I choose not to be Anonymous anymore…
When I started this blog, I opted to be anonymous on the internet. This is because I wasn’t overly comfortable with the idea of everyone knowing about my life in the personal way that I would be writing about it. This blog was simply a creative outlet for my thoughts and experiences. I was also quite paranoid about privacy and safety issues after hearing far too many Identity theft stories. (Actually, I probably still am!)
However, over the months, this blog has turned into much more than I had imagined. Knowing that I am part of such a friendly blogger community, that only knows to encourage each other, has filled me with pride for my blog, and I am now ready to shout about it to the world. The fact that people read my posts and even enjoy them still baffles me, but it makes me want to gain even more readers and create a relationship with them by which they can feel like they can connect with me.
I do still wish to keep the identity of my family (especially Baby Z) anonymous because the decision of being on the internet is theirs to make, not mine. Also I am being overly protective and that identity theft paranoia always kicks in, but this decision is quite necessary for my sanity.
Anyway, back to the point, I feel I am now ready to divulge a bit more about my self to the readers to make a connection. For the family and friends that know me, I am proud to share this with them, and hope they enjoy reading about my journey as much as the next person. I also hope that with this brave step, I can be more accessible to anyone that would like to work with me in the near future.
So without further ado, I should probably tell you who I am! HI! My name is Zeyna! You already know that I am a British Expat, married to the love of my life, and mummy to a gorgeous little one year old baby boy. Here’s what you don’t know: I am of Indian origin but born in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, and lived in Riyadh and Jeddah for the first ten years of my life. I have many fond childhood memories of the place, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. My family and I then moved to England, where I stayed on for the next eleven years, soaking in the British culture. I am wholly British in that I am an avid scones lover, Harry Potter fan, Snow Angels maker and M&S shopper. There are not many things better than snuggling with a blanket to watch Doctor Who, sipping hot chocolate, on a dark gloomy English day.
I graduated with a degree in Architecture (boy, that was quite the experience!) and consider myself to be an Artist. There are numerous family portraits, painted by me, hanging about in my home in England. (Hopefully, my parents haven’t shoved it in the garage just yet!) I love travelling, and so far my favourite travel destination is probably Italy. (I am currently persuading my husband to revisit Italy for our next family holiday). Since Mr Z was located in Dubai, two years ago I made the big move overseas and married him here in a traditional “Big Fat Asian Wedding” style. We went on to become parents to a lovable baby boy, and are currently basking in the Dubai sunshine and loving every second of expat life here.
So there you go, that’s the person behind Mummy On My Mind, and I hope I can now be more relatable to my readers! Eeek, I am now very much on the Internet, bare faced but smiling!
Please come and say Hi in the comments section below, and feel free to tell me a little about yourself too! Also why not check out my new and improved About Me page!
Comments
Kudos to you for mustering up the courage to drop your anonymity! It’s lovely to meet you 🙂 I’m still too scared of the idea of dropping my metaphorical veils to do that yet, but my fear is less about identity theft and more about family making a big deal out of the idea of me having a blog. Things tend to get blown out of proportion with desi families :p Though I can tell you that I’m of Pakistani origin, settled in the U.S.
Thank you for the encouragement, and it’s lovely to meet a fellow Desi! Haha I can totally relate about the family reactions and I am bracing myself for that too! Whatever your choice though, the author’s comfort level is what is the most important with such a big decision like this.
Oh hello there, gorgeous. It’s lovely to meet you (virtually). Well done for braving the internet world. We got this. 😉 xx
Haha thanks for the positivity! Lovely to meet you too! ?
Hello lovely! It’s so nice to virtually meet you! I understand all your concerns and share many that’s why I’m a bit anonymous too, it’s nice to see you though xx
Hi! Thank you so much for the encouraging message!
Welcome to “coming out” – I appreciate what a tough decision it is, I too struggled with being too open on the internet about our family and identity but as you’re now discovering its a fabulous way to connect with your readers and give your story some authenticity – and you are very beautiful too, why not put that smile out there!!?
Thank you so much for the positivity Keri! I can always count on the fabulous blogger community. Hopefully, you will be seeing this smile a lot more from now! ?
Such a positive post. Brave you; I’m not quite there yet. I so understand the identity theft paranoia and our personal choice to be net vs. our immediate family’s choice. Hope you experience more loveliness in bloggingdom as you reveal more about yourself. It must be so lovely to exposed to a range of cultures; so enriching.
It’s lovely ‘see’ people reading our life shares, isn’t it. I also still can’t get it around my head. 🙂 #aNoviceMumTwitterFeed
Thank you for your encouraging comment! It is really tough decision as I want to protect my family as much as I can, but I also need to put myself out there.
Yes, it is quite a treat to get to almost pick and choose the best bits of each culture that I am surrounded by, though can get rather confusing at times too!
Haha yeah, I still wonder whether all my views are just accidental spam or something, but the comments put my mind at ease! ?
Welcome to the world of openness lol It’s always a worry showing your realself to the world isn’t it, so well done for being brave enough to do so.
Thank you so much for your positivity and welcome! No turning back now! Haha! ?
You look so beautiful masahallah!
Thank you for the lovely comment! ☺️
Hello
I’m Nina, I’m of English/Persian descent. I’ve been with my hubby for 14 years and married for 7. We have 3 boys, our eldest has Down’s syndrome, autism and congenital heart disease and our younger two boys are fraternal twins.
Great to meet you.
N x
Hi Nina! It’s lovely to meet you (virtually) and to know more about you! Thanks for stopping by! ?
So nice to know more about you! And that’s a lovely picture up there 🙂
Thank you so much! ?
Hi Zeyna! Congratulations on finding the courage to no longer be anonymous. It must have been a huge step for you to take. I’ve just started properly reading your blog, after months of getting your blog posts through in my mailbox, I finally opened one to have a read. I’ve started doing this for lots of blogs that I’d subscribed to, but had unfortunately not had the time to actually read. How shameful is that?!
Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading more from you. I’ve just popped over to your Facebook page too.
All the best to you
Fiona x
Thank you so much Fiona for your encouraging comment! It realy was a tough decision, but one that I had been mulling over for quite a long time! Also, its great that you have taken the time to visit my blog- Better late than never, eh? This also reminds me to read more blogs that I have subscribed to! Ha!
Thanks for your facebook support too, and hope you enjoy my future blog posts! I really appreciate it! ?
I hope you continue to feel comfortable with your decision, but as the blogging world is so supportive, I’m certain you’ll be well looked after (o:
It’s a pleasure on the social media support – we all need it, and let’s face it, we get to see more posts through our social media feeds – posts that we may otherwise miss. Thanks also for your Facebook support! (o: xx
Hello! I’m in Abu Dhabi so I follow your posts with interest, being nearby 🙂 Well done for being brave enough to lose the anonymity, I’m not quite there yet…
Hi there! Thanks for your encouragement, and happy to meet a fellow blogger in the UAE! Hope you find the same courage, and if not, then don’t feel pressurised into doing so. It’s your decision.
Hello! Nice to be able to put a face to the blog name. I totally agree with your decision to keep your husband and son anonymous still.
#twinklytuesday
Thank you for the encouraging comment. ?
Ahh yay it’s so lovely to “meet” you properly!!! I had noticed your twitter pic had changed 🙂
It’s so lovely that you feel comfortable in the blogging community, I too have only ever experienced positivity and feel like I’ve “met” so many lovely people through it!! X
Aw thank you for the warm welcome! It’s true, the blogging community is so supportive and uplifting!
Welcome! It’s great too see who it is writing a blog! You look lovely by the way 🙂
Aw thank you so much for the warm welcome! ?
So lovely to know more about you! I often wonder whether I should have kept Zach more unidentifiable but it’s a bit late now – I have written far too many posts to go through and amend! Thanks for telling us all about yourself and thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday
Thank you! Haha yeah it probably is a bit late, but kids add a different charm to the blog, since readers can not avoid the cute little faces! Thanks for hosting! ?
Nice to meet you! I’m glad the Harry Potter thing stayed with you after moving 🙂 #twinklytuesday
Debbie
http://www.myrandommusings.blogspot.com
Lovely to meet you too! Haha how could I possibly give up Harry Potter?