Dey Dos Magazine January March 2014 | Page 24

8 Essential Tips to Dominate Fear and Live an Awesome Life Long ago, when I was in school I discovered I was dyslexic, and knowing that I also had ADD and I was a cross-cultural kid. It made feel fear not fitting in so instead I was shy and used it as a security blanket from getting hurt. ! One day I went from running AIESEC* in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) passionate about my work to the next barely able to lift my head off my pillow. I was so afraid to do what I wanted to do, to live the life I wanted, and to be whom I wanted.! I thought I had to take this conventional path, to do what my friends, family, society expected me too do. I allowed fear, worry, and doubt to dominate and define my life. ! I allowed it to steal my joy, my sleep, and my dreams.! But something happened... My world shifted but not by choice.! On 4th of July 2007, my father was diagnosed with forth stage cancer which had already spread, the doctors predicted nine months to live. ! But finding out that he had cancer was not the thing that bothered me. The defining moment was when I asked him, “What do you want to do before you go?” And I still see him say it to me “I have done it all, I have everything I ever wanted.”! I didn't understand it then, heck I was only 21! I thought life was a race of what more you could do. But years later it made sense… ! “! ! ! ! life design ! ! ! ! ! Life is about finding your purpose, and that purpose is just being you and once you get there its pretty awesome. You feel pretty content. In order to get what I want, I need to know what I wanted. For this shy girl, you can imagine how uncomfortable it was to take a leap of faith and push myself to not only identify but go after, I started my bucket list (www.transpiral.org/transpiral-list), which is basically a list of things to do before you die. Pretty morbid, I know!! But one by one, step-by-step, I became more fearless; I realized that if I wanted to make quantum leaps, I needed to take small and consistent steps.! Now I live my dream life, I go on adventures, jet set the world, climb mountains like Kilimanjaro, jump out of planes, launched my own social enterprise and raised $50,000, and run fearless training programs where I help people embrace fear, play big and change the world. ! I was ready to start!! Are you? Check out Yasmine TEDx speech:! Money makes the world go around, maybe not www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KYcop98ITc ! 24 | Dey Dos Magazine * www.AIESEC.org