For as long as I can remember, I knew I wanted more out of life.

Something beyond the robotic, repetitive routine that so many people accept as the norm.

Everyone seemed to live out their lives unfulfilled, unhappy, overweight, and with an underwhelming amount of energy.

Like their life force had been sucked out of them.

I knew I had to find another way.

But as I grew older, that voice slowly faded away.

Society's blueprint was clear:

Study.

Get the job.

Work.

Retire.

So I played along and landed my "dream job" at a well-known furniture store.

Higher salary. Benefits. Stability.

Everything they tell you to want.

Everything that kills your soul.

The break room was my daily reminder of my potential future.

Echoing with the same complaints every day:

"I never see my kids"

"Marriage is failing"

"Bills keep rising, I can't afford it"

"Boss doesn't care"

"I'm so tired"

"No one appreciates my hard work"

"She's on leave because of burnout"

I saw it everywhere.

Unfulfilled. Unhappy. Drained.

I had a choice to make:

Accept the slow death or find a way to break free.

From Asleep To Awake:

In the West, there are no natural reminders of Islam.

No adhan echoing in the streets.

No culture that constantly pulls you back to Allah.

Instead, everything is designed to make you forget.

The system is rigged against you, and if you’re not actively questioning it, you’ll fall for the illusion of security, safety, and comfort.

Go to school.

Get a job.

Make money.

Seek approval.

Chase comfort.

Avoid struggle.

An endless loop of seeking comfort, becoming uncomfortable, seeking more comfort, becoming more uncomfortable.

Salah becomes a mindless habit with the same surahs on repeat, the Qur'an is collecting dust on the shelf, and Netflix seems far more interesting than a lecture.

Eventually, you end up so deep in that hole that it feels impossible to dig yourself out.

This is the outcome for 99% of people.

If it sounds like your worst nightmare, good :)

You’re exactly who this letter is for.

How to Get Out of Autopilot:

If you don’t create your own plan, you’ll end up stuck following someone else’s. And that gets boring—fast.

It traps you in a cycle of stress and narrow-mindedness, always chasing after what someone else has decided is "right."

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are 3 steps to take back control of your future:

1) Question What You’re Told

How do you know anything about reality?

How do you know what’s true or false?

How do you know what you should or shouldn’t do?

From being told by another person.

From watching how others behave.

But where did they get their information?

From other people—who also learned from others.

And so the cycle continues.

99% of what you know was not discovered through your own testing or experience.

Every piece of knowledge was handed down by someone who, at birth, knew nothing.

If you want to take control of your future, you have to take ownership of your mind.

Allah didn’t create you to follow blindly.

He created you to explore, to seek knowledge, and most importantly, to reflect.

He gave you the gift of intellect and the freedom to choose.

The Qur’an is your blueprint for life.

It is the only source of truth that is free from bias, manipulation, and corruption.

It teaches you:

• Who you are

• Why you are here

• What truly matters

• How to navigate the illusions of the world

This does not mean that you should passively accept Islam as the truth.

In fact, one of the reasons I was drawn to Islam was because it encourages questioning, reflection, and using your intellect.

When I first read the Qur’an, it felt like a conversation with Allah.

The questions made me reflect.

And I did, until I came to the conclusion that there could be no other truth.

I encourage you to do the same.

It's not enough to simply follow what others say or do; you need to understand your own purpose, your own direction.

Reflect on where your beliefs come from.

Are they truly your own, or are they inherited from others?

Don’t just accept things because they’ve always been that way.

You need to build your own relationship to Allah.

Because if you don’t build a strong foundation, you’ll have nothing to hold onto when the storms of hardship come your way.

2) 5 Daily Prayers:

5 daily reminders of your purpose.Salah is a powerful tool to break free from the cycle of autopilot living.

It pulls you out of the routine and forces you to consciously choose to pause, reflect, and reconnect.

When it’s time for prayer, you must actively decide to go and pray.

The prayer times are constantly shifting, so it never becomes a mindless, automatic habit.

However, be mindful of slipping into autopilot even in your Salah.

If you’re just going through the motion, reciting the same surahs and duas five times a day without truly engaging with their meaning, you’re still on autopilot.

3) Proactive Dua’s

How often do you sit down and think about what you really want out of life?

I’m not talking about what your parents think you should want or what society tells you to want.

I’m talking about you—the real you, the one under all the layers of programming.

It’s so easy to just keep moving, reacting to whatever life throws at you, rather than actively shaping it. And the same thing happens with dua.

If you don’t consciously direct your dua, you’ll end up just asking for the bare minimum or whatever feels safe.

You’ll end up reacting to life, instead of creating it.

But dua isn’t just a tool to use when life falls apart.

Dua is a tool to create your future.

It’s the bridge between the life you’re living now and the life you want.

That's why you need proactive duas, telling Allah:

This is what I want. This is what I need. This is where I’m going.

So, how do you figure out what you actually want?

It’s not going to come from scrolling on Instagram or binge-watching another Netflix show.

You need to break free from the noise.

Go to a beautiful place that moves you.

Experience something new.

Meet new people.

Let yourself be inspired by the world around you.

Then, sit down and write it all out.

Every single thing you want—big or small.

Don’t be realistic.

I mean it.

If your dua doesn't make people raise their eyebrows—

If it doesn't make them think you're crazy—

If it doesn't sound impossible to everyone except Allah—

You're thinking too small.

Remember Prophet Suleiman (AS).

He asked for a kingdom no one after him would have.

People probably thought he was crazy.

But Allah gave him:

• Power over the winds

• Command over the jinn

• Understanding of animal speech

• A kingdom beyond imagination

Because with Allah, "impossible" doesn't exist.

There is no plateau.

The possibilities are endless.

So dream bigger. Ask for more. Let them think you're crazy.

After all, you're not asking them.

You're asking The King of Kings.

Ps. If you want a framework to help you craft & follow up on your duas, click here.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to this: You can’t break free from a negative cycle if you don’t even realize you're in it.

The world is built to distract you, to pull you into its loop of comfort and consumption, but the power to break free from that lies in your ability to create a new kind of structure in your life.

Discipline is the muscle that helps you turn the knowledge into action.

And it's rooted in something deeper than just willpower; it’s rooted in tawakkul.

Building habits, structuring your time, and staying focused—all of this is possible.

But it requires the right framework and mindset.

If you want to dig deeper into how you can do this for yourself, check out Discipline Through Deen.

Remember, your future is shaped by the small, intentional decisions you make every day.

Make them count.

— Lina ♡