This past year has truly been a difficult one to say the least. It was filled with so much fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. Celebrations and time spent with loved ones became few and far between, if at all.

Where once these special occasions were times that brought family and friends near and far together, we were forced to spend them apart, whether that meant via FaceTime or Zoom, or by following social distancing guidelines even when physically together.

2020 brought a lot of things we weren’t prepared for, and that we wouldn’t have even known how to properly plan for, had we been given the chance. One unexpected thing that proved to be a nice, eye-opening surprise was that extra time we had with our families and loved ones.

It was as if life slowed down a bit, and we were forced to take a break from the things that tend to take up the majority of our time like work, school, and socializing with our friends to just be together in the present, and enjoy each other’s company.

So as difficult as 2020 was, there were so many lessons learned, and the main one being that there is so much to be grateful for each and every day, and that we should never take time, our loved ones, our health, or God for granted.

I am someone who tends to put things off for a better day, for a more convenient time, or for when things fall perfectly into place, as a way to justify not doing the things in my heart I know I should be doing.

For example, it’ll be Friday, and I’ll tell myself, “I’ll start praying consistently starting on Sunday because it’s already maghrib, and near the end of the week, so I might as well start fresh next week.” Or, I tell myself I need to follow a perfectly ordered timeline for my life, like waiting until after I grow the magazine more, and waiting to move into a house before thinking to start a family.

I am constantly convincing myself that I am not ready right now, and that I need to do X, Y, and Z in order to be 100% ready. But the truth of the matter is, we can never be too sure what the future holds, or what even tomorrow holds.

That is something my father has told me all of my life, but that I always took for granted. He would say, “Baba, the most important thing you need to remember is to pray because you never know what is maktoob and if you will live another day, so never go a day without praying to Allah.”

2020 made that more clear than ever with the number of lives lost increasing by the thousands each and every day, and broadcasted to us on every news and radio channel, and all over every social media app. Death and the fear of it felt closer than ever before, and it almost felt inescapable, like it was all we could see, think, or talk about.

Subhanallah, it was the wakeup call we didn’t know we needed to break away from our workaholic mindsets, from our obsession, attachment and dependence on technology, and from our materialistic and money-oriented lives to focus on what really matters. To prioritize ourselves, our health, our loved ones, and our faith.

Life is nothing without these things, but our judgment and our vision has been clouded by the false reality that society, and more importantly social media, have conditioned us to feel is important.

Unfortunately, it took a global pandemic to help us see more clearly, but it’s better late than never, as cliche as that sounds. This is the time to make changes in your life, and not just temporary ones either.

It’s important that we don’t fall back into our old ways, but that we embrace this new normal, and make the most of it by truly taking the lessons we learned and implementing them in our every day actions.

For me, that means to stop postponing the things I really want to do for tomorrow. I want to truly live each day to the fullest, and to make every day count. I want to challenge myself to take action and to take risks even when it may seem too hard or too outside of my comfort zone.

Whatever steps I need to take or obstacles I need to face in order to reach my goals and to lead a happy, fulfilling life that I know I am capable of living, they cannot be more challenging or uncomfortable than what this year has put us through.

You are stronger than your greatest fears, and more confident than your strongest doubts, you just need to believe that, to believe in yourself, and more importantly to have faith in God and his plan.

A quote I read that has inspired me, and that truly sets the tone for the year to come is this, “Don’t leave it for tomorrow, make that change today. Pray that salah. Read that verse of the Qur’an. Change begins with you! Stop dreaming of doing better when you can achieve it. May Allah (swt) make it easy for us all, Ameen.”

So, for this year at AM Women Magazine, I would like to devote each month to starting a  certain action that I want to implement more of in my life on a consistent basis throughout the year, and to inspire others to join me in doing the same.

For example, I have been wanting to get back into reading more, and it has been on my mind to start a book club at AM Women from the very beginning as a way to keep me accountable and motivated to make the time to actually do it. I also think it’ll be a great way to support Muslim authors and to create a reading list geared towards Muslim women.

Since “Iqraa” was the first word of the Quran revealed to Prophet Muhammad (saw), it seemed only fitting to start off the first month of the new year with that word in mind, especially as we launch our first ever book club! Stay tuned for more details about our book club and what book we will be reading first!

With that said, here’s to learning more, doing more, and growing more together as a community. I am hopeful for the future and the journey ahead, and excited to be on it with you all as well!

Happy New Year loves,

Ayah Shaheen
Editor-in-Chief