On the Other Line: Recent Episodes
Sarah & Lama
Hello, Hola, Hallo, Salut, and مرحبا! We’re Lama and Sarah, and we’ve been best friends since we were four. We are currently in a long-distance-best-friendship and often find ourselves chatting on the phone for hours on end about everything from culture, politics, mental health, awkward things that people don’t really wanna talk about, to the rollercoaster ride called life. Follow us on our journey to retain our sisterly friendship, while growing and learning about the world from two ends of it. We cordially invite you to join in on the conversations in this podcast that is now available on all major platforms! Check us out on Twitter @Ontheotherline1, on Instagram and Facebook @Ontheotherlinepod
Have you ever felt as though you were the only clueless one in the room? Like everybody else around you had their life together, and you are just the fraud pretending to blend in? Whether you were in a work meeting, a classroom, a job interview, you just felt out of place, like you didn’t deserve to be there. Well, guess what? You’re not alone, and you have probably experienced imposter syndrome - that psychological phenomenon, the manifestation of yet another form of self-doubt making its way into yet another area of our life. It is the darkness that sweeps in to cast a shadow over the light of our accomplishments.
In this episode, we open up to you about our experiences with imposter syndrome, and how it has manifested itself into our careers. We also discuss the article, 'You're a Fake: Imposter Syndrome and What You Can Do About It' by Marcy Daniels, and Valerie Young's five types of imposter syndrome, and how they apply to us.
Marcy Daniels article:
https://www.restorecounselling.ca/impostor-syndrome
As the end of each year meets the beginning of a new one, we often begin planning a list of new year's resolutions. But if 2020 has taught us anything it's that life often has its own plans for us. So this year, we're scrapping our resolutions to reflect on the lessons this year has taught us instead. In this episode, we sit down and discuss the 20 lessons we've learned in 2020.
At last, after taking a long break from the podcast to focus on our studies, we are back with another podcast episode. 2020 has taken a toll on all of us in terms of our mental well-being. The Middle East is not immune to this especially considering that mental health has been a problem in the region for years. With mental illness being a taboo topic for many Middle Eastern families, we posted a questionnaire on Instagram to hear people's thoughts on this. We received many responses with a similar theme, all pointing to a general lack of understanding of the topic. In today’s episode, we are discussing some of the responses we received, featuring our special guest, Sara. Sara has done a lot of research around this topic among other topics in the Middle East for a blog she runs with her sister and brings an interesting perspective to the conversation.Mental health support line UAE: Toll-free support line or Watsapp - 800-4673Crisis Services Canada: 1-833-456-4566, or text 45645The United Kingdom and Ireland support line: 116 123 (free to call from within the UK and Ireland), 24 hours a day
In this episode, we share our views about what it means to be 'single by choice'; We open up about our experiences of going from being a 'serial-romantic' to learning how to be single (by choice) in our early twenties in a world that celebrates all things romance.
Inspired by the ‘For Dummies’ book series, in this episode we attempt to break down and demystify myths about feminism. Dedicated to all the men who we’ve debated about feminism, and to all those who's idea of what feminism is, is totally misconstrued but are open to unlearning and relearning it. During these 45 minutes, we seek to define feminism in its simplest of forms, address controversial topics like the Free the Nipple Campaign, and answer the notorious question ‘Why is feminism called feminism?’. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.
This Sunday’s Ask S&L episode is a classic conversation about seeking validation and confidence. We open up about our own struggles in our journey of confidence and share some of our own philosophy on the topic.
In today’s lengthy episode we take you on a journey that begins with the story of lama’s relationship with her curly hair from child to adulthood, and the pressure to blend into societal and cultural norms. The conversation takes a deeper route as we uncover a conversation on stereotyping and discrimination against different symbols of identity, including ones hair, clothing choices, or religious symbols such as the hijab
While we love discussing politics and social issues, our friendship is also founded on giving each other advice. We wanted to share these conversations with you by introducing our new segment, Ask S&L.
Join us for our first Ask S&Lepisode as we discuss our personal journey post-graduation. We talk about trying new things, saying goodbye to friendships/relationships, and starting new chapters.
Since the beginning of quarantine, we have seen many jobs and schooling shift to the online world. For many of us, that means more time in front of a screen.
In a society that has become increasingly dependent on smart technology, we ask ourselves whether it’s possible to live life without it again, but also whether excessive use could have any potential adverse effects on our health.
After way too many mornings and nights waking up and going to bed with our phone-screens, last week, we challenged ourselves and our audience on Instagram to join us for a screen-less Sunday.
You might have already heard about social media cleanses, but on Sunday, we went 24 hours without phones, laptops, tablets, or televisions. Then we talked about it, and now you get to hear about our experience with our first screen-less-Sunday and the effects of screen time on mental health.
Article about mental health mentioned -> www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6214874/
Before phone screens and hashtags, a middle-aged exile looked a lot like modern-day cancel culture. While a middle-aged cancelling left you expelled from the perimeters of society, these days, a tweet, alike, a post, and a hashtag have the power to end someone’s career. In the past few weeks, we have seen the power of cancel culture intensify as social movements take over social media. While it may seem harsh, cancel culture is much more than a weapon that can cancel people out of society. Can cancel culture also be used to place accountability on public figures for their actions. Should cancel culture be extended to private citizens? This also brings us to the questions of when is cancel culture necessary, and what are the pros and cons of such a phenomenon? Join our conversation in this episode as we discuss all of these questions.
In this episode, we interview Dr. Afua Cooper, a black activist, author, notable poet, historian, and academic to discuss racism in the wake of the latest murder of George Floyd, at the hands of police brutality in the U.S.
We talk about the ways in which racism exists not only in the U.S., but also in other counties, including Canada, and our own Arab community.
We discuss the role non-black people have in fighting systemic racism, and most importantly, address the impact racism has on mental health among black communities.
References
More information about Dr. Afua Cooper -> afuacooper.com/about/
Racism in Canada -> newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-cust…/deadly-force
Racism, trauma and mental health -> www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6292675/
Our latest episode, “Mom, Dad... I Don’t Eat Meat!” Is out now, on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts!
In this episode, we get candid about attempting to adopt a plant-based diet and the many challenges we face, such as overcoming our own predispositions and dealing with cultural attitudes.
Hello, and welcome to the first episode of On the Other Line (the podcast).
This short episode is an introduction of your hosts, Lama and Sarah. We talk a little bit about why we started this podcast, why it's important to us, and a brief history of our long-standing and now long-distancing friendship.