By Lauren Jones
I’ve never worn a hijab before, but I’m part of a ladies group called Embrace, who are mostly hijabis. They spoke about their experiences wearing the hijab and the creation of World Hijab Day. As someone who has loved learning about Islam, I asked if it was appropriate to wear one as well, and they excitedly said YES! I even had a dear friend’s daughter send me a video tutorial of how to put one on…cause hey, clueless!
However as the day got closer, I definitely felt the nerves kick in…Thoughts of: What would my co-workers think? What would my Christian friends think? What would the lady who makes my coffee every morning think???! But.. with it, it also was a sense of peace with, hey! what does God think about this? So I did it, and it was amazing! I felt respected (mostly). I felt supported. I felt good wearing one.
I do have long hair (and I’d say it’s one of my best qualities) so with it, the idea of wearing a hijab made me believe that I would feel ugly. But WITH IT, I felt like I was able to concentrate on God more & THAT is something far more beautiful. (And anyways, I still felt kinda pretty in it. ☺️)
I think World Hijab Day is super effective. The amount of questions I got were nonstop! And I was able to learn more, too and empathize with women who do wear it!
No matter where you are coming from: Christian, Jew, Muslim, Agnostic, or Atheist, this is standing in solidarity with women all over the world and it’s pretty freaking beautiful!