between the pages
"The enemy of creativity is self-doubt." - Sylvia Plath You know this feeling. This feeling of not-good-enoughness. A lack of self-confidence. Self-doubt, like how Plath puts it, fetters us from doing our art. The impostor syndrome. If you don't know what that is, it's basically when someone feels doubtful of their own capabilities and undeserving of … Continue reading The Impostor Syndrome and How I Try to Battle It
Is there a space for a sunni, muslim, female, who loves the orthodoxy of the faith she grew up in, and the purity of the faith she's learnt to love, who loves God so much she spills His beauty in verse? I hope the world knows we all have a space here. I hope the … Continue reading Unpopular
Ramadhan is the teacher who comes around annually to teach us an invaluable lesson and to change us for the better. This year, it taught me the importance of discipline. Of the underestimated strength of our human willpower. Of pushing the limits. Of mind over matter. See, I thought I needed my cup of coffee, … Continue reading What Ramadhan Taught Me
The oft-quoted idiom 'clothes maketh the man' should long be passé - I believe language is the dealbreaker now. Words are chief in the construction of one's character. It has everything to do with the kind of person you are. The words you speak reflect the state of your heart. So if you speak rotten … Continue reading Language Maketh a Man
My dentist handed me a small, transparent packet with fragments of my wisdom tooth and blood. There you are, you nasty thing. The cause of my pain for the past two years. I stared at the repulsive sight and wondered if this was intended as a sacred memento; a congratulatory crowning of the beginning of … Continue reading Of Wisdom, Woes & Wonders: Tales of the Wisdom Tooth
i’m not a romantic. there, i’ve said it. i’ve never dreamt of a perfect wedding, crystal laced dresses, 10-tiered cakes in a dreamlike setting. i never believed in ‘the end’s and happy ever afters; only unwritten sequels to every final chapter. never liked princesses who needed saving from some prince, i never liked the idea … Continue reading The Unromantic Romantic
If you have no clue what INFJ is, it's a personality type (heard of the Myers-Briggs test?) According to their statistics, it is an uncommon type, although I'm not too sure how rare it is because I can list about 5 other INFJs I personally know off the top of my head (then again, maybe … Continue reading INFJ, Actually
We know it's all mere fantasy when Hermione, in the Prisoner of Azkaban, attended two classes in two different places at one time. But who would've known it can be a reality. Now, we too can be simultaneously present in two worlds. We talk to real people offline while maintaining our availability online. Social media … Continue reading The Parallel Universe of Social Media
For a long while, I was struggling to understand the phenomenon of the turban hijab. I can somewhat understand its gain in popularity - fashion icons, celebrities, companies repackaging the 'traditional Muslim headgear' into something that's more 'modern', digestible and acceptable to the masses, but I cannot understand the prevalence of it in terms of it … Continue reading The Symbol of the “Modern” Muslim Women
There were many lessons gleaned from 2017 alone but I'll share one story which had taught me this lesson again and again: Allah is the best of planners; trust Him. “And it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. … Continue reading The Best of Planners
