Memo

March Favs

April 6, 2024 · Read on Substack

Hello April!

March, man, March. Talk about a confusing month. It felt like a whole lot of nothing and a whole lot of something all at once. Maybe it’s because I was practically on autopilot, which explains why the month felt like a blur. But beneath all that, there was a ton of growth happening. Times that I saw my own strength, I saw just how much I had changed and grown as a person and I think this is the month that I honestly felt like I was finally starting to become more, well, me.

Yeah, I played a lot of tennis…almost sick of it at this point. I had time to myself, but I also did not have time to myself. I had a few lazy moments, and then I had moments where I felt unstoppable, where I was unstoppable. I can also hear myself clearer, I meditated more so I had these internal moments and epiphanies.

March was slow, easy, and boring. Not much happened but it was because I did not want it to happen. So, get ready to dive in, because I’m about to share my March Favs-a list as unexpected and introspective as the month itself.

A Book I Read - Monday’s Not Coming

I read all 435 pages in one sitting and cried at the end…

Monday’s Not Coming follows Claudia and Monday, the best of friends. They were inseparable and did everything together. So when Monday goes missing, it’s like Claudia has lost a limb. She worries something has happened to her. She fears no one is searching for her or even believes that she is missing. So the book, in this wonderful tale of friendship just goes with Claudia on a quest to find out what happened to her soul mate in a friend, while also taking you down memory lane to find missing clues This book, is wonderful. It shows you, with hints, what could have happened to Monday, and I do not think I could even have imagined what happened to her in the end. Claudia’s determination to find her friend, and the way friendship is explored in this book, make it a great read.

As always, I’ve got you 👇🏽

Song on Replay - Waiting for God in the Garden

I love feel-good songs these days. Maybe it’s all the walks, but I love songs that feel like soundtracks to your life

An App I’m Currently Loving - OPAL

My friend put me onto this app and It has been a lifesaver for unnecessary social media scrolling and cutting off distractions. Opal is a screen time app that forces you off your phone with different difficulty levels— you’re effectively locked out of the apps you select as distracting. It’s a drastic measure but sometimes necessary when you’re easily distracted. For me, the most significant benefit is being able to lock myself out of apps. My screen time has crazily improved since I downloaded it. It’s made me more productive and helped me evaluate my relationship with technology.

A Netflix “Must-See!” - To Kill A Tiger

This documentary is a powerful one. And it all starts with Ranjit. Ranjit is from a village in India. When his 13-year-old daughter was gang raped, Ranjit fought against all odds to bring her the justice she deserved. A father fighting for his daughter in a rape case, in a country where that is rare… where so often the blame is placed on the victim, this is no small thing. Even when the entire village is forcing her to marry one of the men and ‘forget about it’ because no one else will take her hand in marriage, she stays strong, and would rather die than give in. They disrespect and ignore her and her family throughout the entirety of the film. While the documentary is about getting Kiran justice by punishing her abusers, you will find yourself screaming your support in awe of Ranjit’s resolve to get justice for his little girl.

A Podcast that resonated With Me - “The Roots”

Every oak tree begins as an acorn. We are all born with unique acorns: gifts, talent, or some specific knowledge that comes so easily to you. That is the thing you are supposed to nurture, to grow into your oak tree - your calling basically.

You already have inside you what you were born to do. Obey the call. All you need to focus on is to know who you are, and why you are here.

We all have those early inclinations, things we gravitated towards as children. Maybe it was building things, drawing, or helping others. These early interests are like the first shoots of our potential.

These inclinations can be combined with the traits we inherit or develop. Perhaps you have a natural curiosity, a knack for storytelling, or a drive to make a difference. These are all part of your unique package.

Even life experiences, both positive and negative, contribute to your growth. A childhood dream, a personal setback, pain, disappointment, or the influence of a role model – all these things shape who you are.

Whatever is your calling is already rooted within you. And those roots can be trampled or tugged at, but never removed. They grow stronger only when tended, nurtured and most importantly, shared with others. When you align your personality with your purpose, no one can touch you.

Current Health Kick: Ahmad Tea, Beauty

Does it do anything special? I have no idea! But I see “Beauty” and you have my attention. Plus, I can live my tea-drinking in the morning fantasies, and it leaves me feeling invigorated in the morning. I was not such a tea drinker until my friend, Ada, came over and brought me different flavours of Ahmad Tea and the next thing I knew, I was ordering a bunch of them. So now, I am a tea drinker, and it is my current health kick.

A YouTube video you need to watch

What did March Teach Me?

You were not sent to this world to wake up, get stuff done, repeat. No. You came here for the fun of doing it. The joy in the day-to-day doing of stuff. These desires that you have do you really think they are ever going to end? That there is going to be some ending where you get everything you want? Of course not. There’s always the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. It is so important that you accept your eternal incompletion. We are eternally incomplete that’s why we’re alive. We are eternally reaching for more. Becoming. Moving in the direction of new things every day. The joy is in the journey…duh! That’s what life is all about. Accepting that you can do anything! And when you do anything another anything will come to you and you will desire that too. So there’s no end to this. Enjoy the journey
Look at challenges as stepping stones to your next phase in life. Once we realize our challenges are purposeful, they need no longer be painful. We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking only to learn it is God who is shaking them. There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hand. It is to teach, to mould, to prepare you. Every time you look back at a situation that you thought would end you, I’m sure you laugh “So this small thing was what wanted to kill me!?”, because you have grown much bigger than that situation, or, you find a lesson it was meant to teach you. Discomfort is temporary, but the payoff is extraordinary.
I am grateful for the timing of my life. Every day, I see how things unfolded, how I had to become something for the next thing to appear. I am grateful for occurrences that allow me to unlock a new aspect of myself.

April Intentions

April is all about openness and receptivity, I want to learn to find value in every experience, positive or negative. It is my month of creation and expansion. I just want to build, read, create and discover across all aspects of my life. No long talk, I just want to show up. So April, I am giving you all of me, in my most open self. I want more. But to have more, I need to build for more, prepare for more, align for more, and evolve for more. And that is my ultimate goal this month.

Have a wonderful April lovelies! 🧡✨