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Sphere of Influence, Sphere of Control

One of the most comforting hadiths: "From the best [features] of a person's Islam is leaving off what doesn't concern him." There is so much he-said she-said in the world today. It's a cause for so much stress and anxiety for people. The reality is: popularity is a massive illusion. "What people think" is a mirage. What really matters is sound family, a couple good friends and solid employment. If your work is meaningful and fulfilling, say al-hamdulillah, because a lot of people do not have the luxury to have meaningful jobs, which is ok, because a halal income is an accomplishment by itself.

I like to focus on these concrete things that are in your control. What people think is largely out of your control and rarely relevant to the big three: faith, family, finances.  Another perspective the Prophet ﷺ taught has to do with death. On my death-bed, will this really matter?? Another view: how many prophets of Allah lived and died utterly hated and mocked by people. Irrelevant. Keep moving on with life.

Thinking about what other people think is a major time-waster and actually a ploy of shaytan to make you either annoyed, angry or feel low about yourself. Be wary of scrolling through feeds. 2 out of 3 things that can happen are bad. You either like a post or it aggravates you. Or it's something in the middle and in that case you just wasted your time. So it's a 66% chance of negative and only 33% positive. If those are my chances, I'll toss the whole thing aside, no hesitation. "Leave what gives you doubt for what gives you no doubt." The right way to do things is to pointedly go directly to the sources that you like instead of scrolling through feeds. Lastly, when you look at the lives of the most successful people in either deen or dunya, they share two qualities: they know what they want and then they laser focus on it. Everything else is noise. They are courageous enough to not worry about missing out. In contrast, look at the fools of life: they can't say no to anything, and as a result they complete nothing.

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