desire for something different. It is about passions, callings, deeper meaning and purpose in life.
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This is a book about women who changed their lives and lives of others. From different countries, different backgrounds, upbringings, belief systems, education levels, aspirations and callings.
It is about representation.
It is about life by choice, by intention, by passion, by design.
All handmade.
Handmade is the retelling of life's journeys, following some of the most incredible women my life has been touched by and many who touched others. It's a story of how our paths uniquely unfold and the comfort that comes from knowing that the collective resilience, deep sense of purpose, passion for creation and desire for change have made the world a more exciting, unpredictable and immensely enriching place for my grandmothers, my mother and me,
and will continue to make for my future daughter, granddaughter and many more generations of women who will leave their own mark.
- Hazal Muhtar
