Rule #115: As you grow older, you will realize that there are a lot more things you’ve yet to learn.

If you were wondering how was my birthday, it was great the fact that I celebrated it in school with my homework! Kudos to myself. Well, I did not want to have any big celebration, really. It seems like birthdays start to lose their luster as we grow older. Strange, isn’t it? The day before, I had great family dinner at Suntec. Although I see them almost every day at home, it’s still nice to go out together. Alhamdullilah! Call me boring or anything mean because I am absolutely over the whole partying life. Not that I was very involved in socialising events, but let’s just say, I have experienced a couple of times or more and I don’t really fancy them. Don’t get me wrong- I have nothing against people who party all the time. Avoiding activities like that is just one of the principles that I’ve been working on for almost a year now and Insya’Allah I will always stick to it. If any time you catch me doing all that, reminders are appreciated!:)

I’m still philosophizing about life. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to grow older and how different my perception of age is at home compared to what is the norm here. Thinking deeply about matters has somehow shaped who I am. As quoted by Imam Ali(as), “Keep your thoughts cleaner than pure water. As water drops make a river, thoughts make character and faith.” I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear growing up because that meant being responsible and the only example of responsibility I was familiar with meant worrying about not having enoughmoney and working oneself to death.

To be frank, I tend to subconsciously judge people’s maturity by their age. However, my continuous exposure to human being of different ages seems to suggest otherwise. Age ain’t nothing but a number. Mind over matter, right? Some people can be 23 and still act like 16 or vice versa. My age and I are not in sync, too. Perhaps I have always been told that I don’t act like my age. Sometimes, I feel that I have outgrown most people. But then again, I don’t want to be too proud of myself as I am a flawed human being just like everyone else and I have a lot- and I mean A LOT- of growing up to do.

I am another year older, and hopefully a year wiser.

♡ ♡ ♡
Nadiah Latiff

Rule #105: There will come a time in life when you begin to realize that there are some people you will never see again, at least not in the same way.

 
Nothing is tougher than holding back your tears when you see your own Mother crying her heart out to you. It’s an inexplicable feeling to see her so hurt that the world even seems to flip itself over. Your soul aches and a piece of you dies a little when you look into her eyes full of sadness and pain. You wonder to yourself how many times she has silently cried throughout the years but only God alone knows the endless hours she has spent on her bended knees praying for her family. No one knows the disappointments that choke her heart as she fights to keep things from falling apart. Hoping you could mend her broken heart, you breathe in and out deeply trying to hold yourself together so you could be a pillar of strength to her as she weeps. At night when all the lights are off and everyone is asleep, you can't help but cry in your prayer mat for God to ease your Mother's pain and swear that no matter what happens you will never leave her all alone.


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"Do good to and serve your mother, then your mother, then your mother, then your father, then the near relatives and then those who come after them."[Mazhari]
"I know of no other deed that brings people closer to Allah than kind treatment and respect towards one's mother." [Al-Adab al-Mufrad Bukhârî 1/45]
"Paradise lies at the feet of your mother" [Musnad Ahmad, Sunan An-Nasâ’i, Sunan Ibn Mâjah]

♡ ♡ ♡
Nadiah Latiff

Rule #24: Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

Dad’s leaving for Morocco, Spain for his work project tomorrow night. It’s so fun having a job which provides opportunities to go overseas. I just realised my family is “right-brained” which means we work best at expressive and creative tasks. My mom is a tailor, she makes Malay traditional clothes. I saw her drawings when she was an amateur; they’re fabulous! She used to have classes in Bukit Timah where she would bring me and my sister almost every day (nobody else was free enough to take care of us. We were so young!!) We would play with the mannequins and hide under sewing machines, wrapping each other with measuring tape and the cloths that were scattered all over the floor. My mom started her own business right at home and she was really doing great until she decided to “retire” few months ago. My dad works in the marine sector for almost all his years now and I always see him drawing a lot of detailed stuffs on his papers with ships pictures. My brother is a graffiti artist. I remember when he was in secondary school, his teacher called my mom when he got into trouble! (I had to follow her as I couldn’t stay home alone, I was only like 4 or 5) My brother was caught vandalising the school walls with spray paints. Hilarious. He has collaborated with a lot of other local and international artist. When I was in kindergarten, I always enjoyed art. I love using all the templates available and different colours! I won quite a few awards when I had art competitions and I remember my face was in a magazine :B (I didn’t know how to smile at that point of time, though so it was quite bad) Don’t ask me about my sister because she don’t have any interest other than riding scramblers :|

Whatever it is, I always think that I’m very similar to my dad. We both:

1. Hates routine work (so boring!!!)
2. Enjoy doing projects especially involve drawing
3. Love to travel.
4. Really fussy when things don’t go our way.
5. Enjoy meeting new people, very outspoken.
5. Hate being told what to do. (We prefer to demand! Bossy.)
6. Cannot stand poor customer service (or else we will be so pissed off!)
7. Prefers being very busy than having nothing much to do.

“Do something you are passionate about and Insya’Allah, with hard work and determination, you can be very successful. As you go on in life, learn how to lead your people and they will respect you for who you are. That's really important to avoid being taken advantage of.” - My dad

God have shown me so many blessings in my life. I’m really grateful to have a pair of wonderful & supportive parents. I want to make sure that I surround myself with positive and like-minded people who are going to motivate me and push to higher levels!

As for now, I’m in the process of making the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life.......