bloom. one word, with a profound meaning that gives life to a beautiful concept which you and I cannot ever fathom. they say you follow and become someone similar to your closest friends, and I believe that has extremely similar parallels to a flower. the surroundings that you are being brought up in, the climate that you are accustomed to, and the nutrition that you are being fed with plays a pivotal role in what you become as a person in this life, and in the Hereafter. the friends that you become close to can lift you up if you are falling down, and walk together with you into the Paradise, where flowers bloom eternally while rejoicing with your loved ones, or stomp and kick you when you are down, dragging you to the eternal fire.
you get to decide, so choose wisely.
however, that is not all that there is to it. each individual is not perfect, never has been, or will never be. yet, we strive to attain this form of perfection that might seem far away. we toil and push ourselves to the limit, going through sleepless nights and at times contemplating on if what we are doing is the right thing, waiting for our time to bloom. but what is extremely interesting is that every soul is different. what you seem to be great at might be something that I struggle with immensely, and instead of comparing our strengths and poking at each other’s weaknesses, we should edify and bring positivity into people’s life, because you never know that word of encouragement could be the light that they have trying to find for weeks or months, maybe even years.
with that being said, here are a few reminders for both myself and you, that might help us navigate through this ever-changing world that we live in.
be genuine. in today’s toxic society, there is a lack of being genuine to one another. we tend to tear apart, not build upon and help, which shows the current state and mindset of our society today. everyone wants to get ahead of the rat race, stomping on competitors, while severing ties which might be your potential bridge to Jannah, the ultimate destination.
be grateful. nowadays, it always feels like we are coming to a point whereby we tend to prefer the notion of inside looking out instead of outside looking in. comparing, backbiting and slandering others instead of taking a good hard look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘where did I go wrong?’, or ‘what could I have done better?’. the ayat mentioned below is so beautiful, and I think that it is a timely reminder that we should take with us wherever we go:
وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌۭ ( ٧)
which means, “And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.’” (The Qur’an,14:7)
be happy. understand that you are special. just like how a garden camellia (which is a flower, by the way) thrives in the cold and suffers in the tropics, you have a speciality that is catered to you and you ONLY, because The Almighty has placed that trait inside of you. yes, it may seem as if your friends and family are doing better than you at the moment, but the beauty of it is that you were never in a competition with them to begin with. your competitors are your past versions of yourself, which you have eclipsed, and the future versions of yourself, which you got to chase. the beauty of it is that, if you asked yourself 10 years ago, “who is your hero?” you would have mentioned your current self, and although that doesn’t seem like much, I feel that 13 year old me would have been extremely proud to have experienced a lifetime of experiences in a decade, and that is only possible because it was written by Him. if you were to ask me the same question now, at 23 years of age, I would answer the exact same thing, because that’s where the grass is greener, where water is clearer, and where I bloom brighter.