Zaid Ismail
@zaidie@zaidismail.com
Author, life coach, and mental health activist. We need to change the narrative from disorders, illnesses, and survival to accountability, understanding, and thriving.
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Self-help guides are not sustainable
For those who believe that my books are self-help guides and are expecting instructions for life from it, this may clarify my approach for you. The above photo is from The Egosystem p.25. I don’t believe in prescriptive exercises or methods when advising others about how to navigate the challenges in their lives. Such prescriptive…
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When sincerity is tested
Like the old saying goes, talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. It’s easy to say the right thing, especially when times are good and what we’re committing to is convenient. However, when our commitments pull us between what we want for ourselves versus what we committed to doing for someone else, that’s…
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Don’t trade your best for their worst
There is rarely a day that passes without me reading or hearing about someone who invested years, if not decades of their life, to people who were not invested in the relationship. When the reality of that betrayal finally hits home, it destroys our spirit and convinces us that we’ve sacrificed the best years of…
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Dishonesty is the thief of peace
We focus too much on how others treat us, and too little on how we treat ourselves. Honesty is one of those things that we find distasteful and repulsive when someone withholds it from us, but we overlook it when we do it to ourselves. When we’re dishonest with ourselves, we find ways to justify…
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When your sincerity is tested
Our sincerity is tested when we’re faced with the opportunity to contribute in kindness, while being treated with disregard or ingratitude. But it’s not our sincerity towards others that is tested. It is the sincerity of our convictions about what we hold true as principles to live by. We lose the best of who we…
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Positive thinking fallacies
Important reminder from the archives… There is much harm in this widespread acceptance of the so-called power cf positive thinking. Most importantly, it suggests that our thoughts inspire the actions of others. That is patently incorrect. It also suggests that if we focus on positivity, we’re guaranteed to attract positivity. That is dangerously incorrect. We…
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Feeding that generational curse
Don’t contribute towards the generational curse that weighs you down by withholding who you are because of ingratitude from those who themselves are at war within themselves. We all have our internal battles that cause us to show up badly at times. When we lose sight of this, we focus on how others show up…
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Dreams are abandoned in silence
No one celebrates their defeat, or their surrender. When they appear to be doing so, they’re looking for empathy or assistance to overcome what they’re finding difficult to deal with. Or they’re preemptively exposing their shame to deny others the opportunity to shame them. Giving up loudly is a test or a plea to see…