Born and raised in Lebanon, I look back at my days there fondly. However, when I think about my school years, I also recall how much I was afraid of being judged by others because of my stuttering – of someone looking at me weird or saying something, and anywhere in public in general. Fortunately, I loved being around family and speaking freely around these people made up my comfort zone. Soon enough, my parents didn’t want this to be an obstacle for me, so they found different ways to help, like taking me to speech therapy.
When I was 18, I moved to Montreal to study business at McGill University. I ended up doing a double major in business and psychology as well because I wanted to learn more about myself and better understand others. When I first started university, I would ask my professors to exempt me from any oral presentations to avoid any activity that required me to speak.
In my last year, however, I joined the debate club and started attending toastmasters meetings. What started supposedly as a challenging hobby to overcome my fear slowly turned into becoming a vocation by giving inspirational speeches. This has given me the extraordinary opportunity to speak in 4 languages across 3 different continents, to do keynotes at organizations like the UN, Boeing, Google, Tesla, IBM, Facebook and to deliver 5 TEDx talks.
In 2016, soon after embarking on this journey, I also ventured into stand-up comedy. My fear of being judged followed me around for years and almost controlled me. However, joking about what made me insecure my whole life in front of an audience felt empowering. As I continued to perform on stage, I became aware of my ability to take control of my story, the way I expressed myself, or connected with my audience. It wasn’t a turning point or breakthrough.
This actually led me to name one of my TED talks “Your breakthrough is not coming”. It was about how we create this false expectation that change will occur through one big breakthrough when something clicks and suddenly your life is better. When I was still in Lebanon, I thought moving abroad would bring about that breakthrough, but with time I realized that it was a bunch of micro-moments of bravery that made me take the steps to where I am today. It was always the step that I least wanted to take that would empower me the most.
In 2016, soon after embarking on this journey, I also ventured into stand-up comedy. My fear of being judged followed me around for years and almost controlled me. However, joking about what made me insecure my whole life in front of an audience felt empowering. As I continued to perform on stage, I became aware of my ability to take control of my story, the way I expressed myself, or connected with my audience. It wasn’t a turning point or breakthrough.
This actually led me to name one of my TED talks “Your breakthrough is not coming”. It was about how we create this false expectation that change will occur through one big breakthrough when something clicks and suddenly your life is better. When I was still in Lebanon, I thought moving abroad would bring about that breakthrough, but with time I realized that it was a bunch of micro-moments of bravery that made me take the steps to where I am today. It was always the step that I least wanted to take that would empower me the most.
This journey to where I am today has been surreal. It makes me think about what the poet Robert Frost would say: “the best way out is always through”.
In 2017, I won the award for inspirational speaker of the year and while I can say that I’ve had the chance to experience and accomplish other milestones since then, a shift in mindset has been one of the most defining moments of my journey. The most important one was coming to believe that fear and action can coexist. When we walk through life with that belief, we no longer wait for the fear to disappear to take a step forward. I knew for a fact I was scared of living a life filled with regrets, so I took that fear and started doing everything I’d one day regret not having done.
If I could go share a message with anyone who is currently holding back due to fear, I would tell them three things. The first is to realize that it’s ok to be different. Own what makes you unique. The second is to make fear your compass, because what changed for me wasn’t the presence of absence of fear ; rather, my relationship with fear changed and so can yours. Lastly, when you find what scares you the most, do it once, but then, do it again, and again and again. Transformation occurs not through a singular breakthrough moment ; it occurs through what I call “millions of micro-moments of bravery” We have to repeatedly look our dragons in the eyes, take a deep breath and walk through the fire.
If I could go share a message with anyone who is currently holding back due to fear, I would tell them three things. The first is to realize that it’s ok to be different. Own what makes you unique. The second is to make fear your compass, because what changed for me wasn’t the presence of absence of fear ; rather, my relationship with fear changed and so can yours. Lastly, when you find what scares you the most, do it once, but then, do it again, and again and again. Transformation occurs not through a singular breakthrough moment ; it occurs through what I call “millions of micro-moments of bravery” We have to repeatedly look our dragons in the eyes, take a deep breath and walk through the fire.
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