Is Discipline The Missing Piece?

I Thought Discipline Was My Missing Piece. It Turned Out to Be Gratitude Butterflying.

Last year, I published an article about choosing a word of the year. My word was discipline.

At the time, I was convinced that my lack of consistency—especially in marketing—meant I was undisciplined. Like many high-performing professionals on the edge of burnout, I believed the problem was me.

So I did what driven people do.

I printed the word. I pasted it on my monitor. I reminded myself daily: I am disciplined.

And I made dua. I asked Allah for guidance.

If you are reading this as someone who feels tired, stretched, quietly dissatisfied, and secretly dreaming of becoming your own boss—pause here for a moment.

Because what unfolded next surprised me.

When Discipline Didn’t Look Like Hustle

As the year progressed, something shifted—but not in the way I expected.

I did not suddenly become louder on social media. I did not increase my posting frequency. I did not force myself into relentless visibility.

Instead, I became more disciplined where it mattered most.

I noticed myself responding differently to the call of the adhan. My first instinct—without negotiation—was to pray.

Not later. Not after “just one more thing”. Immediately.

That single neurological decision rewired more than any productivity system ever did.

In certain desperate circumstances, I was also guided back—more deeply—into the Qur’an. Although I am a Qur’an tafsir student and have long engaged intellectually with the verses, this time the pull was different.

I needed presence, not analysis. Connection, not explanation.

Specific surahs. Specific verses. Verses that met me where I was.

And slowly, something happened.

My nervous system softened. My reactivity reduced. My need to constantly be “on” dissolved.

By October, I was on social media once a week.

And the world did not collapse.

My team sustained engagement. The business continued. Opportunities still arrived.

I realised something fundamental—something many burned-out employees and aspiring solopreneurs struggle to unlearn:

Earning does not require constant self-extraction. Abundance does not come from exhaustion.

When Learning Becomes Alignment, Not Accumulation

On paper, the year looked “successful”.

I became:

• an NLP Master Trainer

• a Master Hypnotist

• a Neuroscience Coach

• I released my book, 'Duakuramun Hinithunvelama', to the Maldivian market

• I soft-launched my book, 'NO ONE CARES Theory'

• and I completed my Master’s thesis on “The impact of an Islamic-based coaching model on the emotional resilience of Maldivian women coachees”.

But the real shift happened beneath the surface.

As the year closed, my curiosity moved beyond certifications and into integration—particularly at the intersection of Qur’anic verses, physics, and consciousness.

For the first time, knowledge stopped stacking… and started aligning.

I began letting go of patterns that had octopused themselves onto my nervous system—over-responsibility, over-performance, over-attachment.

Not through force. Through gratitude.

And that is when the metaphor arrived.

Gratitude Butterflying

If discipline was the cocoon, gratitude was the butterfly.

Butterflying is not doing more. It is not hustling differently. It is not rebranding burnout as ambition.

Gratitude Butterflying is the neurological and spiritual process of transformation:

• from contraction to expansion

• from survival to stewardship

• from “I must” to “I am entrusted”

A butterfly does not strive to fly. It emerges ready.

And gratitude is what prepares the nervous system for emergence.

This is why Gratitude Butterflying is my word for 2026.

A Reflection for the Burned-Out Employee Reading This

Let me speak directly to you now.

You may be:

• high-functioning but hollow

• employed, but energetically unemployed

• capable, skilled, and quietly exhausted

• dreaming of independence, but afraid of instability

Notice this gently:

What if your next chapter does not require more pressure… but more permission?

Consider these questions—not to answer quickly, but to feel into:

• What part of your life is asking to complete, not continue?

• Where are you forcing consistency when your nervous system is asking for coherence?

• If gratitude were your operating system, what would you naturally release?

• Who would you become if you trusted that Allah’s provision does not depend on your depletion?

Now imagine yourself one year from today.

See yourself calmer. More rooted. More selective. More sovereign.

Notice what word describes that version of you.

Not the word that sounds impressive. The word that feels true.

How to Set Your Word (Without Forcing It)

If you are ready, here is a simple process:

• Reflect on the past year—not what you achieved, but what it cost you.

• Identify the state your nervous system is craving (not the behaviour).

• Explore words slowly—let your body respond, not just your intellect.

• Define the word spiritually, emotionally, and practically.

• Visualise living it with ease, not effort.

• Place the word where you will see it—but, more importantly, feel it.

• Make intention, then release attachment to how it unfolds.

Transformation does not respond to control. It responds to alignment.

My Mission for 2026

My mission next year is simple:

To harvest from the Gratitude Butterfly Garden.

To live, work, create, and lead from what has already been cultivated—rather than endlessly planting while starving.

If you are standing at the edge of burnout and independence, know this:

You are not lazy. You are not broken. You are not behind.

You may simply be ready to butterfly.

So I will ask you, gently:

What is your word for the year ahead? And are you brave enough to let it transform you?

If you need some support, DM me “WORD”, and I will share the details of an upcoming webinar on 11 January.

#GratitudeLeadership #FaithDrivenEntrepreneur #EmotionalResilience #BurnoutRecovery 

#GratitudeButterflying #MuslimWomenInBusiness #PurposeDrivenSuccess #HighTicketCoach 

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