“Hanane, you always talk about pain, hurdles and challenges in your posts, can you share them?” The aim of this article is not the story itself but the learnings behind the story. 

 Three major events shaped who I am today and impacted tremendously my decisions and my vision about life itself. My first challenge was at 9 years old, when I had a car accident and lost half of my vision.  At an early age, I had to cope with this loss, the after effects and the fear of something else that might happen in the future. My health journey reflected a lot of chronic pain, bleeding, stress and a lot of emotional and physical inconveniences. I had to go through repeated surgeries, and duplicated stories of medical deceptions. The most determining experience was in 1998 when I had a surgery that tuned to be the beginning of a series of other surgeries. It was another added frustration and pain that lasted more than five years.

I used to wake up every day with a splitting headache and a bleeding eye, and the only choice left to me was to remain patient and strong. I was suffering in complete silence. I felt helpless and depressed. I could not even cry as my eye could not afford it. I could not complain as I did not know what I had. I could not share my story as I did not know what to say.

My second challenge was itself a combination of sad events all occurred in the same year. I lost my father and my job within the same week. My position as a regional marketing manager was liquidated while I still had my MBA ongoing. Few months later, I lost my brother, as a result of a heart attack. Those events were a turning point in my life. It was even more painful than the physical pain that I had to go through. I ended up with many health issues and I had to take many decisions to rise up again.  

I decided to quit the corporate world and to redirect my path to something bigger and more meaningful than working for others.  I spent many years thinking about strategies, leads, return on investment, payback, but these words made sense only on spreadsheets. They may sparkle trust but they never solve our daily concerns. They don’t build great relations. They may not even make sense nowadays in an era where we need more wisdom and understanding. That’s’ why I chose to be the CEO of my own company “Learn and Dare.” Learning alone did not make sense to me throughout these years until I started to dare to be myslef. 

To cope with the hurdles of taking that decision, and to keep motivating myself on a daily basis, I started writing on LinkedIn. My sole concern was to overcome my pain and share my story to inspire and help others. My posts and articles were my therapy and my daily dose of dopamine. 

In helping others, I was helping myself. In empowering people, I was empowered every day. In writing motivational posts and articles, I was also motivated to never give up on myself. In teaching others, I was discovering more about myself.  In giving from my time and energy, I was already gaining a great positive energy. Indeed, whatever you give, it comes back to you. What you get may not be tangible, but it is the intangible that counts. It may be a peaceful life, more acceptance of your difficulties, healthy children around you or simply a life without pain.

Two years later, my posts traveled the world and all combined reached millions of people, it was a great source of joy and enlightenment to me. This reconfirmed the idea that being positive does not mean that we have a perfect life. It just means accepting where we are and doing our best to reach our goals.

From my career side, I was thrilled in spite of the hurdles, I reached a very high level of self-fulfillment as I started to dare to do things I could not dare before. My hard work started to pay off. The moment I started to feel better about myself and my past challenges started to be part of the past, I had to face a new challenge but this time a complete different one. After 18 years of marriage, I decided to divorce and that decision turned to be a great stroke of luck. It was my own decision taken without any regret as my peace of mind and freedom had no price.

Life is like a train. Some people leave once they reach their destination. Holding them will serve for nothing as it may simply hinder you to reach your own station. If they need to go, let them and trust in your journey. Indeed I trusted my journey, that’s why:

To every strong woman who is working hard, dreaming about a better future, or trying to make a difference, never give up. 

To every woman who still needs to raise the doubt, struggling to overcome the challenges, just embrace faith and keep it up. To every woman who still needs to justify for her career, dreams and for who she is, it should STOP.

 To every woman who is discriminated, belittled or simply does not know about her value, time to rise up.  Most, to every single man who knows about her WORTH and support her in every stage in her life, my RESPECT.

My two beautiful daughters were enough to enlighten my days and life. Teaching them to see the good in everything even in the worst situations was my best triumph. Today, I made them understand that life will never go as expected and we need to accept things we cannot control. My daily approach at home:

Enjoy every moment, care less and make every day counts, You don’t need to have a perfect life, you simply need wisdom to accept it as it is, Listen to your heart, love more, and Dare to give yourself everyday a chance to rise up and to start again.

Today, my story is my strength, my sense of purpose, my positioning, my inspiration and my unique strategy. Today, speaking from the heart, speaking the truth, helping others overcome their challenges, inspiring and being real are my strategies.

My past challenges shifted my vision and changed my perception about life. All my decisions today are based on a new life philosophy, which is to enjoy the present moment and do everything to help others overcome their pain and hurdles.

To live better, to be more, and to achieve more, you will need to Dare to take new decisions and step over your comfort zone.

• Dare change: try new experiences, take initiatives and embrace new challenges.
• Dare to go over your limits as the only limit is your mind. Stop listening to those who are unwilling to change and improve.
• Dare to think differently and stop consuming whatever comes across your way.
• Dare to be the person you are indeed and not the person others expect from you.
• Dare to move into ACTION and limit your reactions.
• Dare to ask help. You may get rejected and so what? there are a lot of nice people willing to help.
• Dare to love differently and unconditionally. The world needs more love and care.
• Dare to be happy everyday, Dare to smile despite your difficulties. Dare to rise up even in the absence of results. Dare to be You.