In the society, we live in it’s quite hard to please everyone especially when they have different beliefs and aspects. Sometimes it’s even harder to fit in or feel like you belong, and for someone like me – who is obsessed with people’s opinions- it was utterly hard to take a new decision in my life where people could judge or even categorize me.
A year ago, I decided to wear the hijab, and undoubtedly it was one of the hardest decisions yet life-changing in various ways, the first few days I lost quite a good number of friends and received a lot of criticism and hate I was surrounded by some stupid concepts such as that “I can’t have fun anymore” and that “I can’t talk to guys in school or hang out with my friends” For them, it was like I became this new person with a different mindset and choices because I choose to dress differently. which is funny because since when does a scarf can define me as a person or reflects who I am, from when does the way i dress define me as a person? Why do we measure personality traits on how i choose to represent myself?
I remember talking to a woman who used to judge and make fun of girls who wear short dresses and skirts. I used to get so annoyed by her comments I would end up arguing with her until I can no longer handle it. Surprisingly when I wore the hijab, she was also the first one to spam me with comments on how “I hid my beauty” & “how old I look with a scarf”. at that moment I realized how her comments are based on nothing but criticizing others that no matter what I wear she would find a way to make me feel like I’m doing something wrong.
A few months ago, a friend of mine took off her hijab because she didn’t feel ready to have it on and she was overwhelmed by her friends’ negative opinions.
On the other hand, a lot of my friends who don’t wear hijab, always struggle with choosing outfits scared of getting judged or being talked about, sometimes they would even take spare clothes in case people started whispering about them or about how inappropriate they dress.
It’s really painful for me to see all these beautiful young women struggling to express themselves. and it sucks how nowadays we live our lives according to people’s opinions, how we change our lifestyle and decisions because some man or woman decides that it doesn’t fit their standards. Our lives and decisions are up to us. how we choose to dress IS NON OF YOUR BUSSINESS.