"New Year's resolutions?! All the way in March??'' you say. Alas, I never really wrote down my resolutions (which I DO have-plenty, in fact) and I thought it was a good thing to have them down in my blog. I find documenting my journeys really helps, and this serves as the perfect journal. Besides, a few years down the road- or in fact at the end of the year, I can come back and see how well I followed through. Now, I did have resolutions on a mental list in my head and I'll write them down, but I'll probably add more as I go along.
*drum rolls -badum dish!-*
Consistency
The major thing/ theme I'm aiming for this year is Endurance/ Perserverance/ Consistency. I never really keep going consistently with long self-help projects. I have highs, then lows, then stand-stills then resentment. To give you an idea of how my Arabic learning has been: I had an amazing shoot-forward with the discovery of memrise.com and this course http://www.memrise.com/course/110178/1500-arabic-verbs-by-frequency/ had me so excited and I learned as much as 40 words in a matter of weeks! If you want to read more of my Arabic learning journey click here.
After this followed a lull in learning. Then I got interested in Arabic Grammar and learned verb conjugations with this book: Arabic Verbs & Essentials of Grammar by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar. It was equally exciting and I was able to tell if a word was, in fact a verb, and what tense, plus the noun of the verb. All this I could tell using one word because Arabic's conjugations are in one word.
The first of my goals for this year is learning Arabic. This includes increasing my vocab, understanding spoken Arabic to a better extent, and being able to understand/ translate writen Arabic. So, in a way, my theme applies here. If I be consistent, I'll be able to confidently say that I speak Arabic. You must know, by the way, that I have delved into other languages. I think it's really cool to know at least some words in foreign languages. With this handy dandy website duolingo.com, which is completely FREE!! (I mean who just doesn't love free things) I was able to learn French (for school), Spanish (just for just) and Turkish (cuz I'm cool like that). Also I dapple in Latin (cogito ergo sum) because it seems pretty cool.
Fitness. Need I say more? I'm not saying I hate myself the way I am (hate is a big word- someone once told me) and notice the way I didn't say I want to be "skinny" or that I want "to lose weight". I want to work hard and make myself fit, healthy, toned and lean. Again, consistency. Constantium (which I just Googled lol). Cutting out snacks, and eating more fruits for my diet, and exercising using pilates (youtube videos) and the Daily Cardio app which you can get on Google Play or Apple Store.
Be an adult. Act like an adult. I am an adult. That was my exact train thought lol. I'm turning 19 in a few weeks (March kids whoop!). I want to actively make good decisions, drive my self forward and stand up for myself. Get treated right and treat others right.
Graphics Design. I'm a week into my course and I must say- I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN! I told my sisters the other day that I've finally found my true calling. This is it. It brings me so much joy to be creating graphics. I like to browse behance.net these days and I just feel so happy to see what I'm gonna be able to do within the year. This year I want to practise a lot of graphics, doodling, fonts and other such stuff, put them out there, and by next year I want to commercialize all this. Everyone has been so supportive of me and I don't care about negative people because as I said before, I've found my true calling. I know I don't have many graphics in my blog but I've been interested in doing this and I hope to add my future works on here. Additionally, I've been thinking of creating another blog for showcasing my portfolio and I'll post it here.
College. I'll join college later this year and I want to make the most of it. I want to ace my classes, work hard and never let it be said I was lazy or didn't do well enough. One thing I've learned in my long (short) life is that you've got to have a life. Outside of school, that is. Don't make school the big deal of your life because it will make you do all kinds of crazy distractive things when you're not in school/ doing school stuff. Have hobbies and other self projects and keep up with them, don't forsake them ever. Doing things like learning languages, blogging, researching on your favourite topic or even scarpbooking/ journalling can really help to broaden your outlook on life, instead of learning everything from school. My point is, if you have these hobbies of yours, it will actually help you focus in school because you'll be more time conscious and manage your tasks well. But if your only responsibilty is school, which you obviously have no control over- you have to go, then you'll actually turn out lazy. Which is completely my own view and if you have any other opinions-yeah go right ahead. Really, it's okay.
Ahem. Blog more. I honestly don't know why on earth I never blogged for the 2 years I was off this blog. I have been exposed to the whole blogging world because my sisters blog and have websites. I want to at one point monetize my blog (Is that how they say make money$$$) and let the dimes roll in, baby! But really, I want to use this as my online journal and look 5 years down the road and smile at how far I've come. I don't use my instagram much lately and have like only 4 loyal followers. I'm joking I know the different zones make the likes low. I think.
Studying+Memorising Quran. This includes reading translations, commentaries, studying word by word translations. I guess this whole goal is about learning more about Islam and securing my place in jannah. I don't know if I can reach the levels of the extremely pious Sahabahs but I can try. Do my best with what God has given me and present it to Him on the Last Day. If someone asks you if you're ready for death you would be more at peace if you knew that you're doing something for your soul. I mean, at least I tried. I want to read Yasmin Mogahed's Reclaim Your Heart and The Sealed Nectar by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri- I have the ebook for this but I want to own a hard copy book and make my notes and refer back and study it.
Find myself. Learn to accept myself for who I am and what I am. Stick up for myself. Sometimes I feel bad for things I have absolutely no control over. Which I don't want to talk about now because I feel happy today. One thing that has got me going in these last few days is the ideas of Feminism. It's funny how I don't want to say I'm feminist. Because I am. I find that my culture is so restrictive and needs to up its game. Women should be treated well, just like men are, and by men. People think we can't succeed just because we have a freaking X-chromosome. You know what- let's just leave this rant for another time.
Learn web design. This is another of my personal development projects. I've seen that many graphics designers have web designing skills and I want to teach my self web programming. I read a book on web designing which really helped me know about the bone structure of websites. Also, 2 years back when I was still in High school I learned some basic HTML tags so I have a base idea of what this is all about. I did try playing around with the HTML of my blog but just ended up downloading this free one. It has a clean edge and it's really amazing but I still have to edit a few things here and there.
And there you have it- my (late) 2016 new year resolutions. It seems a great year so far. All these goals for 2016, only if Allah wills it (In sha Allah). Until next time,
Asi.
*drum rolls -badum dish!-*
Consistency
The major thing/ theme I'm aiming for this year is Endurance/ Perserverance/ Consistency. I never really keep going consistently with long self-help projects. I have highs, then lows, then stand-stills then resentment. To give you an idea of how my Arabic learning has been: I had an amazing shoot-forward with the discovery of memrise.com and this course http://www.memrise.com/course/110178/1500-arabic-verbs-by-frequency/ had me so excited and I learned as much as 40 words in a matter of weeks! If you want to read more of my Arabic learning journey click here.
After this followed a lull in learning. Then I got interested in Arabic Grammar and learned verb conjugations with this book: Arabic Verbs & Essentials of Grammar by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar. It was equally exciting and I was able to tell if a word was, in fact a verb, and what tense, plus the noun of the verb. All this I could tell using one word because Arabic's conjugations are in one word.
The first of my goals for this year is learning Arabic. This includes increasing my vocab, understanding spoken Arabic to a better extent, and being able to understand/ translate writen Arabic. So, in a way, my theme applies here. If I be consistent, I'll be able to confidently say that I speak Arabic. You must know, by the way, that I have delved into other languages. I think it's really cool to know at least some words in foreign languages. With this handy dandy website duolingo.com, which is completely FREE!! (I mean who just doesn't love free things) I was able to learn French (for school), Spanish (just for just) and Turkish (cuz I'm cool like that). Also I dapple in Latin (cogito ergo sum) because it seems pretty cool.
Fitness. Need I say more? I'm not saying I hate myself the way I am (hate is a big word- someone once told me) and notice the way I didn't say I want to be "skinny" or that I want "to lose weight". I want to work hard and make myself fit, healthy, toned and lean. Again, consistency. Constantium (which I just Googled lol). Cutting out snacks, and eating more fruits for my diet, and exercising using pilates (youtube videos) and the Daily Cardio app which you can get on Google Play or Apple Store.
Be an adult. Act like an adult. I am an adult. That was my exact train thought lol. I'm turning 19 in a few weeks (March kids whoop!). I want to actively make good decisions, drive my self forward and stand up for myself. Get treated right and treat others right.
Graphics Design. I'm a week into my course and I must say- I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN! I told my sisters the other day that I've finally found my true calling. This is it. It brings me so much joy to be creating graphics. I like to browse behance.net these days and I just feel so happy to see what I'm gonna be able to do within the year. This year I want to practise a lot of graphics, doodling, fonts and other such stuff, put them out there, and by next year I want to commercialize all this. Everyone has been so supportive of me and I don't care about negative people because as I said before, I've found my true calling. I know I don't have many graphics in my blog but I've been interested in doing this and I hope to add my future works on here. Additionally, I've been thinking of creating another blog for showcasing my portfolio and I'll post it here.
College. I'll join college later this year and I want to make the most of it. I want to ace my classes, work hard and never let it be said I was lazy or didn't do well enough. One thing I've learned in my long (short) life is that you've got to have a life. Outside of school, that is. Don't make school the big deal of your life because it will make you do all kinds of crazy distractive things when you're not in school/ doing school stuff. Have hobbies and other self projects and keep up with them, don't forsake them ever. Doing things like learning languages, blogging, researching on your favourite topic or even scarpbooking/ journalling can really help to broaden your outlook on life, instead of learning everything from school. My point is, if you have these hobbies of yours, it will actually help you focus in school because you'll be more time conscious and manage your tasks well. But if your only responsibilty is school, which you obviously have no control over- you have to go, then you'll actually turn out lazy. Which is completely my own view and if you have any other opinions-yeah go right ahead. Really, it's okay.
Ahem. Blog more. I honestly don't know why on earth I never blogged for the 2 years I was off this blog. I have been exposed to the whole blogging world because my sisters blog and have websites. I want to at one point monetize my blog (Is that how they say make money$$$) and let the dimes roll in, baby! But really, I want to use this as my online journal and look 5 years down the road and smile at how far I've come. I don't use my instagram much lately and have like only 4 loyal followers. I'm joking I know the different zones make the likes low. I think.
Studying+Memorising Quran. This includes reading translations, commentaries, studying word by word translations. I guess this whole goal is about learning more about Islam and securing my place in jannah. I don't know if I can reach the levels of the extremely pious Sahabahs but I can try. Do my best with what God has given me and present it to Him on the Last Day. If someone asks you if you're ready for death you would be more at peace if you knew that you're doing something for your soul. I mean, at least I tried. I want to read Yasmin Mogahed's Reclaim Your Heart and The Sealed Nectar by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri- I have the ebook for this but I want to own a hard copy book and make my notes and refer back and study it.
Find myself. Learn to accept myself for who I am and what I am. Stick up for myself. Sometimes I feel bad for things I have absolutely no control over. Which I don't want to talk about now because I feel happy today. One thing that has got me going in these last few days is the ideas of Feminism. It's funny how I don't want to say I'm feminist. Because I am. I find that my culture is so restrictive and needs to up its game. Women should be treated well, just like men are, and by men. People think we can't succeed just because we have a freaking X-chromosome. You know what- let's just leave this rant for another time.
Learn web design. This is another of my personal development projects. I've seen that many graphics designers have web designing skills and I want to teach my self web programming. I read a book on web designing which really helped me know about the bone structure of websites. Also, 2 years back when I was still in High school I learned some basic HTML tags so I have a base idea of what this is all about. I did try playing around with the HTML of my blog but just ended up downloading this free one. It has a clean edge and it's really amazing but I still have to edit a few things here and there.
And there you have it- my (late) 2016 new year resolutions. It seems a great year so far. All these goals for 2016, only if Allah wills it (In sha Allah). Until next time,
Asi.
