It’s June again, and the sun filters through the leaves and washes over my skin.
It demands to be noticed, and so I escape the haze of my jumbled thoughts to sit in the simplicity of what exists outide of me. I realize it’s been a while since I’ve truly been able to find contentment and joy in the smaller things. My dreams have gotten bigger, and so have my achievements. With that, my expecations of the world have, too.
It’s been harder to be impressed by the abundance of the world around me if it’s too available. My standards for contentment may have become warped, but the world exceeds expectation in a different way. For a brief moment, I just forgot.
It’s June again, and I’m starting to notice. I’m starting to remember.
So here is a list of my favorite things I’ve noticed or experienced this past month:
A baby smiling and waving at me in the metro.
Watching people slowly fall in love.
Feeling beautiful in hijab for the first time since I wore it.
Maalvika’s writing on Substack
Feeling the vastness of being untethered.
Watching a friend teach an art workshop after attending her graduation last year.
Making 11 year-olds laugh and talking with them for hours.
Thinking of the perfect design and watching everything else click into place after.
Seeing friends regain their excitement for life and self-belief.
Reading Meditations.
A conversation with my aunt.
Complimenting a girl’s hair without missing my own.
Looking out the window of my internship and realizing how lucky I am.
Late night supermarket runs.
Opening my window in the morning.
Calling my grandma and hearing her smiling that I remembered her.
The peace of being up alone at night.
Writing about the male gaze in Islam.
Long car rides.
Getting ready before an event.
Neurocosmic with Pearlieee’s podcast.
The film Tangled (putting my mini projector to use).
Never opening social media except to post and disappear.
Empty prayer rooms.
Laughing with strangers.
Conversations with old taxi drivers.
Bursting into random laughter when talking to an employee and not even feeling embarrassed.
Defending myself in another language alone.
Getting ready with friends.
MENA startups.
Long hugs.
Abdelhalim Hafez with the windows rolled down.
The scary in-between before you actualize a project. The fear of success.
Recognizing how much my dad does for me.
Shamelessly skipping in public.
Writing down all my goals on little papers and clipping them up at my wall to look at every day.
The beautiful patterns of doorways and architecture.
Interesting advertisement layouts.
Different sounds of cars driving by, what music comes out of each person’s speakers.
This is a filler post! Enjoying the mundane is an old hobby I’ve begun to lean back into. I hope to get the male gaze one up soon, just modifying it because I want it to be structured. As always, have a beautiful day :)