Every cloud has a silver lining. Things I say "Alhamdulillah" for (in retrospect). March 2020.

*"Alhamdulillah" means an expression of Gratitude to God, Allah. It means "All praises to Allah."

Hello everyone! I hope your loved ones are in the best of health during this time. So we are all in the midst of a lock-down, and Covid-19 has become a global pandemic, bringing us all to a standstill. I was scrolling through my photos on my phone, and came across the above picture. And I thought to myself how quickly circumstances in life can change. I laughed to myself at the so called "silly" things we take for granted, and it made me reflect about the everyday things that I said "Alhamdulillah " for.

1. Being able to go to a cafe.
2. To be able to stand closer than 2 metres to someone. 
3. Going on holiday with my siblings.
4. Coughing without someone giving you a death glare. 
5. Going for a walk in the park without any time limits. 
6. To be able to not always be on tenterhooks about when the next death will be announced. 
7. To be able to go shopping at the weekend. 
8. The sense of Peace of not consciously wondering if my loved ones will make it through this time.
9. To not feel as though you must wear a mask when going outside. 
10. To continue with the actual daily routine of going to work, coming home and socialising. 
11. Allowing people to come to visit you. 
12. Seeing my friends. 
13. To not have to consciously wash my hands. 
14. Looking forward to visiting loved ones. 
15. The freedom of walking in a public space an unlimited number of times. 
16. That I have enough food and necessities required to stay healthy. 
17. Seeing my class children. 
18. Being physically close to my sister who lives away from home. 
19. Being chilled any time the phone rings at my house. 
20. Hope.

Corona Virus has started to put everything into perspective for me, and is motivating me to become increasingly diligent about what I consider important.

It's certainly been a humbling experience highlighting the basic needs of humans, which we all need in order to survive. To date, it's claimed over 45000 lives, and will continue to claim more, unfortunately. It sees no difference between young and old, social standing, gender, religion, culture, or any other way shape or form people categorize themselves. It just is there, a black cloud hovering over our heads, as unpredictable as the British weather, with no warning as to when it will rain. 

In the midst of this gloom, this certainly will be a time when we begin to unearth and appreciate all the gems that we do have in our society; key-workers, community spirit, and acts of charity being some of them.

 I really hope that this will be a time of discovery for us all. A time to discover silver linings from the Coronavirus Cloud, because there are plenty of silver linings which are, and which will continue to become apparent. I hope this will be a time when we begin to appreciate that it's the small things which actually matter, which make life worth living, and that it's the seemingly insignificant things which allow us to be content in our daily routines. 

Till next time, stay blessed and happy. 

Ameen!

Shai 

xxx