is it not forever?

it had been buzzing for a few months now. that cloud at the back of your mind of whether a change is inevitable. or if forever is here.

i went through my daily routine without braking. did what i had to do and try to accomplish clearing as many pending tasks as possible, without a doubt rushing for time. there is never enough time to do them all. i’m always trying to speed up my work pace. time is not on my side. and i cannot catch up fast enough.

i guessed no matter what awaited me, i would go with the flow and continue doing what is expected of me. it does not feel like it’s going to happen. and then i got excited with studying again and things seem to be how it was supposed to be.

and then the buzz got louder, the cloud seems heavier and change seems to be nearer. and then suddenly it seems to be making the stops for me. i don’t seem to be running away fast enough. is forever never going to be? is it finally time to say what i dread to say? or will this path lead me to what is best for everything we fight for and worked hard for? is this really happening?

how hard can it be to say goodbye?

tiptoeing virtually

i quit twitter.

i almost quit instagram.

i had loved twitter. i followed so many unknown people for the love of Charmed. i followed news. i followed some close friends and acquaintances whom i thought i could fully trust. and then i used twitter to complain or lamented about whatever it was that was disturbing me. it was full of sadness and/or anger. and then i went through a phase where i do not want to know about what other people are feeling or thinking or facing. because it adds on to whatever sadness or anger i am feeling. it was full of negativity and disappointment. i had issues with other people’s tweets. i had issues with my tweets! i feel like i couldnt care less what people are facing anymore. through twitter. i was being hateful.

it took much contemplation to decide to click that button. i had loved that little blue bird! and then i did it. i still have a few more days left should i want to reactivate it, that i have not decided yet.

it felt quite liberating to not know alot. and i am still healing from this hatefulness. it was not easy.

there’s instagram. i loved it too much. i loved all these bright bookstagram accounts, beautiful crafters and scrapbookers and fantastic photos from travellers. but then it also had too much products advertisements and influencers. i followed models, those hijabistas, and celebrities when i dont really care what happened to them and brands for aesthetic and artistic reasons, knowing much that i couldnt afford any of them.

and then suddenly i feel i had enough. i don’t want to know what happened to their lives. i don’t care what they cook or what they eat or where they go. for a while there, i had a green monster creeping out of me when i see other people’s lives. or it was just too much social extrovertness that i could not handle it. i was conflicted. deeply. i just want to crawl myself into some dark tunnel and block them all out.

in all honesty i had contemplated about quitting instagram since early this year. i didnt want to post photos anymore. not even for my peru trip. and then all those chaosness happpened during the trip, made it more heavy for me to post anything. i posted them for the sake of my family. i did not post any in facebook.

anyway. these days. i contemplated. talked to a few friends and my sisters about it. my sisters supported deactivation but a friend thought i should not allow other people control my thoughts and feelings.

so i have been unfollowing many accounts i dont really care like celebrities who kept on posting ootds and nothing but just their faces day in day out. brands that don’t give function to my life, or brands that successfully made me shop incessantly when really, i have too many things already. influencers that i can never and will never be able to appreciate because, honestly i really don’t care what they wear and what happened in their lives. individuals i could not relate to and i dont even know why i follow them in the first place. IG businesses i never buy from. it was a slow process because i follow like a thousand accounts. i havent go through the followers i had. that’s another filter because i had my account on public for a while back then.

because i think i shouldnt blame other people for my own issues. i kept my instagram account. but i forced discipline on myself. minimise scrolling through it. wasnt easy. you know that itch of wanting to open that app. the struggle was real.

work had been helpful though. sometimes i go through the day without opening the app. and because of this neck strain i have been having, i stopped walking and going through my phone at the same time, because of all that looking down and being unaware of the surroundings. only when i reached home, do i sit and have a bit of leisure scrolling but not for long. i am still not that into instagram at the moment.

it’s tiring having to keep up with people. i just need to lay low and tiptoe through the virtual world. i think everyone has the right to move away from social media when they think they have had enough. when whatever that they see don’t give meaning or happiness. or when they are just going through some heart or soul cleansing, finding their way through the values they think they hold to.

perhaps this is just me going through my conflicting thirties. like just when you think you know your self, you realised or discovered some dormant emotion or struggle that surprised you and left you scrambling ‘hey, how do i deal with this?!’

so, pardon me. i will step away for a while.

from pain comes strength

it had been a difficult week.

especially when you realised being good is not good enough. or perhaps what i perceive as doing the right thing, turned out to be not accepted? hated? became a topic to be talked about behind my back? when all i see, is goodness in others. (i have said it times and again, this is my curse, really) and that i have never, in my blase redundant life, expected them to be that way?

i have never, also, believe everyone is perfect. not my self for that matter. whenever something is not right, instead of pointing fingers or blaming others, i tend to ask myself where did i go wrong? was i suppose to do it differently or was there a way that it could be done right? i never really think that perhaps some other people might be in the wrong. unless someone i respected and trusted pointed out to me, that, see Seri, it is not your fault, he or she really made this mistake or in the wrong. learn to accept it and move on. and there have been one or two person who can tell me that. really just a few actually. like a colleague and the other my best babe. my sisters and brothers. and my amazing husband, mainly because he’s a high level manager in a huge international company. the people i dealt with are chicken pea compared to the types of people he work with (which means, multi cultural, multilingual, diverse race​ and religion). and they will point out if im wrong too, or where i could have done better.

i have never been a people person too. i have embraced that it is an introvert thing. i am perfectly fine doing things on my own and a colleague used to say, along the line: when i’m doing my work, i’m in my zone. and yes, sometimes it’s like that, i just stayed too focused on something and everybody else is in a different space, until, some distraction happened or my stomach starts to rumble, and then wham, oh hey everybody else.

but not everyone is like me. i’m a social animal who can thrive without being too social. but people could think that i don’t care? or worst, people could think im just stupid, because i seem to not know anything due to my nature of not kaypoh or keen enough. and i guess there are people like that, who thinks they could ‘play’ me out, taken for granted because i act like i don’t know. most of the times, i really don’t know, but Allah, SubhanAllah, has never left me in the ditch, literally. there’s always a gut feeling, the sudden change in my reaction (that i cant control), or something or someone just came up out of nowhere. i never have to dig or be kaypoh enough to find out.

i believe all that is good takes time. i don’t want to live a life where i am constantly thinking if someone talked bad about me, or always in suspicion of one another, because i don’t think we can work, live, breathe like that. constantly blaming others for any mishappens, constantly thinking everyone else is wrong, everyone else is to be blamed. constantly in vengeance, feeling victimised. constantly weighing, this is my job, this is your job im not doing it because it is not my job or i am not paid for it. and i think the worst kind of people, are those who always think they are right or too ‘high’ that they cannot do menial work or be with some people. i do not want to be someone who cannot accept my mistakes, because by thinking too highly of myself, i am putting myself at the lowest. because at the end, Allah is the Most High and All-Knowing. but that does not mean anyone else can blame me and think highly of their ownselves.

i am not that person. i will never be that person.

after days of fighting with my emotions and this is human nature, but by working one self out and understanding where this anger, sadness, disappointment comes from, and from having amazing people around to talk to. i am slowly clearing my thoughts and cleansing my heart, and hopefully be able to see things clearly for what or who they really are. in the meantime, i take myself out from all that is bringing this heart pain, and believe me, it is so painful but i will still see the goodness in everyone else. and perhaps there’s the beauty of it.

perfect heartbreaks

how many heartbreaks can a person take?
when you cannot hide behind a smile anymore?
when you no longer hold your tears?
when your hole of a heart beats to nothing?

how many heartbreaks can a person take?
when holding on to goodness becomes a lie?
when kindness becomes deceitful?
when truth blurred in blackness?

how many heartbreaks can a person take?
when your lips couldnt say out the right words?
when your hands trembled with anger and sorrow?

how many heartbreaks can a person take?
when did protecting becomes a mistake?
when did caring becomes a weakness?
when did all that is good turns to dust?
when did honesty scalded from burns?
when did happiness becomes painful?
when did doing the right thing brings grief?

how many heartbreaks can a person take?
what do you do?
to rise from these ashes?
to hold on to what is true?
to see goodness again?
to be kind again?
to be in perfect denial of your worst?

so i can finally be happy for you?

prayer of hope

the power of prayer and hope.

who would have thought. 2018 started with such a turn around.

at some point, the workplace was full of tension and unhappiness. unfairness and disagreement. people trying to face the day with as much dread as it is with the need to complete whatever tasks screaming for their attention.

we talked of the difficulties and hardship. we talked of putting up hopes that everything will get better. we talked of how it can get better.

i still remember telling a few colleagues, last year, “please be patient, things will get better, i have a feeling 2018 will bring much hope and those who feel they are being treated unfairly, the truth will rise up. Allah will help those who were mistreated.” At that point of time, i was thinking of a colleague’s effort to bring everyone together for an usrah where he will share insights and reminders from the spiritual point of view. i was looking forward to it because i really think that would open up people’s hard hearts.

and then things start to move with His help. one by one. i trust Allah has better plans for us. for every one of us. we forgot that He knows everything, the past present and future. we forgot that we are here because of Him. there is nothing that we do now, without Him knowing without Him moving them. perhaps we have been shown, witnessed His greatest help for us. i could imagine a grey cloud was lifted off, and everyone’s eyes could finally see what was hidden behind those rays.

i could see all the people from the past being mistreated and feeling, you have been wronged and you have been reprieved. without anyone saying any word out loud, Allah allowed a person to leave, in silence, as compared to all the hard and harsh situation created in the past. i say, Allah, that is much forgiveness You are showing.

allow us to forgive and be forgiven too.

but i especially feel disappointed. for the longest time, i wanted to believe there is only goodness. there is only goodness and perhaps that pained and tainted heart could be changed. for the longest time, i only wanted to see the positive half of a person. God gave me that. He let me see only the goodness and completely blinded of the misdeeds that had been happening for so long. and then i wanted to know and hear it. hear it out loud. say it out. because my brain could not make sense of it all. let it be heard and gather for itself what is true.

and then we listened. we could finally move on. we could fully separate the goodness of a person from the misdeeds. because nobody is perfect. i’m not. and we could slowly but surely be lifted up. lifted up from drowning in despair and sadness, to finally see light and honestly feel happiness.

may this bring positive change and captivates only joy and sincerity.

laugh it off

i think alot. i worry alot. i get anxious. i get angry.

i want to make a mantra of the stupidity people sometimes show by just ‘laughing it off’

i think it will make life better. my life that is. my wellbeing.

if people don’t read properly. Laugh It Off.

if people keep on asking same questions. Laugh It Off.

if people want to find fault with the system. Laugh It Off.

if people are being impatient with me singlehandedly doing every paperwork. Laugh It Off.

it will definitely decrease the huge ball of stressness in my brain. definitely.

and look at these stupidity from a different point of view. a different frame.

34th Syawal

i turned a year older in the islamic calendar every 3rd Syawal.

i have to say its been melancholic and bitter sweet this year. i absolutely have no desire to go visiting or receive guests. i only feel all the exhaustion of ramadan starting to sink in and all i need is some quiet time to recharge. i have already given up of having to rush everytime first day of syawal and that inner fight of having to prioritise one family over my own. always having to give in. so if Ramadan is exhausting, Syawal is excruciatingly painful.

but i think i am having that today. a day of just me in this room. although the construction donwstairs and the short moments of having a fire at a neighbouring flat create some excitement and noise that you learnt to block out.

i have been a very sad person this year. i really is. so pardon me if this post is going to be some dreadful and boring post, if anyone is actually reading.

i feel like i lost some spark. i lost interest in work. i feel im not good enough. i feel tired all the time but i have to say its not physically tired, but emotionally, mentally and perhaps, even spiritually draining. i tried to overcome. it gets better and then it goes down again. its like my life graph goes up and down, up and down in steep curves. but i guess it is slowly getting better, i hope.

because life needs to move on and i hate feeling down. it gets better after a recharge. reading, just keeping quiet from the world, isolate myself a bit, because people bring pain.

i hope i can relive the spark, the purpose from what i am doing. perhaps find something that will excite me again. give me a sense of importance, a sense of being. i did timeline therapies and seemed to help. or maybe just a quiet time will do. and i am really appreciating every moment of it because once i start work, it will be nonstop.

Allah please help me. as You always do. as You always have. because this job is not for me to own. please guide me if whatever decisions i have to do. please guide me if it is for the best, for me, for my family, for the community. if it is not, please make it easy for me to leave it. Amiin.

perhaps, someday, i will find true happiness, significance and sincereness in what i am doing.

two third struggle

its two third of ramadan.

i have not managed to pray tarawih since. but i managed to keep up with tahajjud for many days now. that is the only consolation, if i can say so. my nights, rather, were filled up with looking after children in the activity room we provided for this ramadan.

it’s very tiring. especially on days when i came in at normal working hours, helped with iftar preparations, and right after maghrib, i will have to get ready at the classroom dedicated for the children. and then when i finally wrapped things up, usually about at abot 10.30pm, i scoot back home, clear up the kitchen and prepare something for sahur, before hitting the shower and devote an hour for tahajjud and Qur’an reading.

i had a day or two iftaring at home but most days hubby will be alone. and on these one two days, i don’t feel guilt but i do worry about the activity room. like i know there are one or two volunteers who will be there but i may worry if they could handle it.

i try to do what i can do as much as i can, for the mosque. but i honestly dont have the same energy i would have say, maybe 5 years ago? i feel tired and burdened most days. especially on ramadan. because i try so hard to serve the mosque and not neglect the family too. it has been a constant battle every year. but i guess i am already numbed to the battle and its just do-what-i-can and pray-Allah-accepts whatever i did. not for comparing, not for people to say i stayed more than others, not for anything. it’s a constant reminder of doing things liLlahi ta’ala. it’s not easy though when you are fighting demons and people’s expectations and comparison. but i have learnt to erase them thoughts.

i think this time around, as mentioned before, it really is about me. im trying to bring back the flame that was lost. im trying to slow down and find me. do i still love what i’m doing? why do i feel like im not progressing and stuck in a rut somewhere, not able to move on, not able to feel success and feel like im a failure all the time.

but perhaps tonight is where it ends.

the No Spend year

The No Spend Year: How I spent less and lived moreThe No Spend Year: How I spent less and lived more by Michelle Mcgagh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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at a period when i am struggling to find meaning in saving and curb my spending, i found this book.

i made a grave mistake of overspending because of too much disposable income. i dont have much responsibility financially but in ignorance, i spend. so one day i made a rough calculation that if i had saved a thousand dollar every month since i got married, i would have had $60K worth of savings now. yup, that’s a huge amount of money. when i saw that number and the realisation that money gone don’t know where, i had a huge knock on the head. so numbed by the amount of money i spent. i roughly had 1/3 of that amount i should have saved. and it had remained that way coz i kept on spending.

i started decluttering bit by bit. giving away or re-selling stuffs i bought but i didnt use. make ups i bought but never used and over bought dresses and realised i don’t really like the colour or the pattern, ended up not wearing them. it was a lot of stuffs. i was in shame. i was disappointed in myself for not thinking far ahead.

i made so many resolutions. tried to minimise. only this year, i felt i made minuscule progress. for one thing, i have not touched my savings account. so let’s stay at that. please. and i wanted to focus on paying off my card. that’s the aim. that i should be able to clear off everything by December 2017.

i cannot spend like a teenager. i must start saving for the future.

reading this made me feel that i am not alone. that it is possible to ban yourself from shopping. that it is possible to live in minimal.

changes i made this year:

previous years i always went crazy over a malaysian boutique’s dresses and shawls. and yes, i might have spent hundreds on them. but this year, alhamdulillah, even though i still follow the brand and was up to date of their new collections, i have not bought any. for the past 5 months, i only bought two pairs of blouses, which totalled to $40 and a baju kurung of $60. and only recently bought two dresses which cost me $100. and even then, it took me many days to really think about and made the decision of buying. that’s an improvement, i have to say. previously, i would just buy them without a second thought.

i have not bought shoes. i had several times, liked a shoe and thought of buying them online. but i have made the conscious effort of going to the shops, have a try and then decide again if whether i really like it, do i really need it (which is usually No) and do i feel comfortable wearing it, am i goingto wear it often, will it match my usual attires? and twice, i made this effort and realised i don’t really like or i don’t need them.

i bought one bag. which is part of a buy one get one discount. technically there’s two bags there, but i gave the other one to my sister who happened to like the same bag. so it was a bonus.

my weakness is still books though. but i have never regretted buying books as much as other things. but that does not mean i have to keep on buying. if i can manage it, i probably make a rule that i can only buy two books per month. and that the total purchase must not exceed $100. i truly have more books which i have yet to read!

staying in my beloved parc vera house gives me that chance of sitting in my reading room and devote an hour or two to just reading. i perfectly enjoyed it.

So i hope i can persevere in this challenge to save more and more. and who knows, perhaps its a reason to quit when i have enough savings.

shock to the system

it had been tiring weeks for the past month.
and the peak of it is much less expected.

so central home is going through some major overhaul of renovations. we had been packing stuffs and the most difficult part would be sending stuffs, and i don’t mean just stuffs but boxes and toyogos of gazillions of cutlery, clothes and shelves. and now that i think of it, im asking myself do we even need those things?!!

for a few weeks now, my weekends are filled with me and Suhaimi would be loading heavy bags and boxes into the car and then drove to Storhub and unloading them into the room we rent for storage for about three months. so hashtag life as a mover.

and the past weekend was the last of it. i really think me and suhaimi drained ourselves to the very last sweat because the last trip was just before 9pm and we had been on it since morning! and i think suhaimi had it more exhausting because he had to be the strong one to heave up the heavier items and he was the one driving to and fro. im just glad i was there with him all along, be his shadow and giving him that extra amount of strength. i am surprised at myself and all that strength i didnt think i had.

pretty much glad that last monday was an off day. i was also very happy that i get to stay in my beloved PV home for about a month or two. it was the only thing that pulled me through all these exhaustion!

although it as an off day, i had another round of cleaning up because we still need to keep some items in PV store. as though storhub is not enough already. whatever. my morning was spent, literally, in the store, rearranging to make space for the incoming ones. and this, i have to say i am totally proud of msyelf for being able to fit in everything in that small square room. like really, proud of myself. my power of organization. lol. and i did them singlehandedly. smug smile.

but smugness does not last long. i moved on to do other normal chores of sweeping and mopping and washing the toilet since we havent been leaving in this house for some time. and then it had to happen.

i fell in the kitchen toilet, i slipped, missed the step between the toilet and the outside, kind of see myself falling backwards, heard a thud and that’s it, hurt the backside really hard!

for that maybe 2-3 seconds, my brain was thinking too much! i was thinking, God, my spine my spine, my bone, am i going to be bedridden, is this what is going to happen to my life? am i still alive, can i walk, can i get to see my husband, how is he going to take care of me?? can i get pregnant after this?! insert emoji. i mean bloody dotdotdot, Seri, shut up, try to get up now. I knew i was just stunned for some seconds then. my vision was blurry. it was pain on my backside, my chest and my right arm. tried to move and telling myself, if i can move means my spine is ok, so please God, let it be ok.

slowly bring myself to sitting down but couldnt bend whatsoever, because of a sharp pain. bring myself up to kneeling position. and my vision blurred again. but i couldnt be sitting there in front of the toilet. stood up slowly and walked to the living room, i couldnt feel my legs, dont know where i was going because everything was so blurry. and my brain was numbed, and you know how you felt everything was ‘double’, walking but feeling like you could almost fall because you cannot feel the floor. and i cant hear myself talking. i think i was just mumbling God, God.

for a good 5 minutes, i just sat down on the sofa, closed my eyes, hugging a pillow cushion because my heart was pounding so hard and that desperate need to comfort my self and telling my self it was going to be ok. i coaxed myself to breathe in and out slowly, try to get back my senses.

touched my back again just to feel where the pain was, and whether bones still intact (of course it is right, i’ve walked across the kitchen to the loving room!). once my breathing and heart beat steadied, tried to stand up but sharp pains again, walked into my room, another long moments passed and still had those double visions again, slowly lay on my bed. i guess, that’s how a body reacts to shock. sleep for recover.

i couldnt stand up long for the next few hours, without feeling nausea and legs shaking a bit. i was not able to pray standing, only sitting the whole way.

it was quite a horrific experience for me. but i guess that was it, all the movements, the loadings and unloadings, energy drained, and without realising, perhaps the brain is tired too, lost some balance and fell.

i even still contemplated going to work the next day, tuesday. i thought i was strong enough, but getting in and out of pants was painful. Suhaimi already told me to go to the clinic. and so i did. yes, alone on my own. limping and telling myself to be strong, and walked all the way to the clinic pretty slow. but i made it. GP-Poly for xray-GP again and finally home. walking had never been such a chore. by the time i reached home, took a prescribed painkiller, which made me drowsy. i was already just exhausted from the whole ordeal, i just slept the whole day.

today marks the seventh day since i fell. the pain is still there. although i feel much better. i still cant walk too fast.

but it was not the end of it, because i fell. again. last friday at my workplace. and this time, i could feel my left feet and ankle ‘folded’ itself because of missing a step. again. seriously Seri. stop this clumsiness.

so now my left feet hurts and right side hurts, i am limping and i dont know which side is stronger.

it was a cry for help. it was a cry for Seri, please slow down.

at the end of it, i am grateful and really thank Allah, that it was not the worst that could happened. i could not imagine how it would be like if it had been worst.

I am thankful i can still walk, i am thankful that my body has always been strong and always managed to pull back up again. i am thankful that perhaps, it is just a sign for me to rest and recover. i am thankful that i could still ask for His Forgiveness and live another day. that perhaps this is a sign for forgiveness.

Thank You.