It has been a strange couple of months. The world has been doing funny things, things that aren’t quite sensible or explicable.
As more sad and disappointing news filled the world, I felt the sadness coursing through my veins and making things eerily and increasingly dark.
It was all just grinding me down – so very painfully – so that I was left feeling broken and helpless… hopeless?
I found myself needing to switch off from the world and people far more often than I usually need to.
That feeling was crippling and created an environment where I couldn’t really coherently engage with people on issues that matter to me. It has also meant that I couldn’t write for you here, on my own platform, for a reason that I couldn’t quite understand.
I’ve taken some time away to try and figure out what was going on.
I’ve realised now that I had let it all get to me and that I was becoming someone I don’t like. Someone who is hyper pessimistic and lacking hope for the world we live in.
This isn’t who I am. This isn’t who I’ve been.
I am, for better or worse, someone who carries a seed of hope at all times. Sure, I’m a realist and look at facts. I take an infinite number of data points and continuously analyse the world around me.
But I think that beneath that, I’m an optimist, a hopeful (sometimes pitiful) optimist who holds the average person in high regard. I’m someone who gives people and the world chance after chance. I’m someone who believes in the best of people; the best in people.
Losing sight of that feeling was like losing my life force and it was strangling my soul.
I’m turning to my favourite Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) who said:
إِنْ قَامَتْ عَلَى أَحَدِكُمْ الْقِيَامَةُ وَفِي يَدِهِ فَسْلَةٌ فَلْيَغْرِسْهَا
{عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ}
Which simply means:
“If the Resurrection [i.e the end of the world] were established upon you while you have a sapling in your hand, then plant it.”
Musnad Aḥmad 12491
To me, this is such a beautiful message filled with hope. It’s a message that even when it feels that all is lost, we can use our own hands to make good things happen – to plant new life for the future. It’s a reminder to never give up hope, even at the sight of the deepest and darkest despair.
And so I won’t.
It’s time to hit the reset button.
—
Want to keep up to date with new posts? Subscribe!
Follow me on Facebook or Twitter (@AmneBamne). You can also find me on Instagram! And now you can subscribe to my YouTube channel!
P.S While I was looking for someone to listen to while I wrote this post, I found this song and wanted to share it with you:
It’s kinda beautiful.
Unveiled Thought 