Riada talks to Wajahat Ali - on complex identities, pushing through parenting challenges, spirituality and much more!

Dignified Resilience with Riada Akyol

This was an incredibly enriching, fun and powerful conversation!! I felt like I was truly heard and seen by Waj who carefully listened to all the stuff I shared with him, ranging from pain due to the increasing Bosnian genocide denial to fulfillment I gain from some of my spiritual practices (and some that we share in common!). I also carefully and genuinely paid attention and appreciated Waj's candid insights and openness about numerous topics - from the present political moment in the USA to the stories of the unexpected parenting challenges that fortunately he and his family have successfully overcome, as his little daughter Nusayba got diagnosed with cancer and now healed of it. Waj also graciously shared some tips on the resilience that his family built and how those now help them now push through this global pandemic. Waj took off spontaneously with a chat on politics, which led to him sharing observations and experiences from Bosnia and Herzegovina, when he visited Sarajevo a few years ago, how he "connects the dots" and urges others to do so too, and then to me opening up and vulnerably sharing some nuances of the layers of my identity. All of it was therapeutic and triggering - in a good way! Later on, we talked about Nusayba healing of cancer, the importance of a community in that process, of kindness, of necessity of accepting help etc... Finally, we delved into a wonderful chat on (Islamic) spirituality, and benefits of thankfulness and patience. Then I also made Waj agree that he'll have to write a cooking book at some point! We talked about optimism, pessimism, my "Balkan paranoia" and all the right dance moves. Listen more for an hour of a wonderful bonding and an easy-going, organic conversation that started with trust and developed more through vulnerable sharing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and be on the lookout for Wajahat's new forthcoming book! Wajahat Ali is a New York Times Contributing op-ed writer, a TED speaker, an award-winning playwright, a recovering attorney as he says, and a former consultant for the US State Department.