The thought that runs through my head is I didn't realize that I was part of an exclusive club

until I got kicked out of it.

So it's you know Avery you belong to an exclusive club that I was once part of.

This is something that I have been meaning to explore for a very long time, which is what happens when an American like Chareen chooses to start wearing a hijab.

That's the only thing I changed. I added a headscarf to my wardrobe. I still wore jeans. I still had my clothing, but all I did is I added one garment and that was the headscarf and that changed how I was treated tremendously

You know people distance themselves people looked at me didn't talk to me

You know I don't like to stand out. I don't like attention and I'm not doing it for attention. I'm doing it for my religious beliefs

Shereen used to belong to the society of the outwardly secular, where people like me follow

trends and show our hair and our shoulders and think nothing of it.

We were not raised in a religious household.

There were few things. Like I knew I was Muslim because we didn't eat pork and we didn't drink alcohol.

So that was Shirin's version of Islam growing up until as an adult, three of her husband's grandparents died in a six-month period and

Shereen was confronted with a lot of loss and needed to be there for her husband and

his family. That was the moment I became more religious.

And it's funny because his dad at the same time became more religious.

So his dad and me, we both became religious in our respective face.

By the way, her husband's family is Christian.

So this was Shirin's own need and her own journey.

So I had to learn my own religion.

So now I need to learn how to pray.

I don't know how to pray I don't know how to pray I better learn how to

pray and you think about different aspects of practicing your faith

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