Good morning! I’m reporting straight from the hot zone. It is day 7 since my exposure to Corona 1 and Corona 2, aka Mom & Dad who tested positive for COVID the day after I arrived after a long and difficult eight month separation. Forgive my humour but there are so few cheerful things aboutContinue reading “COVID19 PART 2: THE PLOT TWIST”
Author Archives: msaraf
COVID19 & THE BATTLE FOR CIVIC SENSE
The first reaction is always fear. That’s what I felt when I thought about getting tested. In our mind’s eye – even us, the ultra – privileged – we picture the government storming our house and seizing us, and holding us captive in less than sanitary treatment facilities where poor hygiene would kill us beforeContinue reading “COVID19 & THE BATTLE FOR CIVIC SENSE”
The Violence in Our Minds
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”
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’”
