One day, years ago, I visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. I will never forget what they said. They said that what happened to Anne Frank – all the tragedy that befell her – is the typical experience of a Jewish person in Europe at the time of the concentration camps. It’s just thatContinue reading “The Violence in Our Minds”
Author Archives: msaraf
Privilege and Shame
I would like to spend more time recognising my own privilege
My Complicated Relationship with Body Image
My feelings about weight gain are a mixture of guilt and shame, mingled with a genuine desire to be healthy. When it comes to my relationship with my weighing scale, it’s complicated!
My Search for my Ikigai
When I was 28 years old, I was working in a fairly straightforward 9-5 job in Mississauga (close to Toronto), Canada, leading a pretty boring life, where days and nights blended into each other. I had moved from New York and missed it terribly. New York was a place that inspired me, while Toronto wasContinue reading “My Search for my Ikigai”
Being a Compassionate Employer
What type of employer do we want to be during COVID19?
On Depression, Suicide and the Death of Hope
The death of Sushant Singh Rajput has not hit me hard because I was a huge fan, or even followed his work at all. In truth, I barely followed him or his work. Yet hit me it has, mainly because he was 34, five years younger than I am, who, it seems, felt like theContinue reading “On Depression, Suicide and the Death of Hope”
‘Senseless Worries’: A Story about Anxiety and the Power of Being Alone
As a young woman I had all sorts of ambitions of where I would be at 30. Successful, surrounded by people I loved (including, perhaps, one special someone), and generally on an accelerated upward trajectory towards achieving all of my dreams. I was to be wildly successful, because, like all millennials, this was myContinue reading “‘Senseless Worries’: A Story about Anxiety and the Power of Being Alone”
Toxic Adaptability: Why I wrote ‘Spilling Over the Edges’
Almost every woman I know has had at least one relationship where she has willingly allowed herself to be treated poorly for months, or even years. This is not a judgement, rather an observation. Some are lucky enough to escape these relationships, others not so much. As girls growing up, I think many of usContinue reading “Toxic Adaptability: Why I wrote ‘Spilling Over the Edges’”
Changing the Narrative of My Own Story
I got into a fascinating discussion on Twitter the other day, courtesy of Women’s Web, with Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, speaking about her book The Radiance of a Thousand Suns, which has now made its way onto my TBR. We were speaking about Margaret Atwood, and what made her characters so powerful (I’d been watchingContinue reading “Changing the Narrative of My Own Story”
Thoughts on the Lockdown
We are now on Day 6 of the lockdown. It has been an interesting week. A mix of good and bad, of optimism and despair, anger and hope. I know a lot of people who have struggled with depression and staying positive. They may be far from their families, they may be struggling withContinue reading “Thoughts on the Lockdown”
