Being Aloud

Send us Fan Mail

This is the final episode of this season! I am eternally grateful to you for joining me on the 'Being Aloud' journey in 2022. Its been so incredible to get to share this space with you, but now its time for me to take a break (until January 10th, to be exact)!

And maybe you should give yourself a break as well. Recalibrate and digest everything that happened this year so that you can fully look forward to flipping the page and crossing the bridge onto a brand new year!

A very merry Christmas, and a happy new year to you my friends. I love you!


Blog post I mentioned:

The Next Right Thing

Support the show

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Send us Fan Mail

What if i told you that a catalyst to your healing journey could be COMPASSION for the person who hurt you?

Healing is a long journey that requires a great deal of self-awareness and self-preservation. In today's episode we consider a brand new approach!

Blog Post:

Compassion Theory

Support the show

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Subscriber-only episode

Send us a text

Being human in this digitally hyperconnected day and age is a tricky thing when we’re going through a season of pain or grief, regardless of what caused them, because now your problem is also everyone else’s, and when you’re in the thick of your trauma and find yourself being bombarded with other people’s opinions on the deepest and most personal wounds of your life, you become ten times more likely to doubt your choices and decisions based on emptiness. And all that doubt makes the healing process so much more difficult than it already has to be.

All that judgement. Feeling like your life is hung on a wall at a public museum. Having people preach at you, repeating all the ways you could have and should have done better in order to avoid the pain you’re now in. Gosh, we can be absolutely brutal to one another! 

Over the past couple of episodes i made the conscious decision to open up about the trauma of my own divorce. Being a young Egyptian, Christian, divorced woman, i knew full well that my decision to address such a sore topic would not be easy. I haven’t, and still will not disclose any details of my marriage or reasons for my divorce—that stuff is personal and will forever be too tender to willingly display out in the open. But i do feel a strong nagging in my chest to bring this taboo topic to the table, because i know that i am not the only one who has had  to face the utter loneliness of a marriage breakup. It is important for people who are going through divorce to know that they are not alone: that the sad reality is that living in this fallen and broken world may sometimes mean that we will not always have very many options. I have personally come to discover that even having a choice between good or bad is a humungous privilege in itself! Because all i could choose between were bad and worse. But i also feel very strongly that those who have not and are not experiencing divorce themselves also listen to this series, because they have the power either to destroy or to heal. And what we talk about isn’t only applicable to the subject of divorce. Society’s condemnation or support can be the making or breaking point for anyone who is experiencing any grief—anyone who is walking through any difficult season of life. 

So i ask that you keep an open heart and an open mind, regardless of which side of the fence you stand on today. Let me tell you about how it gets better. Let me tell you about the hope that was impossible for me to see when i was buried in hurt and disappointment. 

In today's conversation we talk about: 

• The importance of closure (but what kind of closure?)
• How to survive the seemingly endless season of waiting that comes with divorce
• Finding ourselves in the most unexpected places 
• Living new and improved! 

Mentioned in the episode: 

• The Next Right Thing
• The 'Boundaries' episode

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Subscriber-only episode

Send us a text

My experience with divorce has humbled me into seeing that although my story (as with every story) was very unique and singular to me, i did not need to feel as alienated from society as i did. Because as it turns out, i was not the only one who found herself in a dead-end marriage. Sadly, other people have had to experience this very strange and traumatizing loss as well. And if not this loss, then some other pain or loss that is equally strange and traumatizing. What a lighter load i could have carried if society had held space for the hurting, without pressuring them into believing they had to perfectly powder their noses before they were allowed to enter. What a weight that would have been lifted off my fragile chest if someone had told me i was wanted and accepted and loved with all the imperfection that was woven into my story. 

My dear human friend, you are wanted and accepted and loved, regardless of the mess that is unfolding in your life. Regardless of the hopeless brokenness you might be feeling right now. You are wanted and accepted and loved, and there is room for you. There is room for your emotions. There is room for your experience. Fully! Because you are worth it! 

— 

Last week’s conversation was where i dropped the bomb shell of my divorce and my experience with a new and liberating definition of quitting. If you haven’t already listened to it, i recommend you go back and give it a listen. 

This week we talk about:

• What comes next: the waiting period. 
• Digesting the weight and magnitude of our decision. 
• How society impacts our very fragile mental health—both positively and negatively.

And so much more. Life post-leaving (or post-making any life-changing decision) is very daunting. Life almost feels worthless. Hollow. And it is good to know that we are not alone.

Disclaimer: I will NOT be sharing the details of my divorce story.

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Subscriber-only episode

Send us a text

On the 24th of November 2021 (one year ago 2 days from today, if you’re listening on release day), i left my marriage home and went back to live with my parents. I officially began the divorce process in April of 2022, and now, one year later, i am officially a divorcé (although, i have my reservations against the word–the title–the box ‘Divorcé’).

But here i am, a year later and having finally gained enough perspective to talk about this topic with you. Because since my own experience with this very unique kind of loss, my eyes have been opened to see that i am far from being the only one. Divorce has been the only option for so many people who have had to silence their voices to avoid the added pressure of social stigma, at a time when their hearts were already broken and reeling enough. Countless individuals have found themselves in this same impossible situation, and have had to hide their faces and cover their stories to avoid shame in order to maintain a place in society.

But divorce is much bigger than society. Much more profoundly individual and life-changing (not to mention absolutely traumatizing).

I realize i’ve been given a voice, and i would like to dedicate the next three episodes of the Being Aloud podcast to the topic of divorce, in the hopes that maybe someone will see that they don’t need to suffer alone, and that the rights to their divorce story are only theirs. I want to discuss this topic also because i really needed this conversation when it felt as though i was drowning in a raging sea all by myself. I needed someone to come at me from the future with language my broken heart could actually understand.

Disclaimer: I will NOT be sharing the details of my divorce story.

So in today's episode, we discuss: 

• The original definition of the word "quit" and how that can change our perception of the difficult choice
• A fundamental pillar of lasting marriages: both people's willingness to set their egos aside and become selfless for the other person

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Send us Fan Mail

"Vulnerability brings vulnerability" is a sentence my sister always used to tell me. The more open and real we are with our communities about the imperfections of our lives, the safer other people will feel in doing the same. Just imagine how much warmer and richer our friendships would be if more people had the courage to show up as their authentic selves.

In today's episode we talk about: 

• The idea of shame 
• Vulnerability as the key to every meaningful connection
• How to couple wisdom with vulnerability in order to protect our hearts
• How we can let go of who we think we should be, and begin embracing who we actually are 

Helpful Videos:

• The Power of Vulnerability -- Brene Brown
• The Importance of Vulnerability -- The School of Life

Previous related 'Being Aloud' Episodes:

• Why You Should Journal
• I See You
• I See You: Empathy Pt.2

Support the show

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Send us Fan Mail

If you know me at all (in real life or online), you know one of my FAVORITE  practices in the world is journaling. Journaling has changed me. It's gotten me through so many of my toughest seasons, and i want you to experience that same liberation as well.

In today's episode we discuss: 

• How and why journaling is the safest space for your deepest darkest secrets 
• How journaling doesn't take offense at your deepest darkest secrets 
• How your journal can become your safest and most trusted frame of reference 

More on the subject:

Here's why I Journal

Support the show

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Send us Fan Mail

Its November! Which means the weather is slowly but surely getting colder and colder, making space for a brand new season to emerge. 

But what if i told you that weather doesn't only happen on the outside?

In this episode we discuss:

• How we can prepare our hearts for what comes next 
• Ways by which we can notice how nature mirrors our hearts 
• Things to let go in order to make space for newness 
• And in the end, i read you a journal entry from my personal journal

Support the show

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Send us Fan Mail

In today's episode we discussed:

1. The importance of building good habits that cast a vote for the people we want to become
2. 3 habits that I've recently embedded into my life, and how they're already making my life better 
3. The beauty of living within society, and getting to learn from other people's lessons and mistakes 
4. A few new and creative ways to practice mindfulness in this crazy busy life we live

Quotes from James Clear's book, 'Atomic Habits':

"Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement"

“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.”

Support the show

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List

Send us Fan Mail

In today's episode we talked about: 

• Where i was while i was disconnected from the podcast and social media
• What it looks like to distance ourselves from the noise and information-overload that surrounds us in our lives
• A very simple antidote to anxiety
• And i closed the episode by reading you a prose piece that i wrote ☺️

Support the show

If you like this podcast, please leave a review, like, share, and subscribe. It makes a huge difference! Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to Being Aloud +

• Sign me up now!

Find me on:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Blog
• Mailing List