Design your Life

We are a making a change at Karama, although home interiors are still our favorite thing to do we want to really push being a lifestyle brand.  Part of being a lifestyle brand is to create an actual "Karama Lifestyle".  That is to design a peaceful and purposeful life. 

I truly find it important to create a life that radiants peace and purpose. I wanted to rebrand our company to shed light on the importance of creating a healthy lifestyle. Usually, when we think of a healthy lifestyle, we automatically think of working out and eating right, and these things are important for our body but we can't neglect our mind and soul. A peaceful and purposeful life is to have all three mind, body and soul aligned together. 

Last year, I learned many things about myself and one major thing learned was I suffered from anxiety all my life. It didn't dawn on me until last winter, I had horrible chest pains and thought I was having a heart attack.  Throughout those months, I researched the cause. I am always health conscious, I work out every day and eat right but I knew my body was telling me something else.

I neglected my mind and soul, and because I wasn't at peace with those two; my body had to pay the price. I began to change my lifestyle. Usually, people will take anti-depressant pills and if that works for you then ok, but for me, I knew drugs weren't the answer. I knew that there is a deeper meaning to people who are anxious or depressed. I am fortunate enough to have studied the human mind and realize how complex and beautiful our minds can be. I became my own therapist. During this time I realized, since I was a child I was always anxious. As a child, I would eat my food behind my lunch box, I had severe social anxiety throughout my teens, it was so bad that I wouldn't pick up house phone calls because it made me nervous. I had trouble sleeping basically all my life scared of anything and everything. And as I grew older I pushed this to the side until my body was like "Hey Hoda, slow your roll!". 

Part of the reason why I believe I didn't pay attention to my anxiety, was because I was always busy dealing with my father mental illness. (This is the first time I share this publicly)  My father suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar, it is the main reason why I got a degree in Psychology. Living with someone who has suffered from a multiple personality disorder is painful and hard. It is the reason why I needed to find an escape which was when I started to design. 

I often questioned God to why He gave me this burden, I began to soul search. Look at the world with closed eyes and an open heart. I let the anger go and searched for the reasons why.  When I realized the why I was truly at peace. Without these hardships, I would have never realized what I went through my whole life.  I would have never taken the time to stop and reflect on the life I lived. And most importantly I would have never founded Karama if I didn't need an escape. 

This is why I want to dedicate this space to help you find your peace and purpose. To help take care of your mind and body and to help lift your soul. To tell you it is okay to be down but we are here to bring you back up. 

I hope that Karama can be that space for you.

Thank you for reading this far and I can not wait to show you want is in store. 

Design your life,

Hoda

P.S. Download this 'Everyday Self-Care' Checklist.  This checklist is what I do every day to help bring peace into my life.