28 Things I learned Before Turning 28

Today’s post isn’t mummy & baby related by never the less it is very exciting. If you’re reading this! I just turned 28.

A lot has happened to me and I learned a lot of lessons during these past few years that I want to share. Maybe one day I can look back at this post and think that I was so young and naïve even though right at this moment I feel like I’m old and mature.Without further ado here are 28 things I learned before turning 28:

1. Life is not a race: it’s not about who can finish school first, get married first, have children first, land a job first. Everyone moves at his or her own speed and accomplishing something before others doesn’t really make you better than them.
2. I learned how to cook, don’t get me wrong I’m no “master chef” however a few years ago I had no clue how to prepare some dishes and now I can make pizza from scratch & prepare a 3 course meal.
3. A hug can make everything better. Children are a great example; they find comfort in our hugs. Sometimes even us as grown up need a hug from a loved one when things aren’t going our way to comfort us without the need to express ourselves with words.
4. My Family is all I need; as I grew older I realized that my large family (my parents & siblings) and my small family (husband) have my best interest at heart and they genuinely care about me.
5. I can grow distant from people without having a falling out. I took pride of having many friends but with time I grew distant from most of them and not because we had drama or a fight but because we simply grew apart.
6. Appreciate when things are good. I’m still working on this because sometime I’m not very optimistic or I anticipate what could go wrong.
7. This too shall pass mentality when things are bad. Nothing last forever right!
8. Brushing off criticism and unsolicited advice.
9. I learned not to have any regrets because everything is preparing me for the next stage in life.
10. Not to waste any of my energy on negative people. If I notice that you are negative I slowly remove you from my life.
11. Social media is a deception. People are portraying that they have the perfect lives, work, body, etc. when in fact they only choose bits and pieces and not the whole image of their life. No one is perfect even celebrities and social media superstars.
12. Forgiveness and moving forward especially when someone close to me hurts me.
13. Knowing my real friends and appreciating them. Honestly I can say I have less than a dozen friends and the rest are acquaintance or we are friendly when we meet.
14. Nothing goes as planned and that is perfectly fine.
15. Trusting Allah’s plan.
16. I’m grateful for everything my family, education, etc. because there are so many people who are less fortunate.
17. Following my heart even across the world and even when a lot of people don’t think it makes sense. When I married my husband I moved all the way to Kenya from Australia with love in my heart and hope in my mind.
18. Standing out is cool. When I was growing up all I wanted is to fit in and now I appreciate all things that make me unique.
19. Marriage and Motherhood is a lot of work.
20. Becoming proud of my roots. I’m Somali and I never used to mind when people mistaken me to be something else. However, now that I’m older I love being Somali and I love the Somali culture and heritage. Even though Somalia has been suffering from civil war and conflict, I see it as the nation of poets. I want my baby to embrace his Somalia side as well as his Kenyan side. The only way that he will love his roots is if I love mine.
21. Becoming more aware about issues including Islamophobia, ethnic cleansing, and racism. All these issues that can not only impact me but also impact my baby growing up being a Muslim, Black male with an Arab name!
22. Giving birth is only the first step of motherhood. When I was pregnant with my son all I could think about is giving birth as if it was the end however it is just the beginning to a journey that no amount of books can prepare you for.
23. Google is every new mom’s best friend. I admit it I google everything from head shape to poop colour and texture.
24. Body-confidence after having a baby is not easy. I still have a long way before reaching my pre-baby weight.
25. Nursery rhymes; thanks to my beautiful son I know at least half a dozen nursery rhymes off the top of my head word by word.
26. Trusting in my abilities as a wife and mum. I grew so much confidence when it comes to understanding my partner’s needs and my child’s cues.
27. Being a stay at home mom isn’t any less than a working mom even if it is less glamorous because there is a lot of work that SAHM do and there is no breaks or financial rewards.
28. Not judging other mothers because I know how tough motherhood is. I don’t believe in mummy shaming in real life or online.

Happy 28^th birthday to me! Now it is time to spend the day with 3 of my favourite people (my dad, my husband and baby E).

If you came a cross my post and managed to read it till the end, I hope you have a beautiful day.

Thanks for stopping by.