17 lessons I learnt in 2017

Alhamdulillah! We have come to the end of the year. 2017 was a lot of days and a lot of things happened. I had my ups and downs. As well as the way-up-there and the really-down-here. I felt joy, sadness, exhilarating out-of-this-world happiness, and why-me sadness, pain and love. I have grown and changed. I have learnt, lost and failed. I have succeeded, fallen and risen. Alhamdulillah!

1. The Productive Muslim Handbook was a great choice to read at the start of the year. Alhamdulillah! I was more productive and in tune with my goals. My focus improved and I was more prudent with my time. I found myself more aware of stuff I had to do. Planning gets you halfway there. I have always been a planner addict. I took it up a notch and planned everything. From meals to finances and date nights. I even planned my planning. Lol! I always knew what I had to do, even when I was lazying in bed with a book or just daydreaming.

 

2. Faith in Allah is everything. When I learnt to start accepting the things that were out of my control, I became an inverse paranoid. I stopped believing that anything or anyone was seeking my downfall. Everything happens FOR me and not to me. It is all a part of Allah’s perfect plan. And Allah (SWT) in His perfection did not create us or our situations to be perfectly perfect.

 

3. Saying no does not need an explanation.

 

4. Failure is good for success. So at the end of 2016, the result for a Moodle required for my Msc. Clinical pharmacy came out and I failed. I was distraught. I had literarily never failed a course before. This failure somehow helped me to take some risks. I think I just always thought what’s the worse that could happen and the answer was always, “Well, I fail”. But I had already failed so… Anyways, I took the Moodle again and Alhamdulillah! I got my Msc. It is true that those who have failed truly know the sweetness of success.

 

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

5. Writing is cheap therapy. Sometimes it’s the brain dump on the blank sheet of paper you need to clear your airway. De-cluttering the mind makes it saner.

 

6. There are some really good people in the world. Sometimes, we are hurt so much that we start to think that just by asking for a little human decency, we are asking for too much. Wherever you go, there will always be awful people, but there will also be amazing people. You choose who you want to be surrounded by. This leads to the next point.

 

7. Less may be better. This is especially through for those toxic people. The ones who you know that you need to take a break from. They poison your minds, ideas, and visions and start to poison your air. You may actually start choking. It is better to spend less time with them.

 

8. With kindness, a little goes a long way. Being nicer to people is step one to changing the world. I made an effort to smile at the cashier in the grocery store instead of just scrolling my phone and ignoring her. I said my thank yous and make excuses for people.  Especially when my path was a bit rough. And it made me feel better Alhamdulillah!

9. No one owes me anything. Expectations are why we have issues with people. Instead of expecting people to do certain things for me, I found myself turning to Him for all my needs.  Whether its ice-cream or popcorn or a book or some books or to carry my heavy bags. I just call out to Him.

 

10. The greatest plagiarism – We worry so much about people copying us or being inspired by our ideas, crafts and words. How about when we allow our selves take credit for the work of our Creator. We find someone else to blame for the bad but we take all the credit for the good. We make sentences like, ‘I knew this would happen’, ‘I passed’, and ‘I was successful’.  We need to remember that it is all only by His will.

 

11. Gratitude is the best attitude. I was more intentional in my gratitude. I did not just say Alhamdulillah. I was specific. I started noticing the smallest things to be grateful for in the weirdest situations. And Alhamdulillah! It has been rewarding. Try it!

 

12. Dreaming big is a good thing. I sometimes “forget” that my dua is not my to-do list and do not want to pray for further than my ability. So I allowed myself to dream big and dua it. No! All my dreams in 2017 did not come through but I found that it helped my focus. Even my sub-conscious started working overtime towards my dreams. I remember telling a friend recently that I want to be rich InshaAllah. Lol! Who knows?

 

13. True self-care isn’t about comfort food (hello! popcorn and ice cream) and hot baths or a total body massage. It is about showing up and standing up for your self, doing the things you love and staying away from the things and people that bring you down.

 

14. Progress is the greatest motivation. This fits into every aspect of life – work, family, business, savings, education, … everything. Yes! Including your Instagram following. The beginning of Qur’anic Arabic studies was a bit slow. I mean learning just the words on their own left you wondering … ‘where is the good stuff?’ and then I found myself translating some sentences and now I am anticipating understanding the rhetoric of the verses. Alhamdulillah!

 

15. Growing up is not so glamorous. It is a scam. It makes you so… responsible. There is no real freedom. You just left your nice bed in your unicorn-themed room for a job and a lot more responsibility.

 

16. The key ingredient isn’t motivation. It is discipline. Motivation comes in bursts and then disappears. It can get you only so far. Discipline would keep you on the train even especially when you feel like jumping off.

 

17. Don’t focus on perfection. I have so many blog posts that never saw the light of publishing because I needed them to be perfect. Alhamdulillah! I now have a goal to renew my intentions regularly and just do what I really love. You know, drop the unhealthy obsession with perfection.

 

Hope you enjoyed reading this. I always love hearing from you.

 

Q: What are some of the lessons you learnt in 2017?