Don't Call Me A Khawaga!

How long can you holiday with your family before the diplomacy cracks?

Two weeks, several competing definitions of “relaxation”, endless conversations about food, strategic family alliances, a mother who may or may not have heard a word you said.. and the realization that apparently some people think a holiday is a job.
Welcome to Season 2.

Season 2 of Don't Call Me a Khawaga is almost here.

I thought I'd feel different at 50. Wiser, more certain, maybe even a little more enlightened. Turns out, I still have plenty of questions.

This season, we're talking about family, relationships, getting older, letting go of expectations, simplifying life, and the everyday absurdities of being human.

Some things have changed. Some haven't. And some I'm still trying to figure out.

Same podcast. More questions. Probably a few more swear words.

Season 2 launches November 3, with new episodes every other Tuesday.

In the Season 1 finale of Don’t Call Me Khawaga, Heba explores loneliness, connection, and belonging—and the realization that some of the loneliest moments of her life happened when she wasn’t alone at all.

From marriage and people-pleasing to self-abandonment and Cairo, this is a conversation about the difference between being surrounded by people and truly feeling connected.

Maybe loneliness isn’t the absence of other people. Maybe it’s the absence of ourselves.

Everyone online is suddenly:

• a healer,
• a nervous system expert,
• a manifestation coach,  or 
• hosting a retreat in Bali.

Meanwhile, Heba has been doing yoga, therapy, healing work and self-development for over 20 years… and still occasionally spirals because someone looked at her strangely at the Gezirah Club.

A funny, honest, very Gen X episode about wellness culture, internet performance, and why nothing feels authentic anymore.

Somewhere along the way, wellness stopped being about feeling good… and started feeling like a full-time job.

In this episode, Heba talks about longevity culture, optimization obsession, calorie tracking, cold plunges, body fat percentages, Blue zones, Bryan Johnson, and why everyone suddenly seems terrified of bread.

What happened to moderation?  And why does everyone trying to live forever look so exhausted?

Becoming a mother at 40 turned me into a full-time age investigator.

In this episode: school pickup insecurity, Golden Girls trauma, reverse aging propaganda, reading glasses denial and the completely normal habit of calculating how old I’ll be at every major milestone in my children’s lives.

I used to fantasize about travel.

Now when I travel… all I fantasize about is my bathroom at home.

In this episode, I talk about the strange midlife shift nobody warns you about:  when comfort, routine, sleep, shower pressure, and your own coffee suddenly become more exciting than the actual vacation.

From airport exhaustion and hotel bathrooms…to shattaf withdrawal, overstimulation, and the realization that modern travel somehow requires a full nervous-system recovery afterward…

This episode is for anyone who’s ever spent half a trip missing their own bed.

Somewhere along the way, home quietly became the luxury.

Also... we need to discuss airplane bathrooms.

When productivity becomes avoidance — and why slowing down feels so uncomfortable

We’ve been taught to stay busy.
To keep going.
To do more, achieve more, prove more.

But what if being busy isn’t ambition… what if it’s avoidance?

In this episode, I unpack my own relationship with busyness — from constant work and overstimulation to the uncomfortable reality of what happens when everything slows down.

Because the moment I stop moving… I start thinking.  
And that’s where things get interesting.

If you've ever filled your schedule, your calendar, or your life just to avoid sitting with yourself… this one's for you. 

Have you ever looked at your life — when everything seems fine — and wondered…

Was this really my choice… or everyone else’s?

A conversation about regret, expectations, relationships, and the quiet realization that some choices may not have been entirely yours.

In this episode, I talk about a quieter kind of regret...

The kind that builds slowly — through expectations, compromises, relationships, family pressure, and choices that made sense at the time… but maybe weren’t entirely yours.

And how, somewhere along the way, many of us stopped hearing our own voice underneath everyone else’s.

If you’ve ever replayed your life in your head… this one will hit.

We grew up watching two completely different models of marriage traditional and love-based. One seemed stable but predictable, the other exciting but often unsustainable.

So what happens when we try to choose for ourselves… without really

In this episode, I unpack the confusion around modern relationships in

And I ask a question I’m still figuring out myself:

Is love enough… or is something else missing?