Chaos to Calmer

Rewind several years - I was 'ticking the Islamic boxes' for the most part – I prayed, I fasted in Ramadan, I wore hijab, ate halal food, and said alhamdulillah – but if I'm honest, my daily life was far from focused on my true purpose or my Hereafter.  

It had become a stream of never-ending to-do lists, overflowing inboxes, countless downloads I'd never even looked at crowded my devices, books I'd bought and had never read weighed on my mind (and I kept buying more). I signed up for courses I never finished, saved recipes I never made, and I had way too much stuff; clothes I never wore, arts and crafts materials I planned to use 'one day'.  

My 'to buy' list never seemed to get any smaller, no matter how many things I acquired; there was always something else I wanted.  

On a good day, I coasted by on autopilot; on a 'bad' day, I was overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. Most days, I felt like I was fire-fighting my way through life without a moment of introspection. 

Time slipped by and the Quran gathered dust while thoughts of the Hereafter - Jannah, Jahannam, and my inevitable return to Allah - rarely crossed my mind. Most days, I don't even remember.  

Exhausted, I sought solace in scrolling social media or binge-watching Netflix in my 'downtime' feeling too drained to do anything else. 

Caught in a downward spiral, neither present in my life nor in my worship, I knew I was in trouble.  

"How did I get here?"  

“And how do I get out?” 

A Wake-Up Call 

You know how every so often you have one of those moments when the world seems to pause, and something hits you like never before? It could be a familiar line in a book that suddenly carries newfound meaning or hearing a phrase that jolts you into awareness. 

For me, it was a casual comment in a conversation with a friend that changed everything.  

As we walked and talked, she shared her own struggles with a busy schedule and the challenge of trying to add healthy habits to her day, a goal she'd successfully managed to achieve in the past. This time though, she couldn't seem to make anything stick. I listened intently to her tales of stress-filled work hours, overwhelming to-do lists, and a packed schedule.  

What followed wasn't a profound quote or insight but a simple thought that tumbled out of my mouth, alhamdulillah.

"Maybe the reason you're struggling isn't that you aren't able, maybe it's that you have so much going on in your life right now, there just isn't space for anything else. What if you tried to make space for change first?" 

Make space for change. It was so simple. 

I needed to take my own advice! 

So started my journey into a world of ‘less’ and while I never set out to pursue 'minimalism', the definition shared by Joshua Becker, author of The More of Less, rang true, 

"The intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them."

Viewed through the lens of our ultimate purpose - to worship Allah - simplification became a compass to help navigate this 'world of more' and my own cluttered life. It became a way to turn down the noise, reduce distraction, filter what is and isn't important, and create space for what truly matters.