If I hear that one more time…

Hi there, …

Let me tell you a story about me.

Many moons ago, when I got my first job in Hamburg, my boss was a sixty-something man looking like Santa. He was a decent boss and I had nothing to complain about.

At that point in my life, I wasn’t the feminist I am today (unfortunately, but hey we are all here to learn, right?), so I was ok-ish working with him, even thought he was pretty old school. And that’s just a nice a way of saying that he was living the whole patriarchal thing to the fullest…

Anyway, he had that one thing he would do that would drive me up the wall.

He kept on asking me if I could speak Arabic. At least once a week.

As you may remember, near French, I am also Iranian. And we speak Farsi, not Arabic. FARSI!

And let me be crystal clear, Arabic is a beautiful language, and I would love to be able to speak it, but it’s just NOT the language spoken in Iran, like not even a little.

Yes, the letters might look alike, but so do French and Swedish. It doesn’t mean French people can speak Swedish, does it?

Like “No, sir, not every person from the Middle Eastern speaks the same language!”

And you know what is worse?

He was not the only one asking me this.

In fact, I still get asked that a lot. Like A LOT a lot.

Somehow, plenty of people think that Iranians speaks Arabic.

If I got a Euro for every time I was asked that question, I would be rich by now!

It’s like Marie Kondo’s method and minimalism.

For some reason, when you mention the KonMari® method, there always is at least one person in the room thinking it’s about getting rid of everything you possess and live like a monk.

And it’s not.

It’s written black and white in Marie's book: “If you are confident that something brings you joy, keep it, regardless of what anyone else might say.”

It’s as simple as that.

First, you concentrate on what you want to keep, not what you want to get rid of.

Second, you do you. If you want to keep 20 pairs of shoes because they all spark joy. Do that. Period.

And FYI, I am an KonMari® consultant and have 5 pairs of TOMS and 5 pairs of Stan Smith. Just sayin’.

Until next time,

Nazanine