7 Things I’ve Learnt as a Non-Muslim Fasting During Ramadan

Each year I learn a lot, not only about Islam, but also about myself and others.

Yeah, that’s me.

For the past 4 years, I’ve been fasting during Ramadan, despite the fact I’m not a Muslim.

There are quite a few reasons why I’ve chosen to do this, but for the sake of brevity, all you really need to know is that I’m a curious person and I enjoy learning.

And each year I learn a lot, not only about Islam, but also about myself and others.

This year was no different.

Here are 7 important things I learnt:

1. My mind is stronger than I thought it was

Going into Ramadan, I thought I was going to have to prepare myself for an onslaught of negativity and self-sabotage from my inner critic.

To my surprise however, thoughts of giving up never crossed my mind. Looking back, I think that was in part due to my desire to support my fiancé and friends, who are Muslims but mostly due to reminding myself of the millions of people who don’t have adequate food or clean water on a daily basis.

Every time my stomach hurt and I felt thirsty, I told myself that at the end of the day I would get to eat, so my pain was temporary compared…