MY NAME IS
Dania
AND THIS IS MY STORY…
Managing Director
I was feeling the symptoms of burnout, I mean, literally, drowning,” observed Dania. “It was triggered by work but I think work was the symptom and the burnout was simmering for a long time. We tend to throw ourselves into work when we’re trying not to deal with something.
CHALLENGES
Dania was born in Lebanon and moved to the US with her husband almost two decades ago. Working in a predominantly male-dominated computer science industry, Dania felt her chosen career path was the least friendly place to be a woman. She felt she had to dive in with both feet and prove herself even more because she was a woman.
“I was feeling the symptoms of burnout, I mean, literally, drowning,” observed Dania. “It was triggered by work but I think work was the symptom and the burnout was simmering for a long time. We tend to throw ourselves into work when we’re trying not to deal with something.”
She was feeling overwhelmed at work and had no female leaders to model her own leadership style after in her role. Dania was left feeling frustrated, irritated, and not heard at work. She would power through her days, take on all the stress from work and let it spill into her personal life and relationship with her husband. She was skeptical that our program would “fix” issues she wasn’t able to do previously with a coach.
Dania was experiencing a lot of change in her life when she found us. Her father passed away in late 2020, her mother returned to Lebanon, and she didn’t give herself time to deal with her feelings of grief and the emotions that go along with it. She also faced health issues for the better part of two decades. She suppressed these things and kept a “grin and bear it” attitude for a long time because she didn’t know any other way to live.
Dania was a self-proclaimed “armchair therapist”. As a high-achieving woman used to having all the answers, she could not break the cycle she found herself in. She was internalizing the pain and emotions that contributed to her state of burnout. She felt like she had to do something drastic. While treating her illness medically, Dania thought the only option she had was to quit her job. She changed careers, changed roles, and worked in different companies but her issues persisted.
Dania started concluding that something was missing in things she’s tried before our program. Even though she spent almost a year with the coach, Dania “was in need of a holistic approach beyond just skill and personality tests.” She wanted to understand what was happening inside of her that was triggering these mental and physical reactions she had been dealing with for years.
RESULTS
Through her journey in our program, she learned it was never really about the job itself. Dania began realizing that it was the way she was engaging with work that was the problem. While she had good coaches, none of them were able to get to the source of why things were happening.
In our program, Dania was able to learn about herself, what brought her here, her origin story and how it all fits into who she is, and how she was reactively showing up in the world. For her, the major distinction of our program was in the way it helped her understand how her background, her experiences, and her history led to who she was at present.
“What makes it transformative for me is that it really went to the root cause. The challenges, the mental model that I grew up with, and a lot of women with my background grew up with, and understanding that and understanding that enough to detach from it and leave it.”
Dania was able to take the information she was learning during her time in our program, apply it, implement a shift in her life, and get to the cause of her issues. A major turning point for her was when she was able to translate what she was learning into actionable improvements in her daily life. She is calmer and no longer handles stressors in the same way she did in the past.
“It [the program] got to the root. Everybody keeps reading about mindfulness and learning about how mindfulness can help you. Nobody tells you where or how…” exclaimed Dania.
One of the most surprising lessons Dania learned was the ripple effect her transformation had on her relationship with her two daughters. They had good communication before but now they are all more open and honest with each other in their communication. She sees the same shift in her team at work.
The feminine leadership principles she learned in the program improved her team’s engagement and the way she connects with them. Her team comes to her with problems and she is able to lead them in a way where they work together to bring solutions to the organization.
OUTCOMES
- She finally got the root of her burnout symptoms.
- She is more confident and recently received a promotion!
- She gained the feminine leadership skills she needed to impact her team.
- She has improved her communication with her family and sees the ripple effect on her two daughters.
- She no longer holds on to stress and feelings of overwhelm.
