S4E13 Rabiah Goes Solo
This week’s guest is also the host of the podcast, Rabiah Coon. It’s a quick solo episode.
Note from Rabiah (Host):
I didn’t have the bandwidth to edit a full episode and was going to let it got for this week but an epiphany in the shower made me want to share some thoughts today so I recorded a quick episode. If you’re like me and listen at 1.25x the speed, it’ll take less than 5 minutes! Be well and thanks for listening.
Rabiah goes solo and records an episode on her own.
Transcript
Rabiah (Host): [00:04:13] Welcome to More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self worth is defined by more than your job title. I'm Rabiah, an IT Project Manager, comedian, nonprofit volunteer and sometimes activist. Every week, I'll chat with a guest about pursuing passions outside of work or creating meaningful opportunities inside the workplace.
As you listen, I hope you'll be inspired to do the same. Here we go...
Hey there everyone. So this is going to be a short episode because it's just going to be me. I was going to skip this week to be honest with you, but then I just did some thinking. I don't know if anyone has shower thoughts, but I tend to do a lot of thinking in the shower. And this episode is partly due to that.
it's been interesting being home and [00:05:13] reintegrating into like a more normal life than I've had in a. Just because I spent the entire pandemic inside a flat pretty much by myself and then got out and did comedy and things like that. But overall I've been pretty isolated. So now I'm staying with my mom and see someone every morning when I wake up and going to dinner with my sister and I went and saw friends in San Diego and was kind of integrated into their family lives.
And I'm then I have the podcast and school and comedy. Obligations, like email people and just check in and do social media and all that stuff. And today I'm going to be volunteering in a little while and I signed up to do it knowing I'd probably be stressed out that day, but I did it anyway because I made a commitment at the beginning of the year during theNational Day of Service. The Biden administration decided to have some workshops and
things like that online. And one thing was, Hey, commit to doing a certain amount of service every month, [00:06:13] this year. And so I committed to four hours and then I wanted to hit it this month. And so I'm volunteering in a little while doing mock interviews. I got involved with IC stars because I last year needed some mentorship. I needed some help and some friends put me in touch with people they knew at nonprofits.
And I just asked for help. And I, I asked for conversations and had them, and I think it's been invaluable to me to get the chance, to just talk to different people who run organizations and learn about what they do and learn about what my role could possibly be one day in a nonprofit organization or on a board.
'cause that's one of my goals. And so I started volunteering with IC stars, the organization that Sandy Kastrul who's been a guest on this podcast runs. But I was thinking quite a bit about how much of what I have is because people have given me a chance or people have given me an opportunity and certainly I've taken the opportunities they've given me and done what I could with [00:07:13] them.
And then, you know, did the next thing and did the next thing. I just realized that my success hasn't been on its own and not that I'm super successful, but I, you know, I work and do, you know, have a good life. I think it's a decent life. I've been thinking a lot about it because of all this stuff going on with COVID and how people don't understand that, like wearing a mask
for example, I was at a thing yesterday and almost everyone's not wearing a mask and a lot of people were like, I was trying not to focus on the people that weren't, but really being grateful for the people that were. But I was just thinking about how it's so important that we understand our, our place, our role in our community, whether that community is our family or it's the broader community or the world, and understand that our behavior can impact others.
And I think what I'm seeing is some selfish behavior of people not wanting to be inconvenienced in order to make other states. And it got me thinking [00:08:13] about other policy things like people say, well, you know, people don't, you can do anything in America. For example, you can be anything, do anything be anyone you just have to work hard.
And I don't think that's necessarily true all the time. I think that if people really looked at their lives, they would see maybe they were born into wealth or born into privilege or. Someone gave them a chance or someone gave them a job even someone provided them with something. Maybe they got away with doing something where someone else got caught.
For me, it's just been a matter of a certain amount of drive that I have certainly, but also a lot of people really just saying, "Hey, I see something in you and I want to give you a chance to do this." And then me saying yes, and me doing something with it, but it's not like just alone. I didn't just do it alone.
And I, I think that the idea that we just, anyone can do anything without any [00:09:13] help and just can just go do it. It doesn't, it doesn't make any sense to me. And so one reason I give back is because I have, I think, I mean, it's one of my core values is giving back.
I look at my life and I look at what I've been allowed. And then I say, yeah, and I should give back and I want to, and I do it, but I, I feel like it's something we should do. And it's the time of year where people, you know, we had Thanksgiving in the U S and so people were saying what they're thankful for.
And and then now we're doing Christmas and you know, it's a religious holiday for a lot of people. And for some people it's just a holiday gifts and some people it's somewhere in between and that's fine. And some people's not a holiday at all quite frankly, you know, there's a lot of other holidays, but for me, Christmas is what I've always celebrated.
And I just think that, that it becomes a lot about gifts and giving things but not service. And so the point of this rant, it, which is going to be under five under six or under seven minutes, I guess. So the point of this rant is really just to say that [00:10:13] I hope people, if you're not already seeing yourself as a member of society beyond just yourself, that you do.
And I just want to encourage people to care for others. And my intolerance during this time has increased so much when I see people not doing that and it's making me change and that's one reason I'm making this episode is just to say, you know, I know the effect it's having on me, and I know it's having an effect on other people and my
effort that I want to make is just to keep trying to give back and contribute in a positive way, because there's a lot of negativity right now, uh, coming from me personally, but I want to hold myself accountable. And so that's what this episode is about. And it could be listened to by a hundred people.
And, you know, they'll hear me say that I need to be held accountable, but I do. But what I want to encourage people to do is to give back, to find a way to do that in your community. If you need help finding a way, or you need help figuring out what you'd be good at, I'm happy to help. There's a lot of people that are happy [00:11:13] to help. But find an organization that you can work with even like an hour, a month or two hours a month, or maybe quarterly or something
because I really think that we're lacking in this area and we're lacking empathy and we're lacking caring for people. And one way to show that as service and other ways to wear a mask, quite frankly. So someone turns us off because I said that well, that's all right. You know, uh, I don't, I don't mind honestly.
Um, I I'm, I'm not worried about it because I just, I think there are just things we can do to ensure that people are healthy and have the best shot, but, I think helping others is a big, a big way to do that. And helping people have opportunities because if anyone thinks they're just an island and they got where they are alone, I would really challenge them and challenge that, that thought.
So that's pretty much it. I haven't had time to edit this week and I just had to get myself a break. Hoping to have an episode next week and [00:12:13] closing out the year, but thank you for listening. If this resonated with you in any way, let me know and hope you are all safe and doing well and, uh, preparing for the end of the year and ready to take some time off if you can.
I hope you can, take care, everyone.
Thanks again for listening this week. You can find out more about the guests in the show notes and at rabiah said dot com (rabiahsaid.com). Joe Maffia created the music just for this podcast. Find him on Spotify. That's Joe M A F F I A. And Rob Mattke is responsible for our visual design. You can find him online by searching for Rob M E T K E. Thanks, Rob.
Let me know who you'd like to hear from or about your own experiences to finding yourself outside of work. Follow at more than work pod (@morethanworkpod), or send a message on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn, or visit our website more than work pod dot com (morethanworkpod.com). Give us a follow on [00:13:13] Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review if you like.
Thanks for listening to More Than Work. While being kind to others. Don't forget to be kind to yourself.
