One day at a time...

 Hello again! 

I am finally here. It took courage, or let's say, some sort of 'action', to sign in and log on here. It just hit me that the last blogpost was 2 years ago. Before, I didn't understand or comprehend the idea of not writing often, when it's one of the few things that makes me happy and comes easy to me. I always want to write, and I always delay writing. I keep convincing myself that I don't have enough time, that I will start tomorrow, or that I still don't know what should I be writing about. But I should know better. It's the same vicious circle every single time. 

So...what changed?

As much as I love writing, as much as I love reading, it pains me that I haven't been reading much. I used to love holding my Kindle and getting on the metro in Dubai to read or to curl up on the sofa at home when my wife went to sleep to switch on my Kindle and read, download new books, etc. Then I realised maybe because I drive in Cairo and I barely have time to read, I am constantly on the move, from one place to another, and when I finally get to sit down, whether it's at my son's practice or a soft play area, I always resolute to my phone, to chat or to watch a new episode (or more of the remaining episode of whatever Walking Dead spin-off I am watching), but then...I discovered Audible. 

That wasn't my first introduction to Audible, as I had downloaded No Rules Rules by the Netflix Founder early in 2021 just a few days before my interview with Netflix. I wanted to ace that interview and I knew I had no time to download the book and read it, so I thought maybe listening to it would be best to prepare. Even though I quite enjoyed my Audible experience back then, I cancelled my free trial before they charged me, and said to myself that I am, first and foremost, a reader. More than 2.5 years passed by since and I haven't read a single book! Shocking isn't it? The whole move to Egypt and adapting to the new life here with the kids, settling in a country that is 'home', all of which have been overwhelming. Less than 2 months ago, in July, I decided that I was fed up with listening to the same music I've been listening to on the way to and back to work, I am not really enjoying podcasts much, it doesn't give me enough 'thrills' or 'inspiration' to act upon, and above all, I've succumbed to the fact that I am truly addicted to my phone - something that I was always against and had tried to change for years and succeeded in parts of, like excluding social media, Facebook and Instagram in particular from my life, unfollowing people on Twitter, etc. However, lately, I've been reaching out to my phone just for anything and at any time. I am always on LinkedIn, reading what people I don't know are saying, and not feeling any happier, so I decided I would start another Audible free trial and instead of holding my phone, making calls or listening to music/podcasts while driving, I would start listening to books. The first book I listened to was, 'Start with Why', by Simon Sinek. I've always been a sucker for self-help books, but I didn't know what to expect when listening to one, and the journey started! The length of the book, which automatically shows once you start listening to one, was 7+ hours and seeing this was daunting, I didn't know what to expect. Will I finish this in a week or in a month? It took me roughly around 10 days to listen to the book, and I loved it. The book was good, but what I loved about Audible is that, while driving, I was fully focused and indulged in what the narrator was saying. I wasn't itching to make calls or reach out to grab my phone. On the contrary, I didn't want to receive calls or to pass/pick up any of my coworkers on the way to work. I just wanted to be alone with my book, the same feeling I used to get whenever I had a book/Kindle in my hands. I started getting excited every day to drive, something that I wasn't particularly in love with - if you drive in Cairo you would know. And the further the trips, the more I grinned. 

After 'Start with Why' came 'Smart Phone Dumb Phone' by Allen Carr, someone who, I will forever be grateful for helping me to quit my smoking addiction. I've always been a fan of his methods and The Easy Way, and I wanted to see how will he tackle digital addiction. The book really opened up my mind and made me realise what am I missing - LIFE! Just like smoking, it automatically transported my way of thinking and again, in less than two weeks I was done with the book and no longer looked at my smartphone the same way. 

Following that, I downloaded 'Atmoc Habits' by James Clear. Just finished the book yesterday, and I don't think I was ever attached to a book in recent years like this one. What an absolute gem of a book and what an absolute gem of a man, James is. I couldn't help but agree with him and found myself nodding and smiling a lot because I could relate to everything he was saying. Automatically after I finished the book, I downloaded 'Tiny Habits' by BJ Fogg, which is 11+ hours long - so far the longest book I have encountered in my short 2-month journey with Audible. 

All I can say is that I am really happy to be back here, and I don't think I would be here had I not started listening to books - so I am really grateful to Amazon for creating Audible. In less than 2 months I have finished 3 books - I don't think I have finished reading self-help books before at such pace. While listening to Amotic Habits, I realised that by being on Audible, I actually started applying Clear's strategy without even knowing. I started a habit that makes me happy (i.e. listening to books) while driving (existing habit) - which he referred to as 'habit-stacking'. I am also back to writing, again, thanks to him, and, also thanks to Tiny Habits, which I only started listening to yesterday. Even though they advised me to start small (2 minutes a day), I feel the rush of writing and I am letting it flow. I am going to incorporate writing into my routine and I don't want to commit myself to daily or weekly writing, but I will keep learning, growing, and on the way, tweaking my habits, abolishing bad ones, forming new ones, and mastering them along the way.