We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abeer Ghosheh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Abeer , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Becoming an Arab/Bulgarian content creator in the United States was one of the best things to happen for me in terms of self growth.
It takes guts to put yourself out there. Unlike many other things I’ve tried before, when I decided to start creating content, I didn’t announce it to anyone. I decided, you know what, I’m going to not post anything in-front of my friends or family and not tell anyone. I started a new account on TikTok, and I tried to block everyone I knew at the time.
That surprisingly really helped me be myself. I used TikTok as a creative outlet where I posted things that I enjoyed myself. It slowly started getting traction and for the first time I felt very seen for who I truly was and not who I pretended to be..
I came to America as a student, on my own, it was a big risk, and at first I tried to hide my differences. But today I am happy to say that I finally found the balance between where I come from, my identity, my blood, culture, and where I am today. It takes a lot of becoming honest with yourself, and going back to what I lived doing as a kid unapologetically!
I didn’t expect to go viral and gain the traction that I did so quickly, but I am excited to utilize it for good. I don’t believe in doing things selfishly and I always wanted to do something to give back and help. Today, I am able to make some people laugh, and that makes me happy. But hopefully that is just the beginning and I can bring more positivity to this world.
A lot of people think that my content is just comedy. But I experience a lot of discrimination, because of my accent, how I dressed, where I came from, when I first came here I stood out like a thumb. My content, although, sometimes over the top aims to normalize and show that we, Arabs are just like every culture, we know our own faults, we laugh at them, but I also find it very therapeutic to laugh at your trauma. And each culture and generation has experienced some of it and the best way to heal is by realizing that we all went through it and we aren’t alone. I think that gives people a silver lining and helps them feel like they belong.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a content creator based in San Diego California. Between TikTok and Instagram, I have over 330k followers, and some my videos have over 20 million views. You can follow me on TikTok on @abeerdaily and at @ab299r on Instagram.
Through my content, which is mainly comedy based. I hope to make people laugh, connect, and relate to people from other cultures.
Alongside others, I am a Part of a startup team for a fun social game app that is designed to break the ice at social events and parties called goofyn. It is available for free on IOS.
I hope to launch a line or merch in the near future. Something that my fans have been constantly asking for! It’s coming soon this fall!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1- Learn who you really are, and give yourself the reassurance, love, confidence you need daily. It doesn’t happen overnight. I went years where I meditated, journaled, went to therapy, you name it, until I finally learned to sit with myself and help me become who I want to be!
2- Don’t take life too seriously. It may sound dark, but I read a book once that said that if you realize you’re going to die one day, and you accept it, that will help you navigate a lot of life much easier. I appreciate people and don’t make a big deal out of everything because you won’t get these moments back.
3- Once you learn to calm the thoughts in your head, you will be able to read and understand other people a lot better. You will realize that most people project their hurt, insecurities, experiences on you, so don’t take it personal.
4- whatever it is you want to do, get started, challenge yourself to do it for 30 days straight, a little everyday, you will soon realize that you’re on the right track and wonts stop or you’ll realize it’s time to shift gears to something else.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I believe you have to feel your feelings but at the same time not fall into the trap of victimizing yourself. So I Learned if I’m sad, I’ll cry it out because something hurts. After a while you get sick of crying and it’s time to get logical. If it’s something I can’t control, I look back at all the things that happened to me in the past, and how they ended up being things that led me to good things today. This thought process helps me have faith in the universe and God. Things will work out. Then I try to move my body and do things that keep me present. It helps a lot!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.goofyn.com
- Instagram: Ab299r
- Other: TikTok: @abeerdaily
