What's sweeter than my solitude? (by Alya Mooro)

Firstly, thank you so much for the amazing reaction you gave me to last week’s newsletter. In terms of the volume of messages, it was probably the one I had the biggest reaction to. Please accept my apologies if I haven’t replied yet. I am getting to you! It seems a lot of you resonated with what I said and have felt exactly what I felt. Thank you for making me feel not alone in this. I’ll do more on the subject in future.

Today it’s guest writer time and I am excited to say the amazing Alya Mooro, a journalist and the author of The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes agreed to let me republish this personal essay which appeared in her own newsletter this week. I read the first few lines and knew immediately that you all should read it too. It’s just lovely. I also love the quotes she has included.

This line really stood out for me: “[I] have collected numerous habits which feel like jewels of aloneness, rituals with which I romance myself.” I absol…