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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Are you losing yourself?
It’s easy to lose yourself if you don’t really know who you are, or who you want to be in a given moment. Far too often, we demand a specific response from others because of what we need, not because of what we are hoping to achieve, or create. Do we want to create peace,…
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Understand. Then accept. Then forgive.
I see so many who claim to have forgiven, but are still weighed down by what was done to them. There’s an important difference between forgiving as a means to forego punishing someone or demanding retribution, versus forgiving because you truly understand why someone behaved badly. When that understanding is lacking, it makes it impossible…
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The weight of life
How often do we judge others for being moody just because they’re easily annoyed at things that don’t go smoothly for them? How often do others judge us for the same thing? Moodiness is most often our way of communicating that we’re unhappy about repeatedly being taken for granted, when we’re tired of communicating that…
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Your world. Your worries.
I walked on the lawn with bare feet the other day. For a moment my senses were teased and I felt grounded. I gazed around the garden and looked past the sprouting indigenous trees, and instead noticed the chores left unfinished, or new ones that begged for my attention. I walked on and paid little…
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Don’t test the ones you love. Love them.
Ever find that despite your best efforts, someone close to you just never appreciates what you do for them? Ever feel like you’re having to fulfil their expectations in detail about how to do something the way that they want you to do it before they are satisfied with you? Even then, when you do…
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The gift of who you are
It’s human to feel fatigued or despondent. But, it’s not human to give up. We’re wired to persevere. To overcome. To prevail. To improve what we have around us. When we feel oppressed in our efforts to achieve these ends, we either grow despondent, or we grow aggressive. Both those reactions are an indication that…
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Judge, as you would like to be judged
When we behave badly, we pacify ourselves by focusing on what we intended, or why it was understandable for us to behave that way. When others treat us badly, we’re more inclined to assume that it is a true reflection of how little we mean to them, or how malicious they are. The moment we…
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The insincerity of self-loathing
As always, you cannot give what you don’t have. You can’t give someone a smile if you don’t have one yourself. Similarly, you cannot appreciate what you’re ungrateful for. If you take yourself for granted, any appreciation that you express towards others is based on you wanting them to feel appreciated the way that you…