My Story with 2011

2011 was the learning experience in my whole life!! that learning stage where I learnt so many things about Life, Love, Friendship, health, God, family, people, …It was the most exciting year of my life. Yeap!!! It all started with the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me, meeting my besty…( at least i thought so!!), and it all ended with me loosing my besty!!!( nothing hurts as much as loosing a "Good"friend). It all started with so many blessings on my professional life which I am so thankful to God for. It taught me lessons; it gave me inspirations to never give up no matter how the road gets rocky. It made me realize how blessed I am by the wonderful friends around me. It opened my eyes to a very special person in my life whom i will always be grateful for all the support, love, and care poured towards me. It made me realize that life is short and I should enjoy it to the fullest. It showed me that life and people can hurt a lot sometimes, and all I should do is put myself together and continue and never tend to hurt anyone!

2011 was my life turning point. The past few months, I fully realized how life is precious and how important for me to value it. I realized that nothing in the world can be more important than a good health. 2011 taught me how to cry and wipe the tears and stand up and say I am fine and I will survive. 2011 made me a stronger woman…!!!

2011 taught me that I can never judge a book from the cover, but rather wait until I read it all. I was taught that a person can never be trusted unless tested…and it showed me that not all people I loved deserved my trust. 2011 taught me that individuals can change as life changes and as opportunities rises; it taught me that I should never allow anybody to step on my dignity. It taught me that I am way better than what I think I am and it inspired me to always stay the way I am and do nothing but strive to be a better person.

2011 showed me that people can be so cruel in this life. But with a Good heart, I can always respond better to their cruelty and teach them a lesson. 2011 proved to me that when one door closes, a better one opens and that I should never loose hope.

2011 came with many blessings on my road. I was blessed with a good career, a better health, more spiritual connection with God, still being sane and sound, a great heart that can only love and wishes the best for all the people who come across, and above all with all the love that every one of my friends, family members and the people I know have towards me.

2011 made me realize that without all of you, my dear friends and family members, I am nobody. So, to those who have loved me, I say thank you for your love. I love you too. To those who supported me throughout the past year I say great job! You saved me. To those who inspired me I say keep doing it I love it J To those who prayed for me during my down times I say God Bless you, and to all my family, friends, and acquaintances, I say I love you all so much and I wish you a happy new year. In this New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, never in want!

Goodbye 2011…Welcome 2012

With Love

Houssna

From the Heart: surviving a break up

It is funny how most of the relationships that starts with a strong emotional connection, excitement, absolute happiness, a feeling of comfort and "la VIE En Rose” tend to end with the most painful and dramatic sorrow! I keep on asking myself this question? Is it only we, women that feel that the world has ended after a break up, especially , with someone we had some intense feelings for, Or do men also go through the same path?

Before I start my humble analysis of how a woman or a man deals with the emotional trauma caused by a breakup, I would like to emphasize one thing, that there is nothing called “ I break up with her/ him and I feel fine!!!” Most men or women who break up with their partner will feel sad, troubled, and not at ease for some days, weeks, months and even years for some people who might find it so hard to move on with their lives and call it a day!

One of the most important things that a person should never forget is that : “ It is OK to be or feel sad after a relationship has ended” We are human beings, and no matter how much we try to do to avoid that discomfort that, unfortunately, tends to visit us all the time after a breakup, we will still miss that special person. It simply means that while trying to move on into a new life, the memories of that wonderful person that we loved one day is chasing us and not letting our sadness rest in peace!!! But, that sadness is not eternal, it will fade away once you follow simple steps:

1- Accept the fact that it is over: I did a survey few weeks ago on break ups and I interviewed some men and women on their opinion on what makes a break up so hard and 85% of the answers were related to the fact that it gets so hard to accept that the man or woman we loved is now an ex! The first healthy step in your recovery would be taking control of the situation and believing that it is Over. Keep reminding yourself every day that it is over. and believe me, you will realize how fast you will recover from that heartbreak.

2- Do not, and do not, jump into another relationship so early: Most of the time, men tend to jump into a rebound relationship with another woman right after breaking up with “ The Girlfriend”. This is not a generalization, for I have known men who have taken their time to heal and recover and find the right person after a while. History, shows that no rebound relationship has been successful. Suffering after a break up is for sure better thansuffering while in a relationship with another woman or man who would be nothing but a victim of some old feelings that have not been mourned!!

3- Keep yourself away from him or her during the first months: Delete his or her number from your phone, do not google them on facebook, do not befriend their friends to see their profiles, do not create another account if you have been blocked on facebook so that you can have access to their profile, do not and do not put yourself in a “pity” situation by keeping on calling, texting, emailing,…. I know that when you miss that somebody.. you tend not to think about what you want to do and most of the time, you will end up regretting that email you sent or that text or that phone call. Let time heal your wounds, let time comfort your sorrow. With time, you will realize how mature you become in dealing with a break up trauma!

Get yourself busy: It is funny how life can turn us away from people we loved so dearly and people we have enjoyed their company , their talks, their little chat, and their calls. While in the relationship, most of us, women and men, tend to forget the outside world and we live in a small world where nobody but you and her/ him. We cut contact with most of our friends, we decrease our friends circle, we become so dependent on each other, so addicted to each other. Then a break up happens, and our life becomes empty! My advise to every men and woman out there is This: “ Friends are so rare to find, and true friends are a blessing to us. If you find that true friend, never allow anybody to make you stay away from him or her. Because in needy time, like for instance after a break up period, only a true friend will stand on your side.” There are million of things that can get you busy so that you do not spend all your free time thinking about your ex!

Do not take it personal: Do not be harsh on yourself, It is not your fault. That man or that woman is now called your ex for a reason. Be sure that you are not alone even if you think so. There are million of other women and men out there in this world who are feeling the same way you do. You will cry, you will not find it easy to sleep, you will not be able to focus, you will get sick, you will miss them, you will try to be in touch, …but it is only temporary. One day you will wake up and laugh and say yay It is over!! Love yourself, because only you can bring that happiness back into your life!!

Get closer to God: There is no better therapy in life than being close to God. Pray , pray and pray. We go through hard times because God wants us to get closer to Him, to pray and ask him for guidance. The closer you become to God, the more peace you will get, the faster you will accept that it is over and the faster your sorrow and sadness will be gone.

Talk about how you feel. If you cant find anybody to talk to. Write a letter, a blog, a journal, where you can put your thoughts. This has helped so many people deal with their post break ups grief. Every time you feel the need to call your ex or email him or her. Take a book and write whatever you wanna say . put all your anger on that paper. You will notice how relaxed you will feel after you finish writing it.

And Finally, remember that Post break up is not a fun time for most of us at all. We do go through real hard time. Some people manage to get over their ex in a short period of time ( mostly men), others, take more time in doing that.( Mostly women!) . If you are going through a break up, do not forget that the process will definitely take time, but with time, better things come!

H.J

Why Me?

“To all the people who feel, felt or will feel lost at a certain time of their lives”

How many of us have felt lost at a certain time of their lives? Not just one, or two but the majority have crossed that path at least once or twice in their lives if not to say every time they try to make a decision related to a certain aspect of their lives.

Success is what everyone wants. We were all born with the passion to succeed and achieve. Each one of us adopts a different method leading towards that success. With that goal in mind we cross many steps in our lives, we meet various people that affect our lives in both negative and positive ways, we travel to different places and get acquainted to newer cultures, learn new languages,…And all these factors contribute to us adopting new ideas, challenging our old ones, getting rid of some of our old habits and welcoming new ones.. Then, we start to struggle in our own ways to get the perfect job that pays the most, get the highest degrees with the best future even if we don’t like the major, get married to the most successful man or woman, buy the most expensive items… So we lead a life full of non stop race and challenges, and in the midst of all this, our worries increase, our ambitions develop, and our minds give born to a situation called confusion or being lost!

In an early article of mine I have spoken about the importance of not only setting goals in life but making those goals happy ones; in the sense that if my goal or your goal is not a happy one, you will reach it after a series of hard work, sacrifices, dedication, perseverance and a whole set of motivational exercises, but you will find yourself not enjoying it once achieved..!

I always believed that each one of us has worked hard enough in direct and indirect ways to achieve a goal in life. Some of us have been successful in getting what they want, others have been finding it hard to get even one third of what they strive to get due to many factors, and therefore find themselves in a situation that we can summarize in two words: Why me?

Personally speaking, I have crossed the “Why me” Situation many times in my life and I know many people who have experienced such a “being lost” situation when making decisions about a career change, marriage, dating, divorce, traveling, having babies… Especially at today’s world when going on one direction has become almost impossible and a person is often obliged to make a stop at different junctions and ask for directions to be sure he or she is on the right road to his or her destination.

Through my article I would like to specify the fact that we are all humans and being lost at a certain point in life is totally a natural aspect that can be treated with many ways apart from sitting and repeating the phrase : I feel lost or reproaching one self by saying why me?

There are simple baby steps that each one of us needs to follow to jump out of such a situation and welcome a life full of satisfaction. I always insist on the fact that happiness starts from within, from us, from the way we see life and the way we thank God for what we have. The more we appreciate the little we have, the more we will get, and the happier we will become. Thus, our worries, and our loss will start to gradually dismantle and eventually disappear.

If you are currently feeling lost about a situation, please remind yourself that it is just temporary, it might take days, months or years, and it will stop because you will find your road eventually and you will get to your happy goal. Then why being trapped in a self torture status when all you need to do is this:

1- Set a happy goal in life ( it is very simple (e.g): don’t make your goal only getting a job that pays off well, but make your goal getting a job about which you have a huge passion and love.)

2- Plan your life and your goal carefully ( I would say plan with both your mind and heart.)

3- Consult with the right people (sometimes in life, we need mentors, friends, people with whom we can have a little chat and refresh our ideas.)

4- Stop telling yourself I feel lost ( It will lead you nowhere)

5- Remind yourself all the time the following: what I need to do to get out of that vicious circle?( take action)

6- Restore your self esteem and listen to yourself ( only you can help yourself to achieve what you want)

7- Be closer to God ( the closer you are to God, the less confusion you will have)

8- Smile and Be happy J Life is too short, so make it full of passion and happy goals

H.J