When I look back at … the first 22 years of my life,

When I look at myself throughout that time period 

 I feel like I was asleep. 

Just like ... completely lost. 

Ever since I got into self-development 5 years ago, it’s been a gradual wake up since then. 

It took a while to get going, but then slowly, I was like 

“okay, sleep, ok, that's important,  lets try this and this, then gym, okay what’s a good routine, whats’ a good gym, lets go, and diet, this is bad for me, lets stop eating that…”

And just figuring stuff out. 

But like 2-3 years after that, things just started clicking. 

We all know, there are many things going on in the world right now, before, and always. Always. 

But once I got MY shit together, 

I surrounded myself with the right people, 

I developed a healthy and balanced environment for myself, 

I started to find what I loved doing

I felt like, okay, now I’m start to figure this out. 

Now I know what to do. 

Fast forward to today

What’s really fueling me now, is to show other people how I entered this process, of constantly evolving into a better version of myself. 

I’m not even sure why exactly. 

There’s a part of me that loves helping people overcome challenges, 

There’s a part of me that knows the world needs more young leaders to really fucking step up for what’s to come

But I know … I just need to do this. 

I also see a lot of issues with the self development industry. 

And I reeeeally dove into this world man. I don’t know how many books, and seminars, and videos, and people I’ve met in this self development world. 

But it’s so easy to get caught up into this neurotic, forced, endless cycle of self development. 

So I really want to share how I got started, which is the most important step. 

And how I continued evolving through the different stumbling blocks that come at each level. 

So thank you for checking it out  :) 

It's taken a …. Lot of time and energy to begin putting this stuff into words and speech  

But here it is. 

I want to share this mostly to find people that resonate with what I'm trying to talk about, and how I communicate it.

Now on a more practical level, I just feel more aware of myself. 

My life, the world around me, the people around me, my senses

Eyes

• Really seeing what’s around me

• And what is surrounding me? 

• I’m surrounded by inexplicable things created by nature, or something created by humans out of nothing, just from an idea in their mind

Ears

• Really blocking the noise, and really listening. 

• Listening to myself, 

• Listening to people around me, listening to what they’re not communicating in speech

Voice

• Really speaking my truth and who I am 

So my everyday, moment to moment, experience of life, has changed SO much in the past 5 years

And I was able to develop this all from a grassroots level. 

Everyone I’ve met has had restrictions growing up, has had fears to overcome. 

The more successful they are, the more things they overcame. 

No exceptions. 

But everyone is on their OWN journey, at their OWN pace. 

It is so important to understand that and be patient with the process. 

I personally grew up in Saudi Arabia, and you can imagine how restrictive that was. 

I also grew up with a stutter which made those schooling years extremely anxious. 

And I won’t talk about how bad it was for me, because it’s not important and I know billions of people have experienced much worse. 

But these were my challenges, and for so long, I thought I would never overcome them. 

And I’m so thankful for them now, because they are what pushed me to create a better life for myself. 

There’s power in identifying and accepting your challenges, because what else will propel you forward. 

These are the things that create the reference points, for you to appreciate a better life in the future. Hopefully. 

After high school, thank God my parents pushed my ass hard to do well in school, because I was able to get accepted into my dream university in Montreal. 

It was a 4 year long culture shock, which by the end of it, I got a degree. 

But I didn’t know … much. 

What I wanted to do  

What I liked 

And all that 

 And I know most young people experience something similar. 

Most of us have no choice but to go through the process of growing up in the world  today 

The digital stuff, the schooling, the cultures, the distractions 

No choice 

But the most important thing, in this entire audiobook, is that I was able to turn it around with a piece of paper and a pen. 

After many years of buildup  its 1 conscious choice, and then, mostly the right choices after that 

I started writing New Years Resolutions for the first time on Dec 31 2015, and I haven’t stopped writing, and creating the life that I want to live, since then. 

The 5 years since then have just been an extremely dedicated process of self growth and learning. 

As much as I hate talking about myself 

I have to do a bit now just to show what I was trying to learn for myself 

And what I ended up doing in the past 5 years 

• First it took a while to improve my general health. So developing the right habits for my mental  physical and spiritual health

• I started to scratch the surface of my consciousness by spending thousands of hours meditating, writing, introspecting, reading, talking to people, Documenting 

• I also found hobbies that I love, and I even started to teach them

  • I started practicing yoga, and I taught about 100 kids,  which I stopped doing for a bit but I'm so proud of that

  • Because they're going through an exhausting school life

  • I faced my biggest fear of presenting and started performing improv comedy, and then I started to teach it because of how incredible it was to see other people face their fears and laugh at them afterwards 

• I challenged my comfort zone like almost every day 

  • I used to have panic attacks reading out loud in school, and now I’ve been able to perform on stage, to host weddings, to speak publicly on topics I care about 

• I received incredible mentorship in every important aspect of my life

• I taught myself how to socialize with people from scratch 

• I was able to find my dream job

• I was able to save my dad's business and help him achieve his dream 

And I listed all of this not to show off.

But its show what's possible, because these are journeys that so many people are going through. 

All of the above happened in 5 years. 

And for almost the ENTIRE time, I had no idea what I was doing. 

I was just TRYING things. 

Throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. 

Only recently, things have started to click,

and the balance is shifting more towards actually contending with my purpose, and less doubting myself and figuring it out.

Its just listening to my intuition, and DOING. 

Creating. Working. Reflecting. Repeating. 

Waking up every day, and knowing exactly what I need to do (almost).

But with that said, 5 years ago, I was lacking in confidence, belief, life skills, and so many other things. 

But if I could teach all of these things to myself, then I know that anyone can learn this as well.

So over the past year and a half, I’ve spent ...man… hundreds and hundreds of hours to reflect on all of this,

“How do I even begin to figure out what exactly I want to talk about”

“How do I put it out there?” “For who?”

But thank God

I managed to start 

At a high level, this was done in 3 steps:

1) The first was just to snap the fuck out of it. 

• Like .. “what am I doing?!”

• Why am I putting shit food in my body, why am I not happy, why am I not doing what I want to do, why am I letting stupid shit stop me from enjoying life? 

  1. And then after realizing that, I developed this deep desire to change my life. Actively. 

2) Second was to actively, actively, identify the noise that was distracting me, and stop it. 

3) Third, was to focus on the things that matter to me, and take action in small steps. Trying to enjoy the journey along the way. 

What made this process easier for me, was the fact that ALL OF THE INFORMATION IS OUT THERE. 

People have dedicated their entire existence on earth to uncover them for us, and now they’re available at our fingertips. 

Its wild to think about that. 

But, if all of this information is out there, why isn’t everyone that has access to a smartphone applying it, like, immediately. 

And I realized, through my own journey, that there’s just too much bullshit going on. … 

Imagine bringing a new born baby into this world, this wild distracting world, putting them through our education system, being surrounded by so much junk, junk food, junk media etc.. 

They have no choice! 

But the one thing that helped me navigate all of that crap, was developing my self awareness. 

It’s been my flashlight throughout this entire journey. 

1. There are so many things that block our self-awareness. 

2. There are so many things we grew up with that restrict our self-awareness. 

3. It’s also something that we’re never taught. 

This audiobook is my way to share what I’ve learnt, in an actionable way, to other people going through similar challenges as I was for most of my life. 

Whether its some type of anxiety, a physical barrier like a stutter, low self-belief, adjusting to a new culture, being unemployed or losing your job, or overcoming a challenge of any size  

Everything starts with self awareness. 

And that will be the topic of the next chapter.