In this morning recitation I recited Surah Al-Qasas Ayah 10, and recalled some ibrah that I learned from the ayah.

It’s one of my favourite ayah so I’ll share some from it kay. Bismillah.

And the heart of Moses’ mother ached so much that she almost gave away his identity, had We not reassured her heart in order for her to have faith ˹in Allah’s promise˺.

— Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran [28:10]

When Mother of Musa A.S had to release her newborn child to the Nile, her heart ached and she experienced immense grief and pain.

Imagine after just giving birth to her son, and she had to release him to the unknown.

She knew and was well aware of why she had to do it. It was for his safety, and for his well being.

It was for the best and the right thing to do.

She knew.

Ya Allah, detach me from this worldly life.

We always hear this prayer, but what does this actually mean? Does it mean we cannot love our worldly life (duniya)?

I learnt a beautiful and easy to understand concept and it has been on my mind for awhile.

But first, what is considered our duniya?

I attended Aiman Azlan’s marriage webinar series, which consists of the process of taaruf, first year of marriage and until the first 6 years of a child’s life. He recently emailed us asking for feedback, and it made me ponder on my intentions.

When I was archiving some photos on Instagram, I came across an old post I posted in 2014- 20 facts about me.

Wow not much has changed since then HAHA. One thing for sure, I have obtained some clarity over some of the facts so at least there’s some growth!

I thought it’d be fun to review and update them. Here goes:

And I didn’t know why. I didn’t realize when it started but I do know that I just felt exhausted.

Usually I would fill the weekends with some activities especially learning something, working on the goals. However, I didn’t open a single video or book. I couldn’t even recite a single page of the Quran. I even fell asleep in tafseer class.

So, the list below pretty much sums up my growth goals as of now. I plan to post monthly or quarterly short update on these to see the progress.

Long list ahead but here goes! Bismillah.

Health- mental, physical and emotional

◎ 💪🏼 To workout at least twice a week

Okay I know working out twice a week isn't much. I’ve lost the momentum after Ramadhan and on top of that with the lockdown, it’s so hard to restart the routine! So yeah for now, twice a week is good and achievable.

What a year, huh?

I am sure most people will agree that the pandemic is HORRIBLE.

It affected each of us in so my ways. A lot of people lost things that they dear the most- loved ones, jobs, money, freedom, time, sanity. While some may not be impacted as much, I am sure they learnt a thing or two during this period.

As for me at this point in life when I am writing this, I am truly feeling grateful. I can see so many silver linings, Alhamdulillah.

Depression

Well, it wasn’t always like this though.