Mahevash Muses Turns Five!

Feb 15, 2015.

That’s the day I set up a blog called Mahevash Muses on a free WordPress account. I started the blog only because it was one of the assignments of a writing course I was taking at the time. But long after the class was over, I kept coming back to it. For it was my safe space, the one place I could simply write without having to worry about rules like word limits and style guides.

About two years later, I switched to a self-hosted website because I wanted to be unrestricted by censorship. (If you are on a free WordPress.com account, please know that your blog might be deleted without any warning.) I also wanted a proper website as I was about to release my first book Busting Clichés into the world and a URL like ‘xyz.wordpress.com’ hardly looks professional on an author bio, does it?

By then, the website had grown on me and even though there were times when I wanted to give up on it, I didn’t. One way or another, I always managed to talk myself out of abandoning this feral child.

I call it feral because, until most of 2017, it was all over the place (aka it looked cluttered and ugly) and wasn’t 100% true to me like it is now. My posts were of course, honest, but they were always a little restrained. Plus, while I spoke up about contemporary, taboo social issues,  I didn’t have the strength to talk about mental illness on a public platform. Even though I wanted to, the very real fear of judgment and trolls held me back.

It was only in 2018 that I threw up my hands, said *fuck society*, and decided to regularly spread mental health awareness along with my all-around unconventional views.

When people began to write in saying they could relate and that they felt better knowing they were not alone, I realized that this space had become something much bigger than me.

The honesty in my words was the reason I was able to have some achingly vulnerable and inspiring conversations. Without planning to, I had finally met my kind of humans – and I wanted to keep meeting more of them. After all, I had been searching for them for most of my life…

Mahevash Muses then became a mission to connect with like-minded people and ensure that they were seen and heard, that they could be whoever they wanted to be UNAPOLOGETICALLY. The misfits, the rulebreakers, the truth-seekers – that’s the kind of individuals I have been lucky to connect with over here. And the mission continues to date.

Ever since I put up the ‘Work With Me‘ page, not only have I been able to feature some unique folks and organizations, but I have also managed to make some money. Right now, it’s not enough to justify the time and website costs, but with your continued support and patronage, I know I will get there soon. I am even thinking of setting up a Patreon account but I haven’t figured out what exactly you’d want from me. If you have any ideas or suggestions, you know where to find me, right? Just email me at shaikhmahevash@gmail.com.

As we turn five today, I can confidently say that you and I have many, many years to look forward to.

I will be right here, talking about our fears, hopes, problems, and dreams, no matter how hard it gets. I have finally found my tribe after years of searching and we are only going to get bigger, better, and weirder. Here’s to us!

What’s a birthday without some gifts? Send me an email at shaikhmahevash@gmail.com telling me what exactly you like/love about Mahevash Muses and I will send over a personalized note telling you exactly why and how much you matter to me.