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I’m Debt Free and It Feels Good Tips on how I paid off all my debts
Since I’ve gained more clarity on personal finance, I’ve been writing for Moola.id, a financial portal for youth. Check my financial articles on Moola. I believe God is good and kind to me, that’s why I don’t have savings. The first time my manager heard this from me, she laughed her ass off. Even the most popular financial planner in the country, Ligwina Hananto, gave up on me. I was that ignorant. Only when I realize that no matter how much I earned, I still struggle to pay for things the next month that I know I must do something about my financial situation. The golden moment was when I…
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34 Life-Changing Lessons I’ve Learned in Life It's my birthday, so let's talk about what I've learned from my 34 years of living on earth
As a human I evolved every second of my life. And I pray to God that I always evolve to be a better person, Inshaa Allah. I’ve been through the toughest parts of life like divorce, closing down my companies, losing my dad, but Alhamdulillah, it molded me into who I am today. Here are the 34 lessons I’ve learned from living my life: Change your look, change your life. I found out that I’m actually attractive. My body image issue was difficult to tackle. I always felt uglier than I actually am. It’s the results of many years of feeling like trash and not enough, resulted from old experiences that…
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What I’ve Learned from Ibn Battuta To Be a Global Citizen A Muslim in 14th century travel for 29 years to 44 countries. Here's what he taught me.
“Say, [O Muhammad], ‘Travel through the land and observe how He began creation. Then Allah will produce the final creation…” Quran 29:20 I just finished watching Ibn Battuta documentary. He traveled for 29 years to 44 countries and experience so many different adventures along the way. From Egypt, Turkey, India, Maldives to China. He took time to visit the most prominent leaders of the city he visited, visited Mosques and find gurus, meditate and fasting in caves. He also do legal work as a Qadi (judge) for Sultans and was a very confident man. He knows how to deal with people, and he was only 21 when he started with…
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A New Beginning
I’ve been wearing my hijab for 15 years on my own will and it was my truth. But the last 2 years I’ve been feeling that I’m growing into a different version of myself that no longer can be represent with hijab. I tried everything to cope with my restlessness and at one point I know that I have to make a decision once again to be who I am. When I finally took it off weeks ago, a friend asked me what changed me, I said this is how I always been for the past few years. I just finally dis-cover me. Telling your mom you’re taking off your hijab…
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Memulai Percakapan: Perjalanan yang Menyembuhkan #PassportToHappiness
Pengunjung di acara launching buku saya yang terbaru ‘Passport to Happiness‘ terkejut saat membaca buku ini adalah buku yang sangat pribadi untuk saya. Saya tak hanya menceritakan cerita perjalanan saya ke 11 kota di dunia setelah saya bercerai, tapi saya juga menceritakan perjalanan ke dalam hati saya dan pandangan saya tentang arti cinta yang saya temui di berbagai belahan dunia. Pertanyaannya, bagaimana saya begitu berani untuk membagi kisah pribadi saya? Jawabannya mudah. Saya ingin memulai percakapan tentang sebuah topik yang tabu dibicarakan di Indonesia: perceraian. Bagi orang Indonesia dan masyarakat berbudaya timur pada umumnya, bercerai identik dengan kegagalan. Dan kegagalan bukan sesuatu yang bisa diterima luas dalam kultur budaya kita.…
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Passport to Happiness – a Travelogue by Ollie
Malam ini, saya baru sadar kalau move on itu tidak mudah. Salah seorang teman masih dirundung kesedihan atas kejadian yang sudah terjadi 4 tahun yang lalu. Satu kakinya masih terikat ke masa lalu, ini, tentu adalah salah satu bahan dalam resep kesedihan. 4 tahun yang lalu, saya juga mengambil keputusan menyakitkan dalam hidup saya untuk berpisah dengan pasangan yang sudah menemani saya selama 10 tahun. Sebelum mengambil keputusan berat itu, saya melakukan hal yang belum pernah saya lakukan sebelumnya, saya terbang ke Ubud dan menghabiskan waktu saya sendirian di sana untuk mencari jawaban atas pertanyaan-pertanyaan di kepala saya, mencari sebuah happy ending. Bagi saya, happy ending adalah saat kita berbahagia…
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#1Hari1Kebaikan di Bulan Ramadhan
Bulan Ramadhan selalu jadi kesempatan emas bagi saya untuk melakukan lebih banyak kebaikan. Bukan hanya karena keberkahan yang berlipat dari hari biasa, namun seiring dengan proses menahan hawa nafsu, saya mencoba membuat kebiasaan baru untuk lebih rutin dalam berbuat baik pada sesama. Khusus di bulan Ramadhan, saya ingin proyek kebaikan saya direncanakan dengan seksama hari per harinya. Perang yang berdampak buruk saja direncanakan, kenapa berbuat kebaikan tidak direncanakan dengan lebih rinci? Dari hasil scrolling timeline di twitter, saya pun terinspirasi untuk melakukan #1hari1kebaikan selama bulan Ramadhan, dengan berbagai cara. Salah satu cara paling mudah untuk melakukan #1hari1kebaikan adalah dengan mendukung dan memberi donasi proyek-proyek sosial di situs crowdfunding lokal KitaBisa.com…
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My Favorite Restaurants in Jakarta
Let’s talk about food! I have stopped cooking since 5 years ago and I always, I repeat, ALWAYS, eat out. Of course there are times I won’t have time to go out, then I must rely to food delivery services. Thank God, a lot of my favorite restaurants already connected to food delivey platforms such as FoodPanda. So, I’m going to list my favorite restaurants who’s available for delivery and why I like them! Es Teler 77 Why Es Teler 77? Because they have my favorite Indonesian food! Try their amazing Es Teler (literally translated as drunken ice because it consists of a lot of ingredients in one glass), also…
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Recognizing Small Victories and Moving Forward to 2015
I’ve been a Muslim and embracing Islam all my life. While Islam means surrender, only recently that I surrender myself to the compassion and love of God. Accepting the fact that what I need is not neccessarily the same with what I want. And at the end of the year, I found myself losing some people I trust, losing a business I nurture for years, let go precious stuff I had, yet I gained so much more. In the midst of chaos, I finally found myself. In my religion, the first revelation that The Prophet Muhammad SAW received was ‘Iqra’ means a command to ‘Read!’. While inside a dark cave, the…
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The 2014 Dreams
Before I start: No, it’s not my son in the pic, it’s my nephew It’s 11pm and I tried to type as fast as I could so I can post this before 2014 :)) I usually post my New Year’s Resolutions earlier, but this year I decide to read and gain insights, as much as I could, before writing anything. Let’s look back to 2013 for a second. Here are what went well: I was invited by Ford to attend NAIAS 2013 in Detroit. It was my first time to US and I got my 5 years tourist visa, which is awesome. I got to meet my friend HiMY and…
