[OPINION] How I keep myself grounded

I was once asked a question by a friend that caught me by surprise:

“Zaty, how come you always look so calm and collected? It’s like you are never fazed by anything at all.”

I blinked back, a smile frozen on my face. A thought flashed through my mind:

If only you knew…

Outwardly, I may look calm, but in my mind… it produces a kajilion of ‘what-ifs’ questions every minute and will go ‘boing-boing’ haphazardly in my head – each waiting for their turn to be answered.

I guess I have always been rather good in keeping my emotions in check, probably because I have a strong foundation in accepting occurrences (good or bad) that happen and knowing how to deal with them the right way.

Here are some of the things I practice in attempts to maintain a clear and controlled zen. Hopefully it will be a beneficial read for all of us!

[EXPERIENCE] First labour: How it went (Part II)

Continuation from Part I

3 PM – 3.30 PM

My doctor came in with a smile and said to me “now, are you ready to give birth?” with her gloves on. I was put in the position to give birth; my back upright, my legs on top of the leg lifter thingy, my youknowwhat widely exposed to my doctor, the midwife and two nurses.

And then the pushing started.

I thought dealing with contraction was the hard part. Boy, was I wrong…

[TRAVEL] Manchester, Liverpool & London; United Kingdom

The final leg of our Eurotrip ended in United Kingdom. Although I have been to London several times, I have not had the chance to explore other cities and admittedly I was overly excited to be exploring Manchester because of two reasons:

i) It was where Nazeef went to study for his degree. It is a special place for him and finally he was able to bring me around to go to his favourite spots during his student life. It was going to be a tour around his ‘hood’ where he had spent most of his time frolicking, making fond memories that he ultimately misses until now. (I had my chance of bringing him for a tour around my ‘hood’ in New Jersey, United States in 2014).

ii) Old Trafford, ’nuff said (this should have been the first choice haha).

I am an avid fan of Manchester United since god knows when and it has always been my dream to step foot here… much to Nazeef’s disapproval. My loyalty for Manchester United is among the many other things that we don’t see eye to eye, but ‘sokay we still love each other very much, haha!