I graduated from high school in 2001. In those days, the most popular graduating song was Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by punk-rock band Green Day.
It includes the memorable lyrics: “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life.” Young, careless and hopeful for the future, we saw the song as a way to wish each other happiness wherever we may end up. We did not focus so much on the unpredictability and all that could go wrong.
It’s important to note that we did not have guidance counsellors in high schools back in those days. Seeking guidance or help was unheard of, even at the smallest levels.
After high school, I took up an opportunity to work on ships. I remember thinking I was throwing my life away, feeling stressed all the time when people asked me why I was doing that kind of work, and not knowing how to deal with being away from family and friends for so long — four months and three days was my longest trip without touching land.
However, a culture of talking to people about how I felt or what I was going through was not standard practice. What is worse, I did not even know it was an option. I just had to shut up and deal with it.
I told myself that just keeping my head down and powering through would lead to happiness. When I got my degree I would be happy. When I got a job I would be happy. When I got a promotion I would be happy.
But that feeling of peace and fulfilment never came. Even after I took up my first job, I did not enjoy it and was not happy — but speaking to someone about how to handle my emotions, manage the situation and make a transition was not an option. I was repeatedly told to just keep working and things would work out — but they never did.
I got into a routine with my first job where I would get home at 5pm, shut the curtains and go to sleep. I would wake up at about 2am, eat dinner, mess around on the internet till 5am, then sleep again until it was time to go to work. When I got to work I spoke to no one, just counted the minutes until I could go home.
This went on for six months. I made no friends, did not go out and only found peace in being by myself. What is weird is this is completely opposite to who I am. I love meeting people, I love going on adventures and I love having fun — but all the things that were natural to me seemed to disappear and I had nobody to talk with to help bring them back.
Then I met my wife, Salama. She was someone to talk to who simply listened — but more importantly, she saw the person I really was behind the emptiness I was going through. Slowly my love for fun, laughter and adventure came back into my life, and for that I will forever be grateful to her. I never realised it at the time but simply speaking about my problems and having someone help me through them was extremely powerful.
Was I depressed? I don’t know. Would things have worsened if Salama had not come into my life? Maybe. All I know is that I could not talk to anyone about how I was feeling, and that had to change.
When my family and I moved to the United States where I went to graduate school, it was the biggest and most difficult transition of our lives — it was like a huge weight on our shoulders. I remember being in Disneyland one day with my kids when I got an email to inform me I had underperformed in my studies, and was in the bottom 10 per cent of my class.
I was absolutely crushed — I felt like a failure to my family and to myself. I almost cried. I had brought my family all the way to America only to be a failure — and all this while I was feeling like this, I was in Disneyland, perhaps the happiest place on Earth.
I powered through that weekend and managed to keep a smile on my face and be the fun husband and father, but inside I was scared and ashamed. Upon returning to classes I got an email from a counsellor saying she would like to meet and help to support me through the process.
What amazed me was how proactive they were in offering support and how normal it was in the culture to seek support. We would meet every couple of weeks to discuss my progress, how I was managing with the transition, my work, my family and the future I was trying to build. Through these meetings I turned things around and ended up being in the top 25 per cent of my class for the rest of my time at university.
As well as giving us the chance to deal with our emotional health openly, Salama and I also credit our time in America as the moment when we truly bonded in ways that have strengthened our relationship incredibly.
We need counsellors and mental-health experts in primary and secondary schools and in universities to help students transition to the real world, and in businesses to offer employees the kind of help I never had. These resources should be made available to support and encourage people to come forward when they are having hard times, because every day a person suffers emotionally or mentally is a day they could have been happy, productive and caring towards themselves and others.
The Movember movement, which began as a way to raise awareness of prostate cancer, has in recent years expanded to also draw attention to the effect mental-health issues have on men and the need to address them.
There is great power in seeking help with emotional issues. I am no longer afraid of the hard times or anything that might go wrong, because I know, like the lyrics of that Green Day song say, “in the end it’s right” — even if someone else has to remind me of that from time to time.
artslife@thenational.ae
The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper
Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The Gandhi Murder
- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
- 7 - million dollars, the film's budget
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
Haircare resolutions 2021
From Beirut and Amman to London and now Dubai, hairstylist George Massoud has seen the same mistakes made by customers all over the world. In the chair or at-home hair care, here are the resolutions he wishes his customers would make for the year ahead.
1. 'I will seek consultation from professionals'
You may know what you want, but are you sure it’s going to suit you? Haircare professionals can tell you what will work best with your skin tone, hair texture and lifestyle.
2. 'I will tell my hairdresser when I’m not happy'
Massoud says it’s better to offer constructive criticism to work on in the future. Your hairdresser will learn, and you may discover how to communicate exactly what you want more effectively the next time.
3. ‘I will treat my hair better out of the chair’
Damage control is a big part of most hairstylists’ work right now, but it can be avoided. Steer clear of over-colouring at home, try and pursue one hair brand at a time and never, ever use a straightener on still drying hair, pleads Massoud.
Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
