Randah Taher’s Reflections on Losing Her Dad When She Was in College
“My dad didn’t see the best of me, and he didn’t get the chance to see what I was capable of. How I can use my stubbornness to be better. And so I decided — I said, I’m going to show you. Wherever you are, you’re looking at me, I’m going to show you that I am going to be better. That I will work in a different way. I will enjoy life. I will not be sad for long. I am angry, and I stayed angry for longer than I expected, but I am not going to be angry for long and I’m not going to be just helpless. I’ll figure it out. So I think it turned me 180 degrees. And I know it’s hard to say, but when my dad died, I became better. I became stronger. I was more focused. I started to make better decisions. I started to look at building my career in a different way, to build my life in a different way.”
— Randah Taher
I had such a great discussion with Randah Taher for this episode. And, today marks a first for the podcast -- the first global episode – as Randah joined us from her home in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
I loved hearing Randah’s journey and her perspective on losing her dad when she was in college, including the impact that has had on her life. She says that after her dad died she became motivated to be a better person and to show her dad what she was capable of. Some other topics Randah and I discussed include:
How missing her dad’s funeral made her grief process harder;
How she ultimately forgave family members for their actions around the time of her dad’s death;
Realizing who her real friends were after her dad died; and
The analogy of the egg, the carrot, and the coffee bean, and how she chose to transform after her loss.
I should add, the audio quality of this episode is a bit, shall we say, “variable.” Maybe that’s what happens when you talk with someone halfway around the world. You may hear some loud-and soft variation in the beginning; stick with it, it does get better later on.
I hope you enjoy my discussion with Randah Taher.
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