Tag: lifestyle

Lifestyle

Long Time, No See

by ZaheerahLeave a Comment on Long Time, No See
Long Time, No See

Hi, hi! 

It has been some time since I’ve sat down and written something for my blog. Last summer, I was sure I had revived my joy for writing, and I was really excited to come back to reviewing and making content for my blog. I’ve mentioned a few times before that since I graduated in 2020, and I’ve been looking for a full-time job. Since I was 17, I have worked mainly as a waitress as I went to college/university while also running this blog as a way to keep myself creative. Lockdown had a massive effect on me and my mental health as it caused many job interviews and internships to cease as companies tried to figure out COVID. I don’t blame them; 2020 was a tough time to figure out how to keep going. 

I had thought that with all my free time while job searching, I was sure to keep my blog going, but instead, I faced a huge mental roadblock. I felt like I couldn’t write reviews because it took away from the time I could be job-searching. I even found myself reading less because I was consumed with the idea that I couldn’t allow myself the pleasure of reading if I still didn’t have a job. In all, I just felt defeated. I write this as I am 24, turning 25 this March and looking back at my early twenties feeling like I’ve done nothing remarkable. 

Sorry for the gloomy post so far. I’m hoping from now on; it will be much more positive. People always say we shouldn’t have to wait for the new year to make a change, but I find it comforting and a lot easier on my brain to use the new year as a refresher and figure out what comes next. 

So, what is next? I don’t know, and I think I’m okay with that. I’ve slowly been returning to reading more and finally sorting through my neglected TBR and ARC list. I began reading webtoons during lockdown, which I have been a great way of easing me back into reading. I do have some old reviews just sitting around that I didn’t feel 100% on posting but looking back at them, the reviews were fine; I just wasn’t in the best head space to share them. I’m excited to feel happy again about making reviews and sharing them with the world, but that isn’t the only thing I’ve been doing. I shared a few pieces of artwork here last year, but I’ve recently returned to drawing, especially digital art, which has been a blessing in disguise. It has helped me a lot whenever I was stressed, giving me another way to have the creative output that blogging usually gave me. 

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top ten tuesday

Changes In My Reading Habits

by Zaheerah2 Comments on Changes In My Reading Habits
Changes In My Reading Habits

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature once hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl! Each week, a new topic is put into place and bloggers share their top ten (or your own amount) accordingly.

Last month, I was notified by WordPress that is was my six year anniversary for registering with them. Which makes the upcoming December, my fifth year since creating my own internet corner. Unless you happen to be the five spam users who followed me in the first year before Reading and Reviews (I was a very original content creator at age sixteen as you can tell) came to life, you’d know this site was meant to be my writing bin. 😂 As an avid user and writer of Wattpad, I was left with a lot of stories that didn’t fit well with me anymore. And this space was meant to keep them, in a private site, away from anyone’s eyes. (You didn’t miss much, fifteen-year-old Zaheerah was basic and unoriginal)

Since it has been almost five years since I created my blog, and I really wanted to use this week’s TTT to reflect on how my reading habits have changed during these almost five years. I came to the conclusion that I have obviously changed quite a bit over the last six years. Since then, I’ve gone through secondary school, college and on my way to having a degree. Education has taken up a lot of the last six years and I’m interested to see how my reading habit will change again once I’ve graduated. I remember, during a shift at work, an old college teacher came by and was telling me how university will be the greatest part of my life. I laughed along in the conversation but it really made me think about myself and how education has always been something of a traumatic experience for me.

I won’t lie and say university was a breeze because it wasn’t. These past three years have made me the most anxious and tired. To be honest, I still wonder if it was ever worth it for me. And when I look back at my blog, I can see where it got too much for because my activity was either busy or completely absent. I even deserted this site for practically a year because I was struggling too much. University took a lot out of me and made coming here on this site less exciting and made blogging a chore rather than something I love. Now that I approach the middle of my final year, my dissertation is almost set in stone, I feel like I’m getting better. I know a career in publishing will difficult to embark on but the past year made me realize how much I truly love the process of making a book. I used to dream of becoming an author, and I still write in my free time, mainly for my own entertainment. (Hey, if no one’s publishing a story about a Muslim teen surviving a zombie apocalypse, then I have to make do with my own shoddy imagination 😂) But having experienced helping other authors with sensitivity reading and editing made me realize the making someone else’s story come to life is just as satisfying. I have no idea what I’m going to do once I have a degree in hand, but I’m happy to be where I am in this moment

I have gotten a bit off track here, but let’s get back on with it: how have my reading habits changed?

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