Taking taking of yourself, using your energy on things that matter to you and spending resources on yourself can sometimes feel incredibly selfish and in recent years self-love has become the buzzword that we can’t escape. If it isn’t slogans on t-shirts, it’s face masks and candles on Instagram, and honestly I can’t shake the feeling that it sometimes feels incredibly ingenious. Maybe that’s because the western ideals and values that hold the pillars to everyday life aren’t really ones that I deeply resonate with (or because it is always protrayed as editorial when it’s a valley girl and ‘too extra when it’s a woman of colour). (more…)
Category: thoughts
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The Identity in Language
The Uber driver looked at me confused when I entered the backseat of his car. Puzzled he looked at me through the rearview after we exchanged hellos and he asks “So what is your name again?”
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STOP SUFFOCATING CREATORS
I remember getting a call from the founder of an online women’s magazine who wanted to talk to me about potentially working with them, after a friend of mine had sent examples of my work to her. I walked into their offices and we had a chat about what I was interested in and what they were looking for. The conversation ended with being told that my writing was too ‘intellectual’ and although they would read and enjoy my work they weren’t sure their demographic, young women in country X, would be. They wanted to focus more on snappy love & sex, fashion and celebrity news pieces and not only did I feel some way about the sweeping generalization that their demographic didn’t want susbstance, I was also left conflicted because I needed my foot in the door but felt like I would be doing myself a disservice, not to mention they called me after having seen my work.
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#DayOfTheGirl
Annually, on the #InternationalDayOfTheGirl, there are a plethora of stats that are highlighted and shared by many from developmental agencies to passionate individuals bringing awareness to the atrocities that girls face all over the world. They range from there being approx. 130 million girls out of school to every 10 minutes a girl dies as a result of violence.
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Everything is not fine…and that’s okay.
I was scrolling through IG last night (btw you should not be on your screens before bed kids) and I came across a post by actor Grant Gustin (from CW’s The Flash), where a few of his friends had designed these t-shirts with “I Don’t Mind” on the front in order to create dialogue on mental health and I’m assuming to raise money for the cause. (more…)
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You have to sometimes leave to find your way back
You know how sometimes you feel yourself coming to a crossroad in your life, where changes are happening and you didn’t have a say in any of them. That is the place that I was in, the anxiety felt overwhelming and the feeling like I was accomplishing nothing was even worse. It’s the motions of life to be honest but when you’re in the thick of it it just feels all the more serious.
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Can Barbies fight for equality and rights?
When I was about 5, one of my friend’s parents got a divorce. It felt as if one day it was her, her brother, father and mother and a few months later it was her and her brother splitting their time between dad’s home and mum’s home which she now shared with her girlfriend. At that time, I had asked her about it one time and she said that that was her mum’s girlfriend and she loved her and I was like “Okay” and life carried on.
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International Peace Day
So Facebook wants to remind me of the International Day of Peace…
being qaali 