18 Days into 2025. I am still writing about 2024. I know that I am late. It is OK. I am no longer a perfectionist. And, as the Italians say: “meglio tardi che mai -> Better late than never”.
Here and now, it is Thursday night. I am in my lovely cousin’s room, sitting on his desk, in front of his flashing, colorful, dynamic PC set up. His sisters are playing card games in the adjacent room. He is behind me lying down on his bed waiting for me to finish my writing, so we go to the upper floor to set and talk with our grandfather. I want to record some highlights and insights on the biggest events of my previous year.
The Philosopher Alan Watts!
If this was the only thing, I experienced this year, I would still choose it as the best year of my life without a doubt. Alan Watts’ wisdom is something else. It blew my mind. His wisdom came to my life at the exact moment. I think I’ll only write some of his quotes, and they will speak for him.
->“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work; realize it is play.”
->“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
-> “To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead, you relax, and float.”
-> “Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”
-> “Man at his birth is supple and tender. But in death, he is rigid and hard. Thus, suppleness and tenderness accompany life. But rigidity and hardness accompany death.”
Now get this one:
-> “Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up… now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep. “
Binge Eating Blast!
In 2023, I achieved a remarkable weight transformation, dropping from 117 kg to 98 kg. However, in 2024, I faced an unexpected turn: instead of continuing to lose weight, I reached 123 kg. This is the heaviest I’ve ever been. The idea was that I want to reduce my weight. And, with every intention of starting a diet, my weight was reversely going up. Most days, when coming back from work, I stop by a fast-food restaurant, and I order two people meals. I was begging for nice emotions and acceptance. Food was giving me both. I’d take the meals to my car, open a YouTube video talking about soccer on my phone, and slip into a state of a detachment-coma.
First Job!
I had the opportunity to work for KSC in the sales department. After spending 19 months at home after graduating from bachelor’s and trying graduate studies for one-semester. Mohammed Al Shhadat, my current manager, was looking to hire someone to fill a vacant position. He asked his friend, Engineer Ahmed Fadel, if he knew anyone suitable. Eng. Ahmed, who happens to be a friend of my father, knew me and recommended me to Shhadat. I did a 10-minute interview and got hired.
8 months have passed since I got hired. I am in love with the experience I am getting. I am stepping on grounds I have never walked on before. I had to perform and prove myself in an environment that did not align with my previous perspectives on life and work. I was imagining my job to include time intervals of deep, focused, uninterrupted work that produce results which can be studied to find patterns on the obtained date so we can call it information. Now I understand that this can be a job of a professor or in R&D departments.
During the first months in KSC, I was not happy. In other words, the image was not clear. There was a lot of noise in the signals coming to my mind. This is because I was going against my beliefs and viewpoints. I had to adapt myself. I learnt how to do repeatable non-improving work. I learnt how to adopt new ethics, like not being honest and transparent all the time. I now know that workplaces in no place for nice intensions. If I had gone directly into academia, I wouldn’t have been exposed to such experiences, which will result in a less rich and variant life experience.
After the first months passed, I started to see the light. After speaking to nice and successful people within and outside our company, I found ways to transform my work from the repeatable non-improving workstyle into a process of learning and developing. Pathways and roadmaps started to build themselves up. Now, I understand that there are many things yet to be learnt. Many nice people are yet to be met. Many experiences are yet to be acquired.
I would like to broadcast my high frequencies of thanks to those charming and nice people who were the light that guided me through this progressive experience:
Mohammed Al Shhadat, Waseem Shaukat, Ahmed Alayyafy, Mohammed Nafeesh, Ahmed Husam, Asem Elnadi, Mohammed Alomari, Fayaz Ahmed, Mahmoud Abdulmonem, Maqdoom Basha, Rahaf Alsheikh, Sayed Imran, Khaled Mekky, Abdullah Alfarran, Abishek Krishnan, Tamer Fathi.
The documentary; Our Planet.
This year on Netflix was good. I watched the comedian series Seinfeld. I started watching Suits. The most important and captivating series I watched this year was the well-known documentary Our Planet. It explores the planet’s diverse environments and the various forms of life that inhabit it. The footage was indescribable. The commentator was magnificent. The final takeaway and wisdom from this series is that when we leave the Earth alone, it begins to heal. I thought to myself, if the Earth heals when left undisturbed, we— as part of it— will also heal if we allow ourselves the space to do so.
Finally, Jeddah Roads!
I was born in Jeddah. I spent the first 18 years of my life in Jeddah before moving away for university. One problem I was facing is that I do not know the roads of Jeddah. It does not seem like a big problem with the existence of Google Maps. Actually, it was a big problem to me, especially, when talking to people from Jeddah. They start to mention places and describe how to reach it and they ask questions. For example, you are in Sabe’en, going toward Tahlia, you will find a cafe on your left, you know it? I was actually not knowing the area which they are talking about. This year, I am happy that I now know Jeddah’s main roads and I can navigate myself through them. I am so proud of this achievement. I know Sabeen, Arbaeen, Tahlia, King’s Road, Setteen, Falasteen, etc. I now know that to know roads and directions you must drive a lot without Google Maps, The image will start to become clearer.
Lessons Learnt During This Year
1- Do not expose your plans to anyone. You may ask for guidance; it is another thing. But your decisions, do not tell them to anyone before they become reality. Exposing your plans may give you some commitment in the beginning but it will put on you an unbearable pressure which will ruin your plan.
2- Perfectionism could kill you. It can turn a small mistake into an avalanche
3- Talk to successful people from all age ranges and backgrounds will directly open new dimensions and horizons of thinking.
4- Face the problem, do not let it grow by running away from it.
Gallery of This Year (Best 20 Images)
