I am far from home and it does not get easier
On distance that stops being temporary, and what to build where you are.
أخَذَ رَسولُ اللهِ صلَّى اللهُ عليه وسلَّم بمَنكِبي، فقال: كُنْ في الدُّنيا كَأنَّكَ غَريبٌ أو عابِرُ سَبيلٍ. وكان ابنُ عُمَرَ يقولُ: إذا أمسَيتَ فلا تَنتَظِرِ الصَّباحَ، وإذا أصبَحتَ فلا تَنتَظِرِ المَساءَ، وخُذ مِن صِحَّتِكَ لمَرَضِكَ، ومِن حَياتِكَ لمَوتِكَ
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ took me by the shoulder and said: be in this world as if you were a stranger, or one passing along a road. And Ibn Umar used to say: when evening comes, do not wait for morning, and when morning comes, do not wait for evening; take from your health for your illness, and from your life for your death.”Translated by Uswah draft, awaiting review
Sahih al-Bukhari 6416
Narrator : Abdullah ibn UmarGraded by : al-BukhariSource :
Distance stops being an interruption at some point and becomes the arrangement. The turn is not resignation; it is deciding to belong somewhere before the belonging feels earned.
What to doPick one place near you and go weekly until people there know your face.
Next
I lost someone and the days feel flat
On grief that does not look like grief, and on what the sources ask of you in it.
I have been waiting a long time
On duas that have not been answered yet, and what waiting is understood to be doing.
Someone keeps asking me for money
What to do when the asking never stops, and what the Prophet ﷺ told a man who came to him for help.