As salamu alaykum sister,

Shokran for writing to our Live Session. As I understand your situation you are an undergraduate student. At your college it is prohibited to use a cell phone. You did make the mistake of bringing your cell phone to school and you got caught.

Getting Caught Lying/Disobeying

You got caught with your cell phone and now you feel very bad. That can be a good thing sister as it is your conscious speaking to you. If you did not care, that would be more worrisome.

Feeling Conflicted

The problem with this situation is that you have grown quite a bit from when you were younger. You used to lie a lot according to you. As you got older and grew out of this habit, you would post positive inspirational quotes such as ’maturity is when you have the chance to lie but still choose the truth no matter if you die’. As a result of the conflict between what you posted and your getting caught with a cell phone, your feeling conflicted and I can imagine embarrassed.

We all Make Mistakes

Sister, you feel in your heart that it is honorable to be honest. The mistake that you made, makes it seem you don’t believe this, when you really do. As a result, you appear to be very upset and depressed about this. Sister according to what you have written, you have grown a lot. You have changed. You have stop lying and deceiving, and you started to become a better person. Sister just because you make a mistake does not mean you are no longer a good person. It just means you have made a mistake, you need to admit it, seek repentance from Allah, and move on with your life. Your mistake with a cell phone does not define who you are. What defines who you are relates to your actions thoughts and behaviors afterwards.

Inspiration

This is a perfect time for an inspirational quote to yourself about how Allah’s mercy and forgiveness is so abundant. Sister you are human, you are not perfect. True, I understand that you may fear falling back into your old habits, however this does not need to be the case. You can put this incident behind you after you have repented, and move forward in the new light of Who You Are. You have come a long way. As you stated, you used to tell lies all the time, and now you do not. That is something to be grateful for and to feel good about. Don’t let one little mistake ruin all of your progress. You are the inspiration!

Essays and Reflections

As you had mentioned social media, I am wondering if you are more embarrassed about posting positive things and then getting caught doing a negative.  You may want to think about that. In the end all it amounts to is a poor decision. We all make poor decisions and we learn from them. As you appear to like writing quotes and inspirational messages, perhaps this is a time for self-reflection as well as an essay on forgiveness. You may want to write an essay to yourself only, or you may want to share it with people who are close to you. In the essay you could discuss how far you have come, how you have changed, yet how vulnerable we as human beings are to still making mistakes. You may want to discuss Allah’s mercy and how Allah loves to forgive. In looking at our blessings, which include Allah’s love and mercy, we should seek to go on and continue to strive to be better people even after we are caught doing something that is not good.

Social Media

In regards to promising and restricting yourself from social media and then breaking that promise,  , perhaps you may want to look at articles and research on social media addiction. It kind of sounds like that what may be going on. If you cannot stay off of social media for one day, then you need to look at that sister. Many people are addicted to social media and they don’t even know it. However if you tell them that they can’t use social media for a day or two they may get very upset! That is the norm of today’s world it seems-social media. Many have lost the art of face to face communications and fun in-person enjoyable times. I encourage you to sister to try to get out more, meet with sisters in person. Perhaps start a club or group on positive affirmations. Your writing skills and personal growth would make it a success!

Conclusion

Sister, please seek repentence and go on with your life-a bit wiser. You have come so far in your growth. Insha’Allah hold onto the rope of Allah and realize we all make mistakes. It doesn’t have to equal an avalanch. Try to limit social media and replace it with real time-person to person activities and positive ventures. You have much to offer sister, just realize that you are human like everyone ele. We are all striving. We wish you the best.