Answered prayers.

There was a moment when I had company around and they said to me, "You know, what you've done, is really brave. Its takes a lot of courage to move to somewhere completely new, not knowing what was ahead of you and to do it all on your own too. It if was me, I dont think I could have done it." Its nice to hear things like that because even at 25 years old, I'm still being reminded that tough times dont last, tough people do. I remember about four years ago, a boy had asked me where I would see myself in five years time. Whether that was a coy attempt to see whether I would include him in the picture, I'm not totally sure. But it was cute. I cant quite remember what I said but I think somewhere in between those years, I thought I kinda had it figured out at one point. but change is the only constant in life. 

I've always been a city girl, me. I love the skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur and the concrete red bricks of Manchester more than I'd like to admit and wow, I have definitely missed it since moving down south. Now, living in a small town with limited crowd contact would have seemed like social suicide if you ask me. And trust me, the decision to be where I am today wasnt one that was taken lightly. At the start, I must admit, it took a lot of self-soothing with countless weepy late night texts to the few ''unfortunate'' people who were kinda obligated to listen anyway because they signed up to be my bestfriends. So to those concerned, you know who you are... I cannot say thank you enough. My faith and my family though, got me through the worst of days. It really is a beautiful thing. I want to share a verse from one of my favorite surah's in the Quran that goes: 

لَيْسَ لَهَا مِنْ دُونِ الله كَاشِفَة

"No one besides Allah can rescue a soul from hardship" - [53:58]

So if ever any one of you are going through hardship. Remember this, and remember Him. InsyaAllah.

I have had the past couple of weekends all to myself. Just me, my moleskin journal and my camera (and Costa's iced vanilla latte because hello!) I tend to do a lot of walking nowadays because I'm too unfit to be riding Portia up the small hills and I have an amazing coastline to enjoy. It felt a little bit like a dream, maybe because I had no specific place to be and was all by myself. I wasnt whizzing by on my bike and was able to take things slow, looking around myself, looking up, wandering down some of the little lanes I'm not familiar with. The weather in Hastings this past week has been on the rainy side, and throw in the salty sea air and windy breeze in the mix, it felt like a crisp day in autumn and that kind of temperature always brings back to some of my first and fondest memories of Manchester from my first few years living independently so far away from home. 

Being on my own in this small town has given me the opportunity to get to know myself a bit more and to love myself and my own company. Something I did not think was so important prior to this. This is only the first step for so much more possibilities, so many learning opportunities and so much to life. and it feels good. I'm incredibly grateful to be here. Living my dream. Living my life. 

I hope you have a wonderful week in your own little towns/cities! Have a happy autumn, friends :)

Love,
Peja xx