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I have been occasionally checking and watching short videos on TikTok lately. There are a lot of educational and entertainment videos that come into my feed whenever I check, which is why I continue using this video platform. However, recently, I started seeing old photos with a Hindi song in the background; some of these photos were taken years ago, featuring either people or locations in Mogadishu. The short text on the images asks viewers to name the person(s) in the photo or the area if they are originally from village X (Buuloxuubeey, for instance) in Mogadishu.

As I continued seeing these old photos, I began reflecting on life and how my own circumstances has gradually changed over the years (I turned 36 this month, September 2024). I started thinking about my good old days—growing up in Buulaburte, studying in Beledweyne, playing football, and how my daily routine has changed over time. Things have changed without me noticing much.

I lived in Buulaburte for the first 18 years of my life until 2006, when I left the town. Back in Buulaburte, I had a daily routine that I miss today. I had few responsibilities (although I was my mother’s first son and often helped with her business), and I had plenty of time to learn, play, and spend with family and friends. Buulaburte is not a big town, which probably contributed a lot to my routine. I did not spend much time going out to places in the town, as all the places (the school, the mosque, the football playground, and my mother’s business) were close to each other, and I could reach these places on foot.

The best period that often comes to my mind is 2005 and 2006. I used to study Arabic grammar in the morning at a mosque, go to an intermediary school around 8 a.m. after breakfast, attend Prophetic Traditions (Hadith) lessons after the Dhuhr prayer in the main mosque, listen to BBC Somali at 2 p.m. (after lunch) with a notebook and pen to listen the news as well as write down the names of capital cities, help my mother close her clothing business at 4 p.m., play football around 4:45 p.m., study morphology (Sarf) between Maghrib and Isha prayers, and join a computer class at 8 p.m. after dinner. It was a busy schedule, but I enjoyed every bit of it. I was happy, playing football, learning different things, and supporting my mother’s business.

That routine changed when I moved to Beledweyne in July 2006 to study at Sheikh Mohamed Moallim secondary school. In Beledweyne, I rarely played football. My routine was usually to go to school early in the morning, return around 1 p.m., have lunch in another house in the Koshin neighborhood (I lived in the Buundoweyn neighborhood), study journalism around 2:30 p.m., and socialize with friends in the afternoon. There was also a period when I took English language course at the Universal School of Languages.

When I came to Mogadishu in August 2009, my routine changed again. I became less social, spending most of my time at home reading books in the mornings and evenings and studying at the university in the afternoons. In the first year of my university life, I dedicated the weekends—Thursdays and Fridays—to visiting relatives in Mogadishu. However, I started pursuing an English language diploma and a law diploma on the weekends, so I did not have much time left for socializing or playing football between 2010 and 2013.

Although my routine changed over time, the photos I saw on TikTok reminded me most of how my physical appearance has changed alongside my daily activities. In the final year of my university studies in the 2012-2013 academic year, my eyesight began to worsen, and I started to wear eyeglasses in 2014. My routine changed significantly after finishing university, and my lifestyle evolved. Now, I shave my beard regularly, have gray hair, raise kids, exercise regularly to maintain a good weight, and strive to find time for socializing.

I become nostalgic for my old days whenever I see old photos on TikTok. They revive my memories, and I start thinking about how my body and life have changed over the years. I am sure that years from now, I will feel nostalgic for this period of my life if Allah grants me the time to live longer.

These photos remind me of the cycle of life and how short this life is. They also remind me of the importance of living in the present. We can learn from the past, but it will never come back. I vividly remember my Arabic teacher at the intermediary school, who used to remind us that we are writing our history every day, as today will become history tomorrow. These photos also remind me of the importance of understanding why Allah created us, the accountability awaiting us after we leave this world, and preparing ourselves for the afterlife.

These old photos might not have deep meaning for those sharing them on TikTok, but they hold a lot of significance for me. They teach me more than just remembering or naming a person or place. They remind me of the stages of life, the brevity of this life, and how my own life has evolved and changed over the years.