Don’t lookdown!

Oof! You justdid. And you saw how far along the calendar of 2024 you’ve climbed. And hereyou are, at the pinnacle, the last month mere days away, and once you summitthis…

A whole newyear awaits. Another year to summit.

Cue: slewof New-Year-New-Me; new-year-empty-diary-to-fill-with-all-the-things; I’m-tired-tired;what-a-dreadful-good-bad-year posts.

I’ve long realizedthat these posts are the things we say to ourselves to feel better about thebad by telling ourselves that something really good awaits just beyond this bend.But what if, even in this dreadful, there are spots or bright? Why do we always focuson the bad? Because It’s human nature?

We canchoose differently though, no?

So for sometime now, I’ve begun looking back on each year as it drew to a close and givingthanks. For even among the bad, there has always been good.

As Allahsays, ‘indeed with each difficulty comes ease.’ (citation not needed - all you Mozlamic folk know where that comes from). 

Not after each difficulty, but with. Ease with every difficulty (thank you,good friend, for reminding me of this – you know who you are  ;)

So yes, I’mcurrently in iddat and will usher in the New Year, newly single at 47. So yeah,I’ve mourned some big relationships this year and said goodbye to people, some,quite near and dear. So yeah, work is probably the most hectic it’s been in along, long time. But with all this, I saw my novel that I had been working onfor a decade, see the light of day. This took me travelling, Durban and CapeTown, where I got to meet some wonderful souls.

I’ve alsostarted writing my second novel. My long ailing Asian restaurant has finallybecome profitable after being recognised for serving up the Best Wings inJoburg, And I’ve rekindled some precious old relationships as well as forgingstronger, better, lifelong ones.

And I,after years of suffering with a pinched nerve in my back, have finally managedto sort that mess out thanks to the healing hands of a superb Chiropractor. I’mfinally sleeping without pain, walking without pain. So no, it was not a badyear. It was a year. And I survived seismic changes to the topography of mylife and my heart remains filled with gratitude and faith in a Benevolent Rabb.

So I’m roundingup 2024 by listing the lessons I learned this year

 Sleepingin the centre of a bed takes a lot of practice

 Adishwasher can never be filled with dishes from two people

 You’renever too old to start Pilates. And yes, if you start it in your late 40’s, itwill hurt something hijjus, but will feel great regardless

 Youcan survive living in a dump, having completely empty cupboards, with a racistold crone for a landlady and not having a proper shower for over a month if youremind yourself that there are people out there suffering much worse. My duasare with Gaza.

 Allahwill ALWAYS send the friends, family, companions to guide you through dark days

 Sayinggoodbye and letting go may be hard, but sometimes it’s all you can do to keepyourself sane

Yourmental health is NEVER is solid as you imagine it to be. So be kind toyourself. If you aren’t kind to you, how do you expect anyone else to be?

You’renever too old to have new dreams and chase new goalsNo matter how much NEEDS to get done, it's okay to stop sometimes and just take in the viewPat yourself on the back, darlin'. A job well done deserves at least that. And no, that doesn't mean you're proud. It just means you know how to appreciate you.  You won't need a power drill or electric screwdriver if you buy hooks that hang over doors

Feel freeto tack on your heard-learnt lessons of 2024.

I wish you abundantease with every difficulty, double rainbows after every storm and a heart thatis always connected to the Divine.

Take careof you, see…