Belal's Nonfiction Writing Blog

My Pent Up Emotions Our society has the standard that men for the most part don’t cry. Some believe it’s because we’re emotionless and others think men stop themselves from crying because it is seen as unmanly. For me, that assumption does have some truth in it. For the most part I don’t cry often and when I am really upset I do hold myself back from it, but not for the reasons one might think. It’s not because I think boys don’t cry and my emotions should be buried since I’m a man or because my life is simple and I have no reason to. I actually try to be open with myself regarding my emotions, because I think that standard is unhealthy. I personally don’t cry often but I believe the status quo for how much men cry is wrong. Well, why don’t I cry often? In the past it was simply the way I was raised. In my culture men are expected to never cry, as it is seen as a sign of weakness and femininity. Whenever I cried as a kid I was met with disappointment and the expectation to do bette...

Have you ever felt embarrassed by the things that you used to like? My Past Addiction to Gaming For the longest time I had an all too great addiction to gaming. Almost all of us have played a video game at least once. Some people avoid or don’t understand them but for many it’s a popular form of entertainment. For me it was a major part of my life which I have come to regret, and I feel embarrassed looking back on it. I’ve realized it was detrimental to me, my social life, and my conflict with procrastination, and getting reminded of it carries some shame every time. I had the biggest issue with an addiction to gaming subbie and freshman year. Those were my first two years at uni and the biggest difference that allowed for me to play more was the new freedoms the school provided. Suddenly I had over two hours of free time in the middle of school every other day with a free period and lunch combined. Me and my friends all got the same free period and would spend the hour playing differe...

Prolonged Procrastination Procrastination has had an impact on my academic journey for as long as I can remember. I've always had a tendency to make excuses and put off assignments, finishing them much closer to the deadline than what's typical. The thing is I haven't had to face the consequences of my procrastination in very many cases. I've always gotten a wave of focus and concentration at some point near the deadline for a homework or an assignment, which meant I could keep procrastinating on assignments and still do well on them. I’ve maintained this compromise with procrastination for a while, but recently I faced a challenge that completely took advantage of my weakness that I had kept at bay for so long. Last year I went on sabbatical to my home country Libya. We went for a school year with the intention of me returning to Uni the following year. For this reason, Uni had to look over and approve the courses and curriculum I would be taking there so that I could ...