大象传媒

From Remona Aly, Freelance journalist and editor:
These past few months of working from home has had its challenges, but it鈥檚 also had some wins. We鈥檝e enjoyed the world鈥檚 shortest commute from the bedroom to the living room. We鈥檝e got used to wearing our pants or pjs from the waist down on video calls, and even taken meetings into the toilet. Basically, we are letting our hair well and truly down. This includes me, especially as I don't wear my hijab at home. And for some reason, I never have a headscarf to hand whenever there鈥檚 a knock at the door from a delivery man, which throws me into a mild panic as I have seconds to grab the closest thing to chuck on my head.聽
These have included a coat with sleeves flapping at my ears, a rather fetching tablecloth, and a thick, fluffy blanket. Grabbing a lampshade has also crossed my mind. I鈥檝e been wearing a headscarf since university, and people used to have the impression that I was some kind of super pious Muslim, so they placed me on a pedestal of piety. I fell from this very quickly when they realised I was just a pleb. Appearances can be so misleading. Now, many of us build our own pedestals on social media, presenting and being presented with online alter egos that appear dauntingly flawless and filtered. And even more are left to feel inadequate as we compare lifestyles, likes and follows - or 鈥渃omparisonitis鈥� as one psychologist calls it.聽
I suffer from an annoying need to see that little heart light up on my post, as if it鈥檚 connected to the heart inside me too. Instead of waiting for 鈥榣ikes鈥� to validate my existence, I should listen to the inner notifications that tell me: 鈥榶ou are more than enough鈥�. The American Muslim writer and speaker Yasmin Mogahed says, 鈥淭his world cannot break you 鈥� unless you give it permission. And it cannot own you unless you hand it the keys... Reclaim your heart and place it with its rightful owner.鈥� Reclaiming my own heart rather than bemoaning empty ones on social media, is my new mantra. I might finally be at peace, not care about appearance, and maybe then I can really let my hair down.