The women’s majlis: Ditch your phone and start living life fully

Nowadays, we're all so busy with social media and technology, sometimes it feels like we forget to breathe properly. Some of us, me included, even forget to look at ourselves in the mirror. It's important to stop and take a look at our reflection so that we can discover who we really are.

Do you know what you are capable of? Do you know your talents? Have you tried to improve your skills? If I asked you to pick up a pen and paper to list five achievements you managed recently, would you be able to?

Unfortunately, some people don’t think they have any skills or talents. If you feel that way, you may not have looked hard enough at yourself to know if you're gifted and have a hidden talent that could change your life.

I wonder if people think they don’t need to improve anything in their lives; that tapping away on their devices is acceptable and they don’t need proper social skills. I sometimes think that maybe the talent that could be worth Dh1 million won’t emerge because they're too lazy to work on it.

I discovered the importance of proper social skills the hard way. For a long while, I occupied myself with social media, and as a result, distanced myself from my family. I thought social media was all I needed, but I found that because of that addiction, I didn’t how to speak around others. I didn’t have the skills to do this, so realising that, I asked myself: "What if I hadn’t wasted so much time with my face in my screen?" Perhaps this behaviour made me lose sight of any talents I may have or relationships I could have formed. Now, I keep worrying about what I missed and if it’s too late to change things.

I decided it’s not, so I started to look at myself in the mirror, and I learnt that I didn’t like who I was. It sounds harsh, but I hated myself. I couldn't look at myself any more. I didn't want to be myself. I wanted to be someone else – someone successful. I looked at myself again, and decided it's up to me to achieve something in this life. In that moment, I remembered what I was dreaming to achieve when I was a child. I put my phone down and started experiencing the different things and activities around me. I tried to learn a new language, I read different genres of books, I tasted traditional food from different countries. Now I’m craving more. I discovered that what you see on the internet is not everything. Yes, you can see it, but can you feel it, taste it or do it? The answer is no.

This is your life, and you decide how you live it. My advice is live your life properly. Live it and feel everything you do. Organise your life and have some goals to achieve. By taking baby steps, you will succeed.

Shamma Alkhaja is a graphic-design graduate of Zayed University and a published author.

If you have a good story to tell or an interesting issue to debate, contact Melinda Healy on [e-mail].

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