Difficult-ish

with the two of us graduating super soon (mohuya with her masters and mashnun with his bachelors), we decided to redo our very lackluster second episode on the pod where we talk bout our relationships with schooling and education, and how toxic the chase towards academic success has been throughout our lives. there's nothin we love more than seeing someone that looks like us find success in anything, whether its academically, financially, socially, etc, but that doesn't mean that every south asian is destined to find the same success as quick as others. 

in this episode, we talk our feelings towards the education system, how its worked against us as artists, and maneuvering through complications that can hinder our own success. this is a goodie <3 

rate us if you love us

keep tabs on us:

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/

there are a ton of south asian parents who feel entitled to their children's lives and privacies, despite not having valid reasoning to even do so. we been subject to our parents going through our personal belongings, reading diaries, opening letters, not respecting our boundaries, and its been a tough journey getting them to realize that it aint okay. in this episode, we talk bout why we think our parents feel the need to impose themselves in our lives, our experiences with having a lack of boundaries/privacy, how it still affects us today, tips on how to have this conversation and hopefully mend the relationship with our parents, + so much more! this one was a goodie and we hope you luv <3 

keep tabs on us:

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/

a lot of y'all and a lot more south asians were never taught about money from school or from our family, and have to constantly depend on their parents or husband for any financial assistance. though we are also fairly new to being financially independent, we talk about all the steps we took to provide for ourselves and create healthy spending habits. in this episode, we talkin all about our financial journeys, finding sustainable ways to feed our guilty pleasures, saving up, hustle mentality, and everything in between. tune in to listen to our very amateur advice on being financially independent too! 

keep tabs on us: 

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/ 

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/ 

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/

making friends when you're older is tough. finding your identity as a south asian person is already hard, but finding trustworthy friends as you grow is even harder. we've had our fair share of growing out friendships and feeling lonely thinking we won't find people like us. in this episode, we talk about our tips to making friends, why we outgrew old friendships, and all the TEA. 

keep tabs on us: 

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/ 

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/ 

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/

ramadan mubarak to all of our listeners <3 ramadan gets shrouded with the idea of fasting from food and water during the day, but the older we get the more we realize its so much more than that. its about reminiscing happy times, spending more time with your family, realizing life is still fine without your desires, finding purpose through faith and religion, and so much more. with both of us living alone, it gets tough enjoying it as much as we used to, but we're figuring it out together, and we gon make the most out of every minute. we're hoping you all have a healthy ramadan whether you're celebrating or not, and we hope you enjoy :-) 

in this episode, we go more in depth on our experiences in the workplace and how it sucks being the only (or one of few) poc around. with mohuya working at an elementary school in new york city, and mashnun working in an office setting in downtown orlando, we got a whole lot to share about not being able to relate to anyone around us, not being fully recognized, or embraced. when a poc gets to a successful place in their lives, whether it's academically, or professionally, people are quick to notice and congratulate us, but don't care to really understand what the journey was like for us, and how others have headstarts to the race. we made this to remind the people that look like us that we notice you, and we're excited for you to listen <3 

keep tabs on us:

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/

farhan yousaf (@fs.yousaf) is a best selling south asian author of 4 poetry books, a mens mental health advocate, a lover of breakfast pastries, and one of the realest individuals we've come across in the south asian community. we're thrilled to finally have him on as our 3rd guest on the pod!!

recently releasing his newest collection of poetry titled 'serenity', farhan tells us his journey from living in a small rural community in jersey that wasn't accepting of his background, to becoming on the most known faces in the south asian writing space, fighting artists block, the influence of women and islam throughout his life, as well as his writing, and how the complicated relationship with his family and environment has carved out who he is today. 

a majority of this pod is us yapping away, but we promise you'll find some gems if you listen close. farhan's very wise, sometimes corny, but someone that anyone could look up to, and we hope you enjoy listening to him speak just as much as we did <3

keep tabs on us:

farhan's new poetry book 'serenity': https://www.amazon.com/dp/1524871036/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_glt_fabc_YT2HER4TGR35F9398SSC?linkCode=ml1&tag=yousaf0b-20

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/

shihan's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chilipeppercooks/

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/

since both of us moved out of our south asian homes on our own, we're always asked questions on how we went about the process. we've given this topic attention twice already but we're always happy to speak on moving out some more since we recognize how much we all think about it. in this episode, we went deeper into the guilt we feel with leaving our parents back at home, how we go about our finances, and the little steps we took along the way to make the process of moving out of our south asian homes a bit easier. we hope you enjoy <3 

keep tabs on us:

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/

with over 900k+ followers on social media, shihan chowdhury (@chilipeppercooks) is a bangladeshi cinematographer, home cook, and entrepreneur, and we’re grateful to have him as our second guest on the pod! 

in our 90 minute convo with him, we learned how he went from working at a fast food restaurant at 14 to becoming one of the most prolific figures in our online bangladeshi community, about his work ethic with him being a child of immigrants, and an immigrant himself, his incorporation of bangladeshi culture in his art despite not being surrounded by any people with that background, never being satisfied due to the instilled learnings from our parents, how he’s carried faith and religion throughout his life, what his favorite episode of chefs table is, and most importantly, why the hell he puts thai chili peppers in everything 

shihan’s one of the most inspirational people we’ve come across, and we’re ecstatic for you all to hear this whole convo. one last thank you to shihan, you’re the realest 

keep tabs on us: 

our instagram: https://www.instagram.com/difficultish/ 

shihan's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chilipeppercooks/ 

mohuya's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthave/ 

mashnun's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mashnunmunir/