Dear World,

Suddenly my mission and purpose was no longer a fantasy, but an urgent call to action.

︎

I have spent the majority of my life concerned about what others thought of me. I have allowed that to shape my decisions, behaviors and work in an attempt to be “part” of something, and get out of my own head when my ideas were too big. My core always knew that I had value, and gifts to share with the world, but I was wrapped up in ideas about who I should be, or whether I would be “too much”. The truth was that I was afraid of my own vastness and of digging deep. Truly, the only thing keeping us from our greatest potential is ourselves.

A year ago, I began to shake myself from this, when I really committed to being alone with myself every morning. To make space to open up to my own unhinged radiance. I made it my most important ritual of the day to be still, meditate, and bit by bit, face every part of me I wanted to avoid. It has slowly changed my entire perspective and brought me to a whole new level of moving through my life.

Being forced to stay indoors and be with myself more intimately than ever before, I have found that my personal journey inward has only accelerated, and I have seen it happen with others too. Suddenly my mission and purpose was no longer a fantasy, but an urgent call to action. Suddenly on a rapidly changing planet, I saw that the most important thing we can do is give all of ourselves, to share who we are and share everything we have to aid each other in our collective healing.

A very inspiring friend of mine shared the phrase “the only way out is in”, and the moment I heard it, a new gear clicked into place. Humans are, by nature, compassionate, giving, and infinitely creative. All we have to do is be willing to look at all of our parts - with openness and readiness to accept ourselves.

There is nothing outside ourselves that will give us any sort of bliss or empowerment. We are the key.




Sincerely,

The Only Way Out Is In

Nadia is a Palestinian-American filmmaker, visual artist and home chef. She moved to NYC to study and pursue cinematography, and has gone on to shoot a variety of narrative, commercial, and documentary content across digital and analog mediums. Her work is focused on building connections between “western” and “eastern” ideas of life, by amplifying voices of diasporic communities through shared cultural connections. She currently produces her own cooking show, "Sahtein", celebrating Palestinian cuisine, and creates surreal collages from her 35mm photos.