The Small Joys Tag

Hey girl hey. And boy.

I don’t know about you but the words “quarantine”, “social distancing” and “coronavirus” have been all I was writing and reading about lately that all I wanted to really do is to lie down and breathe. While I was doing that, I remembered that I was tagged looong ago by the beautiful Jasmin to do the Small Joys Tag. And I thought amidst this big issue, I wanted to tone it down a bit and just remember all the little things that bring me joy in my daily life. They’ve become so much more obvious now that I’m spending so much time with myself and family and I encourage you to think about your own small joys too! Let’s get right to the rules (and ooh new tag so new rules *blasts dua lipa- okay I’ll stop)

---

 

I GOT NEW RULES I COUNT ‘EM 

1. Thank the blogger who tagged you!
2. List 15 of your Small Joys (They can be as weird, random, and silly as you want to make them!)
3. Tag 5 blogger friends who bring you joy (and feel free to say why they bring you joy!)
4. Have fun with it!

I GOTTA TELL THEM TO MYSELF – clearly it’s the end of the day please give me a break

---

*In no particular order*

• Pickles

Okay I know it’s weird but I just love pickles and pickled vegetables. Knowing there’s a pickle jar in the house brings me so much joy like I don’t know what it is. It’s not that good for you but it makes me motivated to make sandwiches and to actually make quality meals for myself in the morning. It’s so weird typing this out but pickles are just really good!!

spongebob gets me

 

• Birds Chirping

I’ve come to REALLY appreciate birds once I’ve moved because I don’t think I ever paid attention to birds chirping before. But now that I’ve attempted to become a morning person, birds chirping are one of the best sounds ever and I just feel so at peace when I hear them. And okay random realization but if you whisper ‘subhanallah’ (all praise to God in Arabic) and say it a couple times it actually sounds like birds chirping. At first I was like okay it might just be the s whistling sound but the regular s doesn’t sound like birds as much as subhanallah does. I don’t think birds speak but it blows my mind every time.

 

• My dad’s voice

My dad’s been a teacher for more than 20 years and he just has a natural loud voice. Every time he comes home, you can feel the presence and his voice is just really comforting. My dad is a huge joy and I have no idea what I’d do without him.

 

• Tea

No beverage makes me happier than tea. In our family, we always have a tea break after sunset where we get together and drink tea with biscuits. I’m not even British but the Brits reading this better get what I mean. 😂

 

• Babies

Babies are my lifeeee. They’re cute when they laugh, cry, smell good, smell bad – I don’t care, they’re perfect and I just want to carry them all.

me in the future

 

• A small mall

Y’all small malls are my favouriteee!! There’s always one every time I moved and I used to live in UAE for a while where it has some of the biggest malls in the world but I never really liked them. There was one called Mazyad Mall that was big compared to the ones in Canada but it was one of the smallest in UAE and I just LOVED it. Small malls = less people so it actually ends up feeling really spacious and it’s not as noisy and crowded as other malls.

Mazyad over Dubai mall any day ^^ And obvi all the small malls here in Canada.

 

• Dhar Mann Videos

My siblings and I watch Dhar Mann together every week and although his storylines are cheesy, they just make me smile.

 

• Dubai indent montage song

This one is oddly specific but the Dubai channel has this ring before commercials and I heard it so much growing up. (skip to 0:43)

 

 

 

• Walks

I walk to school and after two years of transportation, I really missed having a school close enough to home. Walks are sooo refreshing and it makes me feel like the world is just one giant room.

 

• Finishing a Workout

After one Pilates video, everything in my body aches but it feels really good that I finished. Once you do Pilates for a while, you start to like the soreness. I don’t know guys – you need to try it for yourself.

 

• My mom’s laugh

My mom’s laugh is so contagious and it makes me happy see her happy. Periodt.

 

• Milk and dates after fasting

Ramadan is right around the corner and y’all I can’t begin to explain how milk tastes after breaking the fast. Like if you drink anything, you can feel it go down your throat and iftar (sunset breakfast) is such a joy overall. P.S. Literally everyone drinks water with dates but milk is where it’s at!!

 

• When the imam (prayer leader) recites from a chapter I memorized in prayer

When I was little, any time someone would recite from a chapter (in the Quran) I knew I’d get so happy because it felt like it was my chapter lol. Obviously now I don’t think that but I feel myself focus just a little more when the imam recites from a chapter that I know.

 

• Group Athkar (Praise)

Supplications and remembrance of God is something I used to struggle with but my local mosque started arranging zoom calls for everyone to supplicate together. One person usually says the morning and evening praises and we follow along but having fixed times to do them with other people has brought me so much joy. And now instead of feeling like I’m too tired to do them, I actually look forward to doing them every day.

 

• YOUR COMMENTS

This is a huge joy but y’all honestly make my day with your comments. They make me so happy and everyone better stop making me emotional because Kleenex is actually out of stock. But seriously, thank you all SO much for reading and taking the time to comment on my posts!!

---

I love all of your blogs but I can only pick 5! I tag all of you to do this but I’ll follow the rules as well.

I Nominate

Jo– Jo is a big contributor to the kleenex stock decrease and I just love how authentic she is in the way she writes. She’s funny, artistic and she doesn’t give herself enough credit for how much of an impact she has on everyone. Joy literally has the word Jo in it so here we are.

Amber– Amber recently came back to the blogosphere and she’s SO kind like how can someone be this kind and compassionate towards everyone? Her blog design is a whole aesthetic and I get so happy when I read her comments and posts.

Gracie – Gracie gives me so much hope for the future. She inspires me so much and I’m CONVINCED that she’s going to be the queen of England soon. Gracie is such a blessing to WordPress and she uplifts everyone purely out of her heart. She’s an amazing writer and she truly is a light!

Kityp0p – I legit feel like I know Kityp0p personally because I’ve been reading her posts since I first started my blog and her photography skills are through the roof! She’s always slaying and she just seems passionate about sharing her daily life on the blogosphere. Her posts make me smile every time!

Lucy– I haven’t read many posts from Lucy but I’ll get to binging asap – her comments are soooo sweet and I just love her personality and her experiences. She’s such a genuine person and her support brings me sooo much joy!

If you aren’t on the list, please feel free to do this and leave a link so I can read them!!

---

Anddd that’s all for today.

What are your small joys?

Do we have any in common?

I’ll see you in my next post.

Bayyy.