My guide to the perfect day

Step #1: Take a long delicious bath. You may or may not choose to sip a full bodied tea and read a historical volume while doing so. Right now I am reading: "Ibadism in History Volume I: The Emergence of the Ibadi School"











Step #2: Indulge in a fantasy breakfast. Mine always, ALWAYS includes strawberries. And I have recently discovered that bananas from Salalah are the most delicious bananas in the world. And never before have I even remotely liked bananas.Step #3: Pull on your favourite black abaya. Take care to wrap your shayla just so. Add your chicest handbag and a major cocktail ring (even if you don't exactly sip cocktails anymore). Yes, yes, for day. If you are wearing an abaya already, why not? Step #4: On your way to work, take time to admire the beautiful architecture or the nature from the parking lot to the door. So what, it's hot out. Would you rather be somewhere it snows all year and you can never sit outside at night? Not me. I'll take hibiscus and sweet sunshine from Oman any day, and every day. Even the days skin is left on my seatbelt buckle. Life is beautiful, cuz you're alive, and where you are is better than alot of places you could be going.


Step #5: Take pride in your work. If you can't do this, then you need to find yourself a new job. Living isn't a state of being, and if it is, you aren't really alive. Life is made up of moments, and saving them up doesn't really mean you're gonna cash out rich in the end.Step #6: Take business to lunch but leave the real work at the office. Making connections with the people around you enriches your life and others'. And try something or somewhere new. I tried the cilantro chicken skewers at Abala Cafe the other day. They rocked my world (but then A, I'm not allergic to cilantro;p). Step #7: Learn to let your hair down. I gave up caring what people think a long time ago. I care only about the things that I care about, not that society cares about, and only care if people care to hold me to my own standards for myself---not their own. With a little courage, a reputation can be lived without, but a life without a sound rationale, a rhyme, and a reason? That's truly scandalous.Step #8: Do a good deed every day, even if it such a small thing as making somebody smile, or that nobody even notices but it makes the world cleaner. People always think of heroes as people who sacrifice their lives, but to me, what is more heroic, is somebody who sacrifices a moment from their life everyday to make the world a better place just for a second. Like Ibrahim, who stayed till the last minute of our work schedules everyday to close up, because if he didn't his salary wouldn't be "halal" or somebody else would get stuck with the duty.Step #9: Simplify your life. Pocessions are beautiful but in life less is more. The less you carry with you the more freedom that you have to move. Keep only what is precious and what inspires you. Clean out the bad memories, friends that are just window dressing and not really the people who will stick by you, and all the others useless things that accumulate, from material to mundane.


Step #10: Know what real love is. It isn't the movies. It isn't necessarily what your parents want. It might not even be what you thought you wanted, but it is always what you need (even if you don't like it all the time for what it is). Know who you are and always be that person so that you can truly know if someone else loves you who for who you are, and don't be afraid to put all you have into it, if the other person is willing to put the same on the table. If they are not, let them regret it but move on. And if you do find love, and somebody loves you back... hold onto it. I'll leave the rest up to Marley;)

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