“Breakfast Chats” is a lighter series, where I share short musings and conversational tidbits about life things. It’s a regular, monthly feature that I’ve made open for access to all subscribers, both free and paid.
I started my day today by making some French toast for breakfast this morning and the house still has the smell of syrup and caramelized brown sugar hanging in the air. I love making breakfast, I love the entire morning hour, and particularly today, spending some time with my French toast, just perfectly crisp around the edges, was a gift I just wanted to give myself. I usually do my home stuff on Fridays but today’s a little different. Let’s chat about it.
1. A FULLER LIFE
So, right after Eid, I took a pause of about ten days from posting on my insta and taking on any new projects, because I wanted to work on something really special that came my way this year. You may have seen me talk about it, but I was picked as a mentor by Elegoo (one of the top 3D-printing brands in the world right now) for one of their training programs. I am one of eight mentors from around the world and I actually have my workshop coming up later this Friday evening.
With Ramadan and Eid, I hadn’t gotten the chance to do too much for it, just little bits here and there. So last week I decided to just put a pause on everything else and work on it slowly with a laser focus and all the presence of mind.
You know, these past few days have been superficially about the project, but on a deeper level, they’ve been such a good reminder of doing less for having more. I talk about this a lot, but I feel like this is one of those things we lose our grip on the fastest. And the thing is whenever I’ve chosen quality, to do fewer things with more focus, that is when I’ve been my most creative and happy.
People will always tell you to do more and also measure your worth and success by how much of yourself you're giving away. You’ll be told about your “missed potential” or get discussed behind your back about it. But as long as you understand that “just enough” doesn’t mean inadequate and your own joy is more valuable than someone else’s perception, I feel like you always find your way.
I could’ve absolutely done more during this time, but I chose to keep space for focus during the workday and rest during my personal time.
Because I think we all know this but something that we maybe forget from time to time: A full life isn’t packed with all the things in the world, but all the right things for your world.
2. GETTING BACK TO ROUTINE
I’ve been feeling so unprepared for getting into my regular, everyday routine after all of last month. I’m still quite all over the place, to be honest. I want to do all of those things: Resume being more active, better sleep schedule, the works. But I think what’s holding me back is wanting to get it all right altogether and I think sometimes you just need to pick up small pieces one at a time and gradually build up to your ideal routine.
I think I’m going to start with something simple and comforting. I’m going to start with getting into a new book this weekend. I actually picked up one of my older reservations from the library a few days ago, that just happened to arrive around this time, and I feel like that’s a sign! And so, I think I’ll start with that, and I’ll let myself take this month to gradually slip back into my usual life.
3. LOVE MAIL
Some days ago, one of my sisters who lives in the US, told me that her daughter (my niece) had been told by her school to send a letter to anyone in the world. And she’d asked to send one to me ♥︎
*I’m going to take a pause here to insert a lot of unrestrained, very passionate emotions (lol)*
My niece took my address to school, wrote it out in her adorable handwriting and now it’s on its way to me. My sister sent me a sneak peek of the envelope and I may be moderately exaggerating, but I did partially pass out on seeing that. I want to write back to her instantly, so I just ordered a notepad with fairies (she’s obsessed with them right now) so that I’m fully prepared by the time her letter’s here.
When I was younger, my favorite thing to do was to make cards or write notes for people and I see so much of myself in my niece in these ways. I know how important writing a letter to someone is, specifically at that age, and I want to make sure that she knows how much I value it.
As an introverted & very shy child, I would retreat if someone didn’t understand the depth of my gestures. I remember when I was seven or eight, I’d something by hand for an important person in my life, and a few minutes later, I found it in the bin. I was naturally hurt and it’s something that’s stayed with me and so I’m very protective of children particularly, when it comes to their emotions like this. So, I want all her little & big love for me to be seen and cherished.
I think I’m going to be checking my letterbox every single day for the foreseeable future. I cannot wait to receive it.
4. NEW SEASON THINGS
The season’s changing, it’s now Autumn here in Australia, and like the last time I wrote about it (linked below), I want to make a really simple, very short list of things that I want to do to savor the feeling of this one.
I want to try making pink tea myself for the very first time, go see autumn colors somewhere and maybe plant a tree in our backyard.
Just small things that make you excited about life ☼
Sharing a link below to the bigger issue I did on this.
Issue No. 13: Sunday Mornings At Home, Cardamom Chai & Life Lately
For as long as Nabeel and I’ve been married, most Sunday mornings at our place have been about playing old, classic music in the living room while doing some lazy Sunday rituals. This morning Nabeel made breakfast for us and right after we finished up, he put on his playlist while I put some chai on the stove. Back when we lived in Dubai, we used to put this cardamom flavored milk in our tea and somehow after all these years, this morning when we woke up, both of us just felt like having some. So right after breakfast, I cracked some
5. WEEKEND PLANS
So, like I shared, I have my workshop later today and fingers crossed, I’ll be celebrating in the evening after hopefully a decent job done. I really want to take this weekend to appreciate this incredible opportunity that I got and unwind from all the hard work of the past few days. We’re planning on having a movie night with some takeout, that’s something we haven’t done in a long time and something that we enjoy a lot, so very excited about it. And then just have an easy weekend of slow life chores; a trip to the post office, some groceries and catchups in the car while we drive around doing all of it.
Hope you have a lovely weekend. See you in a couple of weeks with this month’s larger issue 😊
Please ♥︎heart♥︎ this post if you enjoyed it. ‘A Slow Afternoon’ is a no-comment space by choice, to keep your reading free of instant reactions, just like the times of only newspapers and magazines where we had the time and mental space to form our own thought independently at first.
I also wanted you to know that all through this year, a portion of your paid subscription is being donated to the crisis in Sudan via Muslim Aid. You can let me know your thoughts later by sending me a message. Bye.
Music Credit: The music in my voiceover background is ‘Milky’ by Ninn Tendo.