Tag: life

Just writing

I Still Have An Accent

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‘I still have an accent,’ an acquentence said one day, as we were having tea and cake at a café.

I told her that I didn’t notice that at all, as her English was so good, but she didn’t seem convinced. ‘I can’t wait to get rid of it,’ she insisted, making it seem like a big problem. I couldn’t help but wonder why it was a big problem.

Do you think it’s a big problem to have an accent?

Honestly, I don’t mind. Why would you mind if your mother tongue is different from the language you’re using for communication in your new place? In fact,  I find it interesting, different, and even special. Isn’t it the same when a native English, or French, or any other speaker speaks Arabic with an accent of their own tongue?

Over the years I have found that it’s hard for English native speakers to pronounce the ‘H’ in my name because it’s followed by ‘L’. Therefore, they drop the H, and instead of Nahla, they pronounce it Nala. I understand the difficulty, and don’t mind. We are created with different tongues, aren’t we? Isn’t that encouraging to learn and understand others?

In another context, a few years ago, while we were on holiday in Tunisia, I found it so interesting how their Arabic has a French accent. I really liked how different and unique it sounded. This is the same reaction I have when I meet Arabic speaking people from the Gulf region. Sometimes, it takes me a moment or so to understand, but I like how it sounds. I wonder how common it is to find people speaking the same language with different accents. Isn’t that what they call the tapestry of linguistic diversity?

The only exemption from this phenomenon is children. They are so quick, so ready to become bilingual with a fluent accent. I’ve noticed that in my own children, as well as other bilingual children. Perhaps, that’s because children don’t force it or overthink it. It just slips off their tongues so naturally and easily.

I still have an accent, and I like it.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Are you even human?

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Do you think it is a positive or a negative comment? I’m really curious, wondering what comes first to your mind just right now. 

As for me, it’s positive, definitely positive. That’s how I feel and think about it, though unfortunately, it puts humainty into a very critical situation.

Imagine, you received your exam paper with a full mark result. ‘Are you even human?’ they asked, full of wonder, because it seemed you were the one who still uses the best miraculous creation: your brain.

In another scenario, imagine you wept your heart out after your small bird died. ‘Are you even human?’ they asked, again full of wonder, because it seems that butchers outnumbered all civil professions.

You see how you, as a human, need your brain and your consciousness, to prove your capabilities and uniqueness to deserve your living on this earth. After all, God creates us not to be robots or angels, but to be humans with superior qualities compared to everything else. 

Are you even human? Yes, it’s a great honour to be.

Does it make sense? I hope it does.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

A Craving Hobby!

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Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?


Some hobbies can depend on mood, taste, company – and, more importantly, the moment. Have you ever noticed that? I have.

I love colouring with pens and pencils, but I’ve rarely tried using brushes. I believe all children enjoy colouring at different levels; it somehow captures their attention and relax their mood. Colouring is the hobby I crave, like special things at special moments, shared with very special people.

So, in my childhood, I loved and enjoyed colouring. But as we grow, some old hobbies are pushed aside and eventually  become abandoned. But, they don’t completely vanish.

During my pregnancy, I craved colouring. A month after my husband and moved to the UK for his postgraduate studies, I bought children’s colouring books and pens.  I coloured them all in no time, selected my favourites, cut them out, and decorated our walls with them. They added life, beauty, and much fun to our small flat. However, I didn’t crave it in my second pregnancy, and it was pushed aside by the demands of life.

My faded hobby revived and was full of fun when God blessed me with a daughter after my two boys. We used to colour together and challenge each other to see who could make the best colouring. However, as we discovered other favourite hobbies, colouring was once again pushed aside.


They say colouring is an effective alternative to meditation, and it truely is. It extends time and makes every moment more enjoyable, putting all your worries and fears at the back of your mind. Perhaps that’s why you might crave it at special moments with special people.



With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Old Habits

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Old habits die hard. Or, can they?

Have you ever thought that this saying relates to both good and bad – or unnecessary habits. I mean its a double – meaning saying.

“Old habits never die,” is a great and encouraging saying, espcially when it comes to positive habits, like brushing your teeth before going to bed, or taking off your shoes before entering the house.

However, “old habits never die” can also relate to negative habits that you can neither give up nor change. In such cases, you may feel trapped inside their strong, tight net. Still, with determination and strong will, it is believed that your bad old habits can either die or transformed into positive alternatives.

Have you read The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier. In the story, Medge, the deceased wife, is portrayed by her husband as having the worst habbit that seems not just hard, but impossible to die. No only that, her husband puts all the blame for their unhappy marriage on her, as if he were an angelic husband fallen down from heaven.

Can you guess what Medge’s old habit that never dies ?

Here’s my review link if you want to know.

https://nh825.wordpress.com/2025/02/06/the-apple-tree/



With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Perspective And Life

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How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?

Your perspective of something or someone is how you see, think, understand, and feel them, right?

And life? What is life? It’s how you are here. It’s the breath coming in and out. It’s your heart and soul. Am I right?

My perspective of life is that it’s a gift, the most precious gift we’ve been blessed not only to have, but also to live. It’s the one and only priceless gift you’ll ever have in your lifespan on this earth.

For how many people would you say; ‘You are my heart and soul.’ Only the most dearest.

How many things would you put your heart and soul into? Only the best.

Time slips through your hands just like water. Good and bad moments and events come along your the journey. Still, your previous gift remains priceless, irreplaceable. If only we can appreciate it, and never give up, all other challenges would be easier to manage and overcome.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Endearment

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Is there anyone who wouldn’t like to hear or receive some endearment? Genuine ones. Pure, simple ones. Endearments that are not related to flattery or hidden self-interest.

Although people are different,  I believe the possibility that one’s heart will not soften at receiving an endearing word or gesture is small. Even those with rock – solid hearts, or worse, dead hearts, should have a spot of tenderness hidden deep whithin them that would respond to a genuine endearment. Why, even animals and plants can be affected by endearing behaviour.

Now, can you think of the opposite? Instead of being the receiver, being the transmitter. In other words, can everyone instead of receiving endearment, be able to give any? I don’t think this is common because not everyone has this talent.

Imagine two people watching a singing robin at their windowstill.
‘Hello there, sweet, cute, little friend,” one says feeling so happy at the sight of the bird.
‘He’s just a bird,’ the second says, not in bad way, but he simply can’t add any more, believing that a robin is one of so many birds.

Can there be special, irreplaceable endearments? Of course there can, though nowadays, I doubt if people really care about that. A year or two ago, I noticed what I believe is an odd phenomenon. Either on social media or at social gatherings, I heard children calling their parents by their given names. In the beginning, I thought they were just joking or it was a game. Mine make the same joke at home, somtimes. But what I saw, was not for joking, playing, or disrespect. It was like a new fashion taught by parents, like a new, modern parenting style. Honestly, I find it odd, and disliked it. What could be a more special endearment than hearing “mama” and “papa”, “mum” and “dad” from your children? Who else would call you “mum” and “dad” from their own hearts?

Endearment isn’t only about sweet words.Nicknames and your own name can be just as endearing when uttered by a special person, or even given genuinely by a stranger. It is something that can warm the heart and fill it with happiness.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Curiosity and Adventure

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Are they closely related?

You might find yourself curious about something or someone. You might be eager to seek more details, sneaking and sniffing here and there like a cat after a mouse, and staying alert day and night like a secret detective on a top- secret mission. What you are investigating might be non of your business, or it could be part of your own business. In any case, you won’t rest, won’t give up, and will never feel satisfied until you uncover what have been mysterious for you.

Isn’t this what curiosity is? Am I exaggerating, a bit?

However, you won’t be curious unless you are interested, attached, and involved with that specific person or thing. For example, when your neighbour’s driveway is suddendly full of cars, your curiosity might soar to its highest levels. But, you won’t be as interested in a similar situation on the next street.

Hence comes the close relation between curiosity and adventure, for, of course, you won’t be glued in the spot if you’re curious about something or someone. You’ll need to move in one direction, or all directions. However, this is when problems, dangers, and mistakes become too close to happen if you’re not careful enough. Your curiosity could become like the one that killed the cat. That’s when the two cousins, curiosity and adventure, turn you blind and deaf to reason, and push you from the brink of the cliff.

Strange how both curiosity and adventure can brighten your life and also darken it!

Have you read Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier? Mary’s story might give you a living example of these two related traits?

Here’s the link for my review:

/https://nh825.wordpress.com/2025/01/27/jamaica-inn/

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Would You Take The Risk?

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If you had a choice to play the big gamble in your life, to stand still before a fully loaded gun save one of its chambers, listen to the click of its trigger, and wait for the bullet that might be fired and hit you dead, or for the one that would never come out. You might end up lying dead on the ground, or you might go home with a million pounds. What would you do?

That was one of the oddest and simplest questions I never expected to be asked during my converstation exam in my final year at university. To be honest, I was pleased to have this one, and I felt so blessed.

Do you want to know why?

Simply because my answer slipped off my tongue without giving it a second thought.Things wouldn’t have been the same if any of my friends’ questions had been mine. It wasn’t because theirs were harder, but because, sometimes, you just can’t talk genuinely about everything.

‘No, I wouldn’t risk my life.’

‘But, it’s a million pounds. There’s a chance you could get it.’

‘Even if they paid me the money in advance to enjoy and spend my life before making the gamble, I wouldn’t take the risk. My life is priceless, and my God didn’t bless me with a divine soul to gamble with it.’

That was my answer, and that year I got the best mark of my converstation exams over the four years of my university studies.

Money will come anyway, whether a little or in abundance, but you live once, and this once can be millions lives, both imaginary and real. Would you risk all that for just a million pound that might worth nothing in the next hour?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

P.S. I think nowadays the million pounds prize should be, at least, a trillion.

Just writing

A friend to all

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… is not a friend at all.

Have you ever heard this saying? It makes sense, doesn’t it?

Isn’t it odd that one can be your friend and your rival’s, your opponent’s, even your enemy’s? You can, of course, be kind to all, but not a friend to all. I am not talking about social media friends, for in this case you can be a friend to millions. Online frienhip is exactly what it implies “online”. I am talking about real, close friends who you can trust, love, agree, or even disagree with. Perhaps that’s why true friendship is a rare gem, too hard to find and too precious to keep.

In fiction, and in real life, true friendhip could take you by surprise. An old man might be a young child’s best friend, a man of the world might be a saint’s, a prisoner might be his keeper’s, and an animal might be a man’s. In all cases, its the quality,  not quantity that makes unique friendships.

Wouldn’t it be better if this friend of all should be a passerby after all?

Perhaps you can change the saying and add whatever you like.

A friend to all …..

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Books

The promise

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Have you ever promised someone something?
Of course I have, we all do.

Have you been true to your promise?
Hmm … sometimes, most of the times.

Have you ever broken any?
Well… I can’t remember

Can you trust someone who breaks their promise, who couldn’t stand by their word?
Never … but unless it was inevitable.

Would your answers be any similar?

You might forgive once, but when things happen twice or more, nothing can heal the wound of mistrust. It’s better not to give a promise at all than to give one with any possibility of being unable to keep it. It’s not only unethical to break a promise, but also heartbreaking, disappointing, and deceiving.

However, what if the promise itself is impossible, dangerous, or unethical? Would you blindly, stubbornly fulfill it? Or would you listen to your heart and reason, and break it? 

That’s what the new book I am currently reading is all about. A girl, in her early twenties,  gives her bedridden mother a promise to move and live with her aunt after her death. From the very beginning, starting with the cold letter she receives from her aunt, to the long, miserable journey she makes, to people’s fear and shock about her destination, to the first sight of her aunt and her husband, everything seems to be shouting at her to break her promise and forget about it. If her mother were able to rise from her grave, she would do, so just to tell her daughter to forget about that mistaken promise and flee from her Aunt’s house. But, the girl, full of curiosity and stubbornness, stuck to the promise all the same.

I’ll let you know more when I finish it.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

P.S. The promise is not the title of the book