Enough, already!

This blog has been a long time coming. I won't say how long ago I thought of the idea for it because it's really embarrassing and one of my problems is that I procrastinate. Everything. This includes thinking and over-thinking everything I want to/need to do until it doesn't sound good anymore or has been so built up I couldn't possibly live up to the grand plans I've made. I can't even divulge how long I spent on the colors and layout of this thing even AFTER I finally decided tonight to just do it, and now I kind of hate it but don't care anymore. Another blog from long, long ago was supposed to help with this. But I didn't have any real motivation, like a deadline for posting, or a cool gimmick like in Julie & Julia. 



While I don't see this lil' online journal landing me a book or movie deal or both, I do want it to be consistent. And I want to personally benefit from the content-generation that is necessary to keep a blog going. I also realize that blogging includes a lot of sitting at a computer, which is what I do all day while working. I don't get enough (ahem, any) exercise and the guilt from that leads me to watching shows I won't mention on Netflix for hours on end after work. All this TV watching gets in the way of my Islamic studies and then I feel worse about everything. SIGH. 


Then more people started dying. And I really mean more. We get these alerts in our community when a fellow Muslim has died so that people can attend the funeral. I don't have statistics for this but I have noticed a marked uptick in the frequency of the e-mails. Two touched my life in a major way recently. These weren't wizened old grandmothers ready to meet our Maker—they were young and full of life. One brother was shot at a BBQ among family and friends (possibly BY a friend, we don't know yet). He was 33 and left behind 8 kids. Another, a kid himself at just 18, was killed in a car accident the other night. His body was burned so badly they couldn't even perform the ritual washing before burial in the Islamic tradition. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raj'oon. Two funerals in one week can be a great motivator. I started thinking about my life, my death, and all of the things I need to do before it comes at any time.


This blog is one of them.

So here's my gimmick: I will spend 20 minutes a day on Islamic studies (Quran and tafseer, reading Ahadeeth, watching or listening to lectures, whatever) and 20 minutes a day exercising in some way (walking, using my elliptical machine featured in this blog's background, etc) and then tell you about it. In order to benefit you, dear reader, I will also add a links for the Islamic resources and a health tip of the day. These "tips" may just be things I think up or rip from Real Simple magazine, but they will probably be better than "Try moving your toes a bit while scrolling through your Twitter feed to increase your circulation". 


Wow. That was a lot of letters and words. I promise it won't be like this every time. I hope you benefit from this blog. If not, it probably won't hurt you. Too much.

You have to start somewhere.