Always Be Yourself. Express Yourself, Have Faith In Yourself. Don’t Go Looking For A Successful Personality

I think people need to understand that part of living a healthy life is having different people who understand different parts of you, so that you don’t overwhelm your friends and expect too much of them, or ignore valuable relationships because they feel “incomplete”.

We all want to be fully seen and understood, but it’s not shallow or meaningless to just have a pal you talk about TV shows with who isn’t also, like, your platonic soulmate. That’s still your friend! You still enhance each other’s lives with your company. Not everything that matters is profound.

I think a lot of you are lonely because you’re waiting around for someone who sees into your soul instead of just plain old lookin’ at the people in your life, finding common ground, and planting a little garden there. Even if that garden only grows Star Trek fan theories and memes, it’s still good.

It just… makes me real sad that you guys can’t imagine a friendship where you don’t talk about sex and trauma constantly, or that you think these are prerequisites for “real” friendship. Like, it legitimately breaks my heart.

I'm not actually smart, I just prep for a class like I'm going into battle

Advice I gave someone today was: 'do it stupid.'

She wants to learn photography. Do it stupid. Take a million photos. Don't think about why they're not good. Enjoy the process of taking photos.

Pick out tge ones you like the most and figure out why you like them. Is it because the subject is centered? Is it because you caught them doing something cool? Is it because the light made cool shadows?

Do it stupid. If you try to do it smart, youll get stuck. If you think too much you'll never get to doing. Do it stupid.

i really like just knowing things. learning new things is great of course but it truly does hit differently when you see a painting and know which era it's from and why it was painted in that way particular and how the artist was influenced by their time. it's nice just knowing how an author grew up and how that might have influenced their work. it is a good feeling

Can't get over the prominence of the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac in my childhood. Can't get over the prominence of the moral of God above family and friends in my childhood. That always tore me apart.

i have never met an unpsychotic person who knows what it actually means to “not encourage the delusion” …not a single one

i think one of the most important things you learn about making connections with others is that a significant portion of the time people just do not know theyre doing what theyre doing

Dark Academia for Brown People

 Most people, when they think of dark academia is books (that’s the whole point) and ancient languages such as Latin or Ancient Greek. I’m here to tell you that you all are SLEEPING on brown culture. Love that is conveyed in the languages of Persian and Urdu (my native language) crosses borders. Sure, Shakespeare and Sappho wrote great pieces of literature but the stories and poems of Rumi, Manto, Hafez and Iqbal have a special place in my heart. 

Some of my favourites are:- (all are translated)

Sit at my grave with wine and a minstrel in a trance, so your smell will raise me from the dead.

HAFEZ

My lover’s sadness lit a fire in my heart that burned my chest, there was a fire in his house that burned the nest.

HAFEZ

O the day turned night, what a shame, a gazelle of kindness a lion became, my partner and lover grew tired of my words and prayers too.

RUMI

These are my personal favourites. I can always make a longer post if you all want.

Female poets deserve a whole other post.

As someone who goes to an English-Medium school, we are always taught to converse in English, see the language as a part of yourself but deny a place to Urdu. As I grow older, I have come to appreciate my identity and so should all my fellow brown people. Take pride in your mother tongue.