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About me

NOTE: I will probably go off on several tangents, and the writing will be all over the place. I will make a lot of Disney references. Apologies in advance for the tangents, not the Disney references. Now, onto the good stuff.

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I think it's a little important to give some background on me before I dive in and get down to the nitty gritty. I grew up in a pretty progressive Muslim community in Florida, and it's always been pretty welcoming and open to everyone. I've always liked that spirit but always felt too shy to find a way to act on it, and I felt that this was the best way to connect with others. I studied engineering in college, and one of the biggest things in manufacturing engineering that we work toward is called "continuous improvement," which is the idea that an assembly line can always be improved to increase output, efficiency, and quality of the products being produced. So applying that to life, we can always improve as people and continue to grow, if not for the purposes of output or efficiency, at least quality, in this case quality of life. 

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Recently, I've had a lot of personal stuff going on (which I'll go into a little detail in the Blog section) and, by the recommendation of a friend and realization of my own, I decided to go to my university's counseling center and seek some kind of therapy. I wound in a group therapy group, which I was really apprehensive about at first, because I did not want the whole world knowing my problems. I did not know what I was getting myself into. I found myself surrounded by like-minded people who had come to the group in order to improve themselves, and being in that group helped me realize that a) I'm not the only one going through these things and b) that my problems were big to me, but not all that big in the grand scheme of things. (Disclaimer: I'm not trying to discredit myself or anyone with these issues, but that was just my experience with it. It'll be different for everyone, and that's ok.) 

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So that experience with group therapy left me feeling pretty warm and fuzzy, and wanting to do more to be an active contributor in the community, specifically in being that support for others in the Desi and Muslim communities. Even today, there's still a pretty big stigma against addressing mental and emotional health concerns in our communities. I say this not to put a bad name on anyone, but to bring to light the issues that I found myself facing, and many others may be facing as well. I hope to support anyone with encouragement and provide a platform to discuss things and give encouragement where possible, as well as provide resources for holding each other accountable for our growth in a positive way. One day maybe ,we too, can become beautiful butterflies like Heimlich. 

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Goals and Intentions

I want to start off this section by saying that I'm not doing this for money or attention (well, at least not in the sense that I'm seeking sympathy) or getting girls or following the wellness trend or anything silly like that, but that I really just want to do this because I feel it's the right thing to do. It just happened that this seems like this is the right time and place for me to be doing this. For a long while, I've felt the need to be creative but I was feeling stifled, and I had a eureka moment during a run a few days ago where I thought I'd pair my newfound interest in wellness with my desire to be helpful and create something that I hope others will find valuable. That said, onto the reason you are reading this section: goals and intentions.

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Goals​

  • My MAIN goal of this site is to provide a platform where Desi and Muslim American people can come together and be a support network for each other to encourage personal growth and promote general wellness

  • I would also like to build a sense of community for those interested in improving themselves, and while this is a niche market, I still feel like it's important to develop as a community by developing ourselves, because it's a market in which I fit and quite frankly I feel is underserved

  • This is a place where positivity and resources can and should be shared! Let's help each other out and share knowledge

  • My last goal of this is selfish, but whatever. I'd like this platform to grow and start a bigger conversation about living healthier in our communities in all respects and allowing us to grow as people, and I hope to grow from this myself. So two selfish goals I guess.

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Intentions

  • As I mentioned before, my main intent is to institute a platform for positive and constructive conversations about promoting wellness and personal growth in Desi and Muslim communities

  • Positivity is the name of the game. That means that the intent is to put a positive spin on things even when they seem bleak. Now I know it's not normal for everyone to try to be positive 100% of the time, that's not the intent. But the intent is to see the challenges we face as opportunities to grow, as opposed to roadblocks that are impassable. 

  • Have fun! I intend to give my support and help people and myself grow, but also learn about myself and have some fun in doing so. 

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Values

I mention the values here because I think it's important that I introduce the principles that I want this community to stand for. It's just meant to be a list of guiding principles to work with in mind.

Values​

  • Honesty. There's no accident that this is the first value, as I feel it is the most important. Being honest while evaluating ourselves and progress and growth will allow us to have more natural and robust growth that's rooted in real progress.

  • Perseverance. I struggle a lot with this one because I think it's difficult to stay dedicated but I feel like it's one of the more important principles.

  • Community. No person can accomplish anything 100% on their own, and everyone needs a little nudge from time to time.

  • Non-judgment. I think a big part of helping each other progress and grow is not judging each other's starting points, and just non-judgmentally trying to help each other to get to where we want to be. Eyes on the prize. 

  • Faith. For me, this means religious and spiritual faith, but for those of differing religious levels, that could simply mean faith that things will work out for the best. That's important to remember when things don't go 100% as expected. 

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