The Pandemic Through the Eyes of a Young Muslim Girl
- By Hafsa Syed
"Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of."
No doubt, we are all living in a very challenging time. The Muslim youth is no exception. Tackling mental health, school and a social life today is a struggle. It is a journey the majority of you have taken and some of which are still taking. A journey I am still taking. It is clear that the pandemic has altered our view and approach to each of these topics of discussion. Mental health in particular. It has changed how we deal with the problem, our perspective and our attitude.
The lack of attention given by our society has contributed a large part to the widespread mental-health problems that have been plaguing us for a very long time, which have now been worsened by covid-19. My aim is to voice my perspective of how I personally, with help of others, dealt with this.
No doubt, covid-19 has unleashed a wide range of very difficult emotions. People are struggling with tremendous anxiety, uncertainty, fear, sadness, loneliness and depression. But, how do we deal with this skilfully? Everyone's situation is different, how I would deal with something is not necessarily the same way my sister would. However, something that helped my whole family get through the endless string of negativity that surrounds us was establishing a process called reframing.
It is the process of deliberately thinking differently about our situation. Reframing it. The fact is, the lens through which we view our circumstances makes all the difference in the world insofar as how we feel. Thoughts are like the front wheels of the car and feelings are like the back wheels. We must be in the driver seat, steering intentionally. Whichever way the front wheels turn, the back wheels follow. So paying attention to our thoughts moment by moment, and making sure they are aligned with the Qur’an and Sunnah, is crucial. The mind is like a muscle that must be trained through specific exercises, and our tradition is rich in the techniques for doing so.
This technique really helped me deal with the gloomy atmosphere of lockdown and isolation. A small example would be when feeling anxious, I would mentally review what I had been thinking about what had raised the difficult emotions. Then do a ‘search and replace,’ deliberately and intentionally replacing your dark thoughts with the Light of The Quran or Hadith. Here is one example: “I’ll never get through this.” and replace it with: “Allah never burdens a person with more than he is well able to bear.” This verse is found in the Quran.
This process really helped my family and I get through the first lockdown, together. Sitting on the dinner table and voicing our anxiety and uncertainty in regards to what is happening really helped us all, regardless of age. Looking back, I am really grateful for my family. A group of people, I am embarrassed to say, that I had previously taken for granted. Having spent so long with them, I've come to terms with the fact that they will always be there, no matter what. I got to know them better, whether they like it or not. It's definitely one of the "positives" of the lockdown. Like I said before, deliberately think different about the situation.
However, my family is not the only way, I dealt with the glooms of the pandemic. Engaging with MSOE and contributing to their various campaigns is another way I took my mind off of things. I have been volunteering with MSOE since I was 12. Volunteering. The verb was really redefined itself. Personally, it no longer means standing in front of the GPO and serving the homeless on a Friday night, or handing out goody bags to refugee kids on eid day. It now means baking sweets for hardworking frontline workers and helping my mum cook packages for unfortunate families struck with the virus. Despite having altered my perspective on what is perceived as volunteering, I can still feel the joys of helping others, without having to be there myself. I can still feel thankful, in fact in this time, it has made me more thankful than before. It made me feel grateful that I was safe, in my home, with my family, all of the things that I took for granted.
Amongst the few aspects of my life pre-covid that I failed to appreciate is my education and my friends. School is something I definitely took for granted. Something that my sisters in many countries are still fighting for. When we were told that school would be closed, I remember being delighted. Little did I know that I would miss it. That I would not be able to see my friends every day at lunch. That I was going to have to stare at my screen for the whole day, only to not remember what I had learnt only a couple of hours later. It goes without saying that there was and is a lack of motivation to study in general. It is hard to stay strong and driven for something we cannot imagine happening in the near future.
We have the same mindset relating to covid. How can we stay strong without seeing the end in sight? Personally, I see it as that we are on a very long hike up a very steep mountain. And we have only two choices about how we approach this challenge: unskillfully or skillfully. If we wear flip-flops, and fail to pack water and snacks, we will have a very difficult time reaching the summit. And if we do so, we will be in very bad shape. If we wear good socks, sturdy hiking boots, and our backpack is well-stocked, not only are we likely to reach the summit, but reach it in great shape. Now the question is: How do we get into that great shape. We could start by being grateful for what we have now, without having to realise it when it is gone. Surrounding ourselves with hobbies that bring us joy and gratefulness adds to us building that great shape. Lastly, we can reframe and modify our perspective towards this present-day normality that we will be entering, Inshallah. Like I stated before: "Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of."