Tag: life priorities

Random Post: The Killers at Sandance, Physical and Emotional Exhaustion and Overall Chaos!

As I sit to write this post while sitting at my favorite cafe, I can feel the rapid pulse of my heart beat as I place my left index finger on the side of my neck. Yes, I’ve always been a weirdo and I tend to do silly things in public too!

Where have I been?

I must start by apologizing for not writing in such a long time. As many of you know by now, I have just started an undergraduate journalism course at a University in Dubai. Since I’ve decided to put this degree as a priority, blogging had to wait until I had the time for it once I was done with my assignments, University hectic commute and daily house errands.

I’m glad that I took the time off (unintentionally) though, as the break allowed me to reflect on my blogging ways and revise my strategy a little bit…well, more like go back to what I was doing when I first started this blog a little over a year ago. But I’ll leave that for you readers to discover 🙂

The Killers at Sandance Gig

At the time of planning this post, I had just gone to The Killers concert at the ever-popular Nasimi Beach and so this topic was in my notes for this blog post. The ironic thing about this show was that my British friend Lianne had told me about it way back in Ramadan…and when I told her that I wasn’t sure of who ‘The Killers” were, she played a music clip from her phone with one of their famous songs.  For some reason, I assumed that “The Killers” were a British band and that I would be having an authentic British experience with a group of cool Brits (my friend Lianne and her friends).

Then while standing at the show with my new cool group of British expat friends, I explain my excitement to one of the members of the group, only to find out that The Killers are actually an American band from Las Vegas, Nevada!

That didn’t change the thrilling factor of the experience. As I still managed to have a great night with my British friends. Plus, being a fan of indie/alternative rock music meant that I still sang along and enjoyed most of the songs that were played that night. The Killers’ music style reminded me a lot of the band Green Day; one of my favorite bands that I used to listen to as a teenager.

Exhausted!

When I first started my course at University, I was trying my best to keep the blog and my usual active lifestyle going as much as I could. This however proved to be so draining as the semester went on and we started to have assignments to hand in. As much as I enjoyed attending all sorts of social and work related events and meetups, I now realize that I must keep it to a minimum if I wish to maintain my sanity and health!

It certainly isn’t an easy task trying to juggle all of the following at the same time:

  • Attending University classes and working on assignments.
  • Attending main social and work related events and other meetups.
  • Going for blog reviews, topics and writing posts.
  • Updating my Facebook Page (glad to discover scheduled posts!).
  • Following the world news and current affairs (on TV and radio) to be able to get at least one answer right at the Media Law and Ethics weekly news quiz :s
  • Attempting to read my current book on successful blogging.
  • Grocery shopping and other essential errands.
  • Housework chores (washing dishes, laundry, ironing clothes…)
  • Catching up with friends and making sure that I don’t disappear from the real world 😉

 

Revised Priorities

In a desperate attempt to save what’s left of my pride and self-integrity…

  • I will no longer push myself to attend social or work related events when I’m not in the mood for it or lack the required energy and stamina for socializing in a decent manner with other individuals!
  • I will put working for my journalism course first and everything else will come after that.
  • I will not bother much about giving my business card to new people and telling them about my Facebook page. Mainly because most will only store the card somewhere and will never put in the effort to type the name of my Facebook Page in the search box to check it out.
  • I will pay more attention to spending time with friends and the people who matter.
  • I will allocate more ‘me-time’ and try to relax with much-needed spa treatments and movie nights!

My Halloween Weekend

I plan to spend my long weekend doing low-key activities namely: lounging by the beach and reading, going to the cinema, having dinner with friends and getting a rejuvenating massage.

I will not dress up for Halloween or attend any parties…because I’m too tired to go shopping for a costume or dress up for the occasion! Yes, as you can tell I am seriously exhausted and could use a short break from an active social life.

Conclusion

Since this post is dragging for too long, I decided to leave some other topics for next time.

In the meantime, you could participate by telling me the following:

Do you sometimes feel like you have no control over your life? and that no matter how hard you try, things are just getting chaotic and messed up?

If so, what techniques and methods do you follow to get you back on track?

The Rebellious Saudi Diva Signing Off…

 

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Taking a Short Break.

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Dear blog readers and followers,

As you may have noticed, I haven’t written any new posts for a while. It’s not that I haven’t done anything interesting in the past week or so, or am suffering from writer’s mind blockage or apathy or anything like that. Mainly, I haven’t been feeling too well for the past few weeks. That was due to the weather change and to me doing too many things and not getting enough rest. That’s why I decided to take a short break from blogging and the whole rat race (as people call it). Mind you, I still managed to check out a newly opened cafe in my area (to maybe write a review about it), and I had to keep checking and responding to my e-mails, and of course my Facebook page. I also continued to post stuff on that page in an effort to keep things going. Even when I wasn’t feeling too good myself.

But I believe that something good comes out from everything that happens to us in our lives…Taking a short break helped me reflect on my priorities in life and maybe add some balance into other areas of my life.  For the past couple of years, due to personal circumstances, I have been focusing mostly on my career. And since that hasn’t been going too well for me, I think it’s time to re-arrange my priorities in life. I’m not saying that I will write less blog posts or put in less effort into my career path (because I’m not even sure I can do that after all this time and effort that I’ve invested in that area), I just plan to put in more effort into other places that I might have neglected all those years in my search for financial and personal freedom and independence.

What are those other areas you might ask? well, I will leave that for you to figure out. I think it’s easy to know what they are once you read my about page and find out some simple facts about me and my personal life.

One main positive thing that came out from this short break and the connection with other blogger friends was to realize that we should not loose ourselves in our chase for material or success-related goals. We should always be reminded that life is a game and we should have fun while playing it. We should stay grounded and stay true to our selves. We should keep our sense of self-integrity and keep our standards high no matter how bad the going gets tough.

Most importantly, we should try to always help others along the way when we can.

Finally, I would like to mention that a few things need to be revised in my blog. Mostly concerning the topics that I write about. I have driven myself into extreme stress and exhaustion by trying to cover as many interesting topics as I could. And the time has come for that to end.

That’s why I need your thoughts and ideas on what you would like to read more about in this blog?

Here are some options to get you thinking, but any other ideas or views are welcome too.

  • About me and my perspective on life and things from a Saudi woman’s point of view (note: I live in Dubai, UAE)
  • A review of various events taking place in Dubai (you can specify the types of events you like to know about most)
  • A review of restaurants or cafes that I go to
  • Topics/events related to my job search and trying to make it in Dubai (mainly publishing/blogging/journalism)
  •  Would you like to learn more about Saudi/Middle Eastern culture (as that’s where I’m from and where I grew up and lived most of my life)
  • Daily life stories and rants
  • Simple stories or deep thoughts and ideas

Or would you like me to keep the blog as it is and keep doing what I was doing earlier, which was basically a combination of all the above points?

Do let me know by commenting on this post what you would find most entertaining to read about in this blog. I will keep this discussion open, so please feel free to comment any time you read this. There is no deadline for your thoughts and ideas.

Thanks a lot for passing by and following my blog, and I hope that I will continue to offer interesting and helpful posts to my readers and followers. If you think otherwise, do let me know as well!

Love,

Nada (The Rebellious Saudi Diva)