Hey friends,

This week’s post is about my biggest life lessons after turning 25 (Alhamdulillah). I hope you benefit from this and as always, thank you for reading 🤍

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What's Inside:

• 😄 Lessons from 25 years of life
• 🩺 Medical School Update
• ✏️ Insights - Podcasts, Books, Amazon finds & other cool things

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Lessons From 25 Years Of Life

I normally don’t get that excited about birthdays, it took a lot for me to get up and actually write something for this significant milestone and I’m only doing so for the benefit of the readers (you) and to give my future self something to look back on, Insha’Allah (God willing).

Of course praise and thanks to Allah almighty for giving me 25 years of life. No matter how bad life gets, simply being alive is a blessing that I try to be grateful for every day. Now having completed my 25th year in this world, I say Alhamdulillah. What a blessing.

I have 2 short lessons that I’d like to share with you. These are the main learning points from my early 20s, I hope they benefit you regardless of your age.

Delayed Gratification

In case you’re unfamiliar, delayed gratification is putting in work for a long period of time before seeing any results. It’s like studying for 3 months for an exam, only to feel the benefit on exam day. Or working out consistently for 6 months, only to notice a slight difference in your appearance towards the end.

With delayed gratification, there are no instant rewards. It’s not pretty until later on.

Learn to do the work even when you don’t feel like it.

That’s the main lesson here.

Delayed gratification is the secret to success. Let go of the dopamine hits. The social media scrolling, the Netflix binges, the YouTube rabbit holes. They’re sucking away your potential and depleting your attention.

This is one the hardest lessons to learn but equally the most rewarding.

I did my first dopamine detox last year and it changed my approach to delayed gratification. I realised how much time I waste on pointless activities for a short-term high when I could be using that time for something more productive. By the way, I still have fun doing the delayed gratification type of work, just more like a slow drip feed of a good feeling rather than a harsh spike.

I end the day feeling content that I made the most of my time and that my future self will thank me.

Timelines

There’s a common habit to compare your timeline to someone else’s, particularly in the age range of 18-35. Even when you know it’s silly, many still do it. Jealousy and envy are rife and no one seems to be happy these days. Everyone seems to want more, no matter how much they have.

Every individual has unique family, personal, social, financial and mental circumstances.

We all have completely different perceptions of the world based on our upbringing and experiences. If I was to compare my life at 25 to anyone else at 25, it simply doesn’t make sense. No one had the same upbringing, experiences or life circumstances as me so I can’t compare to anyone fairly.

I am on my journey, you are on yours.

Leave it at that. Even if you get judgemental comments, learn to ignore them. Everything will fall into place at the right time.

This is a lesson I’m glad I learned early. I have a vision for my life, I don’t concern myself with other people’s rate of success or growth. I don’t envy others or feel jealousy. I value what I have and I am grateful, Alhamdulillah. I stay focused on my own journey.

I was a sprinter when I was younger and I remember being told to never look left or right. Just run as fast as you can and focus on the finish line because if you look to the side, you might step out of your lane. I think that’s a beautiful analogy for life. Keep your head up and forward and stay in your lane. Don’t concern yourself with anyone else.

Your time will come, for everything. Allahu A’lam (Allah knows best).

The Fundamentals of Life

There are a few fundamentals in life that we must all take care of. I call them the basics. Be warned, this is not new information. The list below is common knowledge. Unfortunately, it is uncommon for people to look after the basics.

Few people do this because it takes a lot of discipline to do so, and we live in a world that seriously lacks discipline.

The basics:

• Healthy sleep routine
• Regular exercise
• Healthy diet

I promise you. If you can consistently exercise, eat clean and sleep well you will look and feel better than 90% of people. It sounds too simple to be true but when you look deeper, the basics impact all other areas of life.

If you are eating, sleeping and exercising well then you’re going to be in the best physical and mental shape you can be.

You will be the best version of yourself.

That allows you to show up for your friends and family in the best way possible, so it should lead to better relationships. Not just that but you will have more energy which means more output, productivity and results. That will positively impact your work, creativity, decision making and pretty much everything else.

Neglect the basics and they will have the opposite effect on life.

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I think these are the main lessons I have learnt up until now. I didn’t learn these overnight. They came from the last 6-7 years of life from the books I’ve read, the podcasts I’ve listened to and the experiences I’ve had + a lot of reflection.

Learn from my mistakes. Befriend delayed gratification. Focus on your own timeline. Take care of the basics.

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🩺 Medical School Update

Not much to say. I just finished my Christmas break and I passed my exams Alhamdulillah. Onto the next block. I’m on my Psychiatry block at the moment. We learn about every mental health condition from depression and anxiety to schizophrenia, addiction and psychosis. Very interesting. It helps that I want to become a Psychiatrist insha’Allah so this has been ideal after a short break from Med school.

Since I like Psych I thought I’d try to attend lectures in person - bad idea. Most lecturers spend the entire 60 minutes doing their lectures - absolutely unecessary. No teaching should ever last more than 30 minutes without a break. Lecture halls are freezing and uncomfortable. My laptop has died several times and I haven’t been near plug sockets. I’m going back to watching the recordings from home. Lesson learnt; Stick to what works for you.

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✏️Insights

🎙️ Podcast: First Things Thirst: Hamza​

This podcast was an interesting listen. As a Muslim content creator who speaks about personal growth, I love hearing from other creators like Hamza. Same age as me. Born Muslim. Pakistani. Brought up in the UK. I’ve never watched any of his videos before but there was a lot of useful advice in this podcast, particularly for young men. Although I don’t agree with everything that was said.

📚 Book: Currently reading The Third Door​

This book is all about business. I’m trying to get more into business and finance lately so I picked this to focus on that side of life.

🎥 Movie/TV Show: Break Point​

I’m a huge tennis fan, I watch it more than any sport in recent years and this documentary is amazing. The production quality is insane and the

​🛒 Amazon Finds - Click this link to view my Amazon storefront. Here I share my favourite books, tech and household items purchases. As a minimalist, I am very careful how I spend my money and I ensure that every item brings me some sort of value or utility. I often get asked about the decor in my bedroom - you can find most of it over here.

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