The power of “YOU” making your fellowship exceptional!

Life is a journey and the path we tread down is one that of our own making. We all have a journey of our own and in this we are similar much more than different. Yet, we each solely chose the path we wish to tread down, we each set our aims in life, priorities, and destination and our means differ in reaching the end goals.

Some dream big, some dream small; some dream and fall. Some never give up, and some never even try. This freedom of choice is what makes each one of us unique in his own special kind of way. self-actualization is the purpose. Like Maslow defined it in the hierarchy of needs, “what a man can be, he must be.”

This choice is active in every sense, rather than passive. Do we take the easy road? Or are we up for a challenge? A challenge which can take us well beyond what we thought was ever possible. It’s a choice between being content with an average life or a conscious choice for personal excellence; a choice in action to reach our full potential. I made my choice!

Passionate about social change, I am the founder and managing director of Siraj Akkar – a coworking space and business incubator in North Lebanon. Being part of the 6-weeks Professional Fellows Program by Legacy International, I have been presented with the opportunity to join Hera Hub DC for a 4-weeks fellowship placement. And in this blog, I am beyond honored and excited to share with you the details of my journey.

We are pretty much aware that the road to success is paved with hardship, sometimes even barriers, and much often unanticipated detours. However, as much as change can be frightening at times, it is an absolute must for constant growth. Only then we would be pushing out the walls of our comfort zones and being open to learning from new experiences. consequently, learning more about oneself.

Daydreaming about the streets I will walk down, the people that will cross my path, the new friends I’ll make, and all the memories that I’m sure I will treasure for life. However, I unfortunately injured my foot, and was not able to “walk”, pretty much that beat me down and dissipated my excitement away.

It was a difficult situation, one involving a lot of pain, much more a heavy feeling like I’m falling behind, especially when having to keep up with the pace of the program and everybody else involved.… I wanted to just pack my belongings, and get myself on the earliest airplane back home.

Instead I pulled myself together. Positivity started kicking in, I silenced the inner critique and my better sense of reasoning took on full control. An experience of a life time I call it, and I wasn’t willing to let it slip away. Once you start reading how much of an added value this was to me and the amount of insight it has enriched me with you will better understand me.

1. The mystery of resilience, true grit and self-awareness:

“True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. No moral man can have peace of mind if he leaves undone what he knows he should have done.” – John Wayne – I took my decision to commit, to make it happen, and to stay. I am so glad I did. It’s better to try and fail, rather than give up and miss the opportunity. I just couldn’t allow myself to look back and ask myself “what if?”.

Due to my decision to stay, I learned what I can never learn in another place and situation.

This accident limited the things I can participate in, and restricted mostly all my pre-plans. Yet it was an “opportunity” for me to learn how to cope with change, and to love oneself as needed when needed and be kind with myself. It taught me how to put my health and myself even when aiming high as a priority in life. Like what Alan Watts meant when he described the backwards law or the law of reversed efforts,

“-when you try to stay on the surface of the water you sink, but when you try to sink you float and that insecurity is the result of trying to be secure”.

I asked myself a few questions: What can I do to change this situation? How I can make the best out of it despite all the hardships? I realized my answer was in constant movement and that the rest will fall into place as I move forward. So, I started taking action, started using my scooter, asking for support when needed which is a huge stepping stone for me because it allowed me to see that when you reach out there are people that will come running for me and they will hold a hand out to help, all we need to do is just ask.

This showed me that we are a team even with strangers that nothing more than a mere coincidence has brought us together. Asking for help as uncomfortable as is at first, is never a weakness rather it’s an opportunity given to people to bring the best out in themselves. My heart just expanded with how much people were willing to come to my aid. All this taught me gratitude, patience, and openness above all optimism even when the unexpected shakes me up.

So, all I could tell you is that we need to learn to relax with uncertainty, we need to defy our own insecurities and not let them get in the way. We will feel more empowered if we focus our time and energy on what we can do differently to improve a particular situation rather than what we can’t do. And this my friends, I call being resilient to change and being more solution oriented.

I’m choosing to be awake through it all. We truly are the author of our own life. We are capable of changing the world by the mere act of changing oneself. Like I said in the beginning self-actualization is the purpose. I learned that every change begins from within. To change the world, we need to start by changing ourselves.

2. Our role models and lessons learned:

The most interesting part of my fellowship experience was my placement at Hera Hub DC. Its founder and managing director Mrs. Julia Westfall, inspired me, motivated me and reinforced my will to keep moving forward. She’s a true role model and she exhibited this to me in action. The space itself is, as it should be, ACCESSIBLE to all women entrepreneurs–a barrier free environment. You will feel welcomed regardless of your cultural background, religion, and capabilities.

This space and my unfortunate incident, as mild as it was, have opened my eyes to an entire population of people that in my hometown, Akkar – a rural area in Lebanon, has been overlooked. Not just in Akkar, in Lebanon as a whole for a matter of fact. The architecture of the buildings and the streets are not inclusive to people with disabilities like that in DC. Which got me thinking about Siraj, my coworking space hub in Akkar and the modo it goes by, “a space for all”, or so I thought. Till I realized that I have not considered people like myself in this situation and a lot of others dealing with a disability.

Sometimes it does take walking the extra mile in somebody’s shoes to better understand them and their needs. Now that I do, I will make it my goal and priority to include them. To really include everyone.

Hera Hub DC community is so diverse, and this made it an attraction for new members seeking for the value this space provides, the vibrant environment and the diverse network. Which got me thinking, what will make my space hub attractive for young entrepreneurs? Mrs. Julia is doing all the job by herself, which inspired me to believe that it is possible to succeed under any circumstances.

All it takes is for you to work hard and persist with an open and fixed vision on your aim and goals. She has a wider overview for every topic we discussed, and a good sense of match-making between opportunities and resources. She believes in giving when taking, and taking when giving. Nothing in life happens without an exchange. Ideas are never created they are only developed. So, if we build on each other’s ideas we can actually get somewhere.

This reminds me of one saying: “If you are successful it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember, also, that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.” After spending the six weeks in DC, my life will never be the same again. It will always remind me to awake my authentic self and appreciate more what life has to offer. I will always surround myself with inspiring people and I will try to be that person in the way I present myself every day.

3. The journey of packing and unpacking our suitcases:

We are all travelers in this life, holding bits of ourselves, our cultures, values, and lessons, holding our achievements, relationships, knowledge, and all that has molded us into who we are in our suitcase. Everyone in this program had a suitcase of his own. Mine was overpacked, which got me thinking was everything essential to carry on for my travel? How can I free myself from all the heavy burdens I was holding? How can I travel this journey lighter? The moment I freed myself from my ego I started learning.

It took me to learn how to declutter and prioritize in order to condition myself to let go of all the dead weight. Unlearning bad habits is just as important as gaining new healthy ones. Always take the essentials yet always leave a little space for something new. Lao Tzu said it best, “To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day. “A mentor of mine once said: “Don’t show up as the person you think you are. Show up as the person you want to be.” A powerful statement, isn’t it? But even if I know who I want to be, I wasn’t sure if I am on the right track, or if I am the right person in the right place.

The initiative taken by legacy international staff, to gather 15 “powerful” entrepreneurs in their communities, helped me learn more about myself and the positive change I want to be part of. Their journeys were so inspiring, and their success stories were empowering and contagious. We start building relationships, aligning and leveraging strengths, and celebrating each person’s success as our own. Our fellowships included trainings, mentorships and other networking opportunities to connect us with executives, speakers, and mentors, many of whom are fellowship alumni themselves. It’s up to YOU to make the best out of it.

I am quite aware that I would have never made it this far without the support of everyone around me. We were all brought under one umbrella in DC, and God am I forever great-full for all that I have gained from the big community of women entrepreneurs in Hera Hub DC, and the amazing fellows. Never forgetting the staff of legacy international who were dedicating their time, efforts, knowledge, and resources to help each one of us, in whatever support we needed.

By the end of the program, this time around I knew exactly what I wanted and mostly needed in my suitcase for my travel back home. We choose what we want to pack back home; new friends, competences, future plans and goals, achievements, lessons learned all of which are treasures I’ll forever cherish. An everlasting impactful experience. Today, with as much as eye opening as this experience was to me, and due to every person, I have crossed path with, I am a better version of myself and I am more aware of my ideal self. Call it the butterfly effect, but you have presented me with the opportunity, due to all the things I’ve gained, to give back. I want to be the person that’s giving at each and every chance presented to me.