Hello everyone,
This post is just an announcement to let you know that I’m now writing and publishing on a new web site. The new blog is called Saudi Diva. It will cover travel, culture, hotels and spas.
You can follow me on Word Press by hitting the “follow” button on this page:
Alternatively, you can follow my blog’s Facebook Page, by simply hitting the “like” button on this page:
Thank you all for the support and see you at the new blog!
Love,
Saudi Diva XXX
This year, my friends and I chose a Peruvian restaurant for our Birthday Iftar celebration. My friend’s husband’s birthday is on the 16th of July. My birthday falls on the 15th of the same month. So we’ve been doing a one day celebration with our groups of friends for the past two years.
Tesoro is a fine dining Peruvian concept located at the new Taj Hotel Dubai. The place has a very eclectic and modern feel to it. It’s also very spacious with a huge terrace overlooking the Burj Khalifah.
Thankfully, everyone had a great time and loved the tasty creations by the Chefs at Tesoro.
So, another year has passed. I’m 35, single and still looking for a suitable job or paid internship in Dubai.
I’m grateful for the good friends that I have in this magical city, and those who shared my special day with me.
I’m also blessed for being able to constantly learn new things and new ways to develop and grow – both professionally and personally.
I’m thankful for the experiences that I had and that I continue to have. Like doing random activities, meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures, and discovering something new along the way.
What’s my plan for future days?
Honestly, I think it’s time for me to be more self-involved and self-centered. Nothing can be more disappointing to a diva than investing time and energy into projects or people and not getting similar vibes in return.
Some people like to put their self-interests first, set their own rules, and then expect others to entertain them. Well, I can publicly declare that I’m not Mother Teresa and that I never will be!
When I give someone my time, it’s because I genuinely want to. But I also have realistic expectations to be treated in the same way!
Basically, it’s now time for me to focus more on my career and personal life. I need to eventually land a full-time role that I enjoy doing. I also need to find a loving and supportive partner.
As for this blog – a project that has been so exciting to work on, and very close to my heart. It was an honest representation of my life, my struggles, my dreams and aspirations.
The time for this website to end is getting near. But I have plans to start another blog with a different niche. You can stay updated with my news and new blog news by following me on social media:
Instagram: nadaalghowainim
Update: New Blog is now Live!
Here’s the link for my new blog:
I’m very active on Twitter and Instagram these days. So make sure to follow me to stay in touch with my news.
Being 35 and single means that I have the strength and independence to make significant life decisions.
It also makes for a good time to reflect on those life decisions and possibly rethink my priorities.
Love,
The Rebellious Saudi Diva XXX
Bonus Track to listen to while working or reading this post!
As most days in the city of Dubai, it was hot and sunny and I was walking at the Marina promenade after a nice breakfast at a cafe in the area. And as I was lost in my own trail of silly thoughts – mostly about planning what to do next – a certain sight caught my attention and brought back intense and sad memories.
The image that made me look was that of a teenage girl wearing a loose fitting grey T-shirt and short denim shorts speeding away on a skateboard. While this could be a very ordinary sight for most people from Western countries, for me; this was nothing but a purely broken dream!
As a Saudi teenager living in Saudi, and at the same time being exposed to the Western world and lifestyle through TV, books, travel or the city’s expat residential compounds, I very badly wanted to own a skateboard and ride it somewhere (even if it’s in our house’s garden). I must admit that I was more of a tomboy back in those days. So being able to skateboard was my ultimate dream at the time. But because I was living in a country where you had to adhere to certain rules and regulations, and because I was the daughter of highly over-protective and controlling parents, my dream was buried and never saw life.
When I reflect on this incident today, as a 30-something year old Saudi living in the UAE, I can say that my restrictions have diminished, but surely haven’t been completely eliminated. I believe that even after our physical restrictions have been removed; in my case it was my parents’ controlling and over-protective behaviour, the effects and imprints of those conditioned beliefs continue to haunt us.
The ironic part of it is that I’ve seen this kind of unconscious attachment to restricting thoughts or actions in some of the people I have met who don’t necessarily come from strict countries or cultures. We all share one thing in common though, we were raised in a restricting environment, and have been trained to always act, behave or speak in a specific manner. We were always under the scrutiny of someone, whether it was our parents, spouses, family members or even the communities we lived in.
It’s astonishing how we continue to limit ourselves and our life experiences long after those boundaries and restrictions have been removed. Sometimes, our thoughts follow the same confining patterns that we have developed over the years. And it becomes almost impossible to break free from limiting behaviours and thoughts that we don’t agree with or want to possess.
After many years of being confined, oppressed, and judged for the simplest of things, an imaginary bubble is created. Sadly for some of us who have lived in that bubble for the most part of our childhood, adolescent and adult life, breaking away and bursting that bubble for good proves to be a highly challenging and time-consuming task.
Luckily, the Universe has helped me meet some good people – who later became friends – who share my “bubble” life story, can understand my struggles, and can strongly relate to my dreams and aspirations. Despite the fact that we are all still relatively living in that bubble, I believe that with the support of a strong social circle, we can all grow and evolve to become the free spirits that we were born to be.
Having said that, I’m not so sure how I would look wearing a casual T-shirt and hot denim shorts while skateboarding in my fifties! As it might take me a while to eventually get to that kind of personal freedom. I guess we’ll have to wait and see 
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.
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)
