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30 Lessons I learned before 30
Hello my friend, I have entered the last few months of my 20s, I am grateful and I am now able to sit back and reflect what this decade was for me. The funny thing about pain and hardship is that once the storm passes, and the seasons change, in retrospect, it all becomes beautiful. Most, if not all of the lessons I have learned were through hardship and tears. I thought I would share a short list of 30 things I learned before I turned 30: 1. You will always get another chance 2. The price of lack of self-reflection, is lack of growth 3. Life has it’s cycle…
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After Winter, Comes Spring – Building a Dream from the ground up
If you have read any of my blog post in the past, it is clear that I was really struggling to figure this art thing out. I can’t even count how many years its been, I am now entering my 30s and only now does it feels like it is coming together. For my entire 20s it felt like every time I overcame an obstacle, I fell into another one. It was truly a prolonged winter season. But after winter, comes spring. Allhamdulilah I’m grateful I persevered! A lot has happened Last time I really wrote about myself, I got laid off from my job and had to pause my business…
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Apologies to the Humanities
السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ I don’t know how much this opinion piece would weigh, given the fact that front facing I am very much apart of the arts/ humanities, but nonetheless I still see some value in sharing this thought: I want to apologize to the humanities Before I explain the reason for my apology, I want to provide a little context. I wasn’t always into the arts, in fact, majority of my current working life is the complete opposite. My education and career are rooted in science—I have a bachelor’s in Neuroscience and I currently work in a hospital & research institute. For much of my academic and professional…
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Salawat, Istighfar, and Surah Ali Imran
Hello my friend! It’s been a long while since I updated my blog, but not a moment where I didn’t think about you. It was hard for me to write because I didn’t really understand what was happening in my life. I feel like sometimes it’s important to digest the lessons that happen before expressing it. Some seasons are not for speaking. Allhamdulilah, all has been well. I still have been dedicating most of my time to Decor.TO, and a lot has happened. I feel like I have moved closer this dream I have. I am no means anywhere near a full fledge small business(emphasis on small) but I feel…
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How I got scammed ~$1000 in my small business
Hello my friend! Hope you are doing well. If you are new to my blog, I have a small business where I create and build event+wedding decor from scratch. I created this blog to share my artistic journey and personal life lessons I learn, in hopes someone can benefit a little or at least relate. In my last post I wrote about my desire to tackle the marketing side of things, and an attempt I made was to book a booth at a wedding show, to see if I can improve my presence in my community. I received a few bookings from the event and one of them was a…
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Falling forward
Hello my friend! Hope you are doing well. I’ve been on earth alongside with you. Isn’t it strange we are existing during the same time on earth but we have totally different experiences? Yet we are connecting right now, My thoughts, your eyes Another day another attempt I’ve been spending all my days with my itty bitty decor.to — building, painting, rebuilding, getting flowers, all to get to function. I’ve put majority of my time into refining my carpentry skills (one thing I’ve been tackling is kerf bending, which is the process of making thin slices across wood that doesn’t go all the way through, allowing the wood to be…
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Allah Has it in stock
I was reflecting on the concept of a duaa list and how I use it to ask Allah for things. You know when you want to buy something online, and you go to a store website and check their inventory for a specific product? You scroll down, you get happy when you see it has the little green bean next to the words “in stock”? I thought to myself, if no matter what I added to my duaa list, this icon with these words would appear next to every duaa, what would I write? What would I ask for? Would it change the way I made duaa? Al-Ghani The reality…
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Allowing myself to mourn the lives I thought I’d live, as I move toward what is meant for me.
I say lives because it happens more than once.
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The choice of growth
I saw this post on tumblr that said something along the lines of, there is a shift that happens in the type of growth in adulthood compared to childhood. In childhood, you grow essentially out of force: you move up different grades, you go through puberty, your body and environment changes. Whereas in adulthood, growth no longer becomes something you are required to do, but something you choose to do. And you have to choose in increasingly uncomfortable ways. I think that’s so true and I’ve definitely found myself at a crossroads very often, wondering if the chapter in my life or things that I’m going through are even worth…
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What do I want from this dunya? and whatever the answer is, is that a realistic request?
If I could describe my experience this summer in one word it would be: wobbly. No stability. No clear direction. A lot of empty space for things, which comes with a lot of excitement and a lot of fear. One minute I feel like I got it, the next I feel like I don’t. I’ve been hitting the wall and falling down in so many of my dreams that it’s hard for me right now to believe in my future. I don’t feel like my life is mine, I don’t feel like my decisions led me anywhere good. But what is anywhere good? This is something I’ve been thinking about…
