Asalaam alaikum lovely ladies!

I just had to share with you a little tiny breakthrough I’ve had this week. As many of you may know from previous posts, I’ve been Muslim for 6 and a half years now and I used to wear hijab full time until 5 years ago when I took it off following a series of abuse. Since then I’ve been battling with myself internally about putting it back on, especially since my son was born last year.

Well, as Christmas is always a difficult time of year with having an entirely Christian family, I turned my feeling of flatness in to something positive and went out on 25th with my son, wearing a scarf for the first time in a long time. The first trip out was just in my car so I didnt encounter anyone face to face. Then on 26th I challenged myself a bit more and went for a 20 minute walk around our neighbourhood. I told myself I would look everyone I passed in the eye and say ‘hello’ as I normally do when out walking - I didn’t want to hide my face and give the impression I was nervous or ashamed. I want people to know I am normal and that Muslims are normal people! And then today, I stepped it up a bit more and went to the local shop in a scarf :)

I know these things seem minuscule to those who wear hijab every single day, but it’s taken me a lot of courage to do and I’m taking it in small steps. So far, reactions have been neutral or better, nothing negative. But I hope by taking it slow that I will be ready when the inevitable negativity does come.

I’ve also decided to start a personal blog to communicate with my family and friends about how Islam affects my life day to day. We are all so spread out across the country and no one ever talks to me about my religion - it’s been a wall of silence for years. So I hope to break that wall down and start conversations with them by showing them Islam is not an alien lifestyle and hopefully answering some of their questions that they’re too nervous to ask. InshaAllah.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. I just had to share with those of you who understand and go through many of the same challenges :)