Episode 67 | Making Bold Life Changes: Turning Fear into Courage

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About Samra Zafar:

Samra Zafar is an award-winning internationally renowned speaker, bestselling author, and educator for equity, mental health, and human rights. Samra is currently pursuing an MD at McMaster’s DeGroote School of Medicine with the purpose of becoming a psychiatrist promoting inclusive mental health.

She is the founder and CEO of Brave Beginnings, a national charity supporting women in building lives of freedom after escaping abuse and oppression.

She has been recognized twice among the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada. She is also named among the Top 25 Most Inspirational Women in Canada, and Top 25 Canadian Immigrants. She is the 2021 recipient of the Desmond Parker Outstanding Young Alumni Award at University of Toronto, in recognition of her work to advance human rights. She served as one of the youngest alumni governors for the University of Toronto. She currently serves as a board member for Women’s College Hospital Foundation and a Celebrated Ambassador for Plan International Canada.

Samra’s book, “A Good Wife: Escaping The Life I Never Chose”, based on her journey of escaping an abusive child marriage to pursue her education and shed light on gender-based oppression, is an international bestseller, and is being adapted for television. Her work has impacted millions and has been extensively featured in national and global media.

Episode Notes:

Dr. Laura welcomes guest Samra Zafar – founder and CEO of Brave Beginnings, best-selling author of “A Good Wife”, and internationally renowned speaker – to the show to talk about the courage to make big life changes. Samra herself made a bold and difficult life change when she escaped an abusive marriage, as detailed in her book, and she offers insight gained from that experience. 

Samra shares her story with Dr. Laura. She talks about why she’s pursuing her MD after a career in finance and how she has managed the pivot into medicine after escaping her arranged teenage marriage with two children. Samra addresses the idea of courage as not being the absence of fear but the willingness to do the thing even when you’re terrified. Dr. Laura and Samra have a revealing discussion about believing in yourself, the psychological damage of abuse, why she wrote “A Good Wife”, and the impact telling her story has had across the world. It’s an inspirational episode with a message for everyone.

“It’s very, very natural to feel those feelings of fear and imposter syndrome and all those things. So courage is not the absence of those things. Courage is, Yes, I am afraid right now. Yes, I’m terrified. Yes, this feels scary. But this means something to me and I care about this, so I’m going to do it anyway. Courage is trusting in your ability to figure things out.” Samra Zafar

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