What October 7 Means to Me

Before starting this post, I ask Allah SWT to purify my intentions and place in my heart the right words to say. Ameen

As I sit here all the way in the back of the Calgary International terminal, a bit frustrated because there is no United or Star Alliance club that my 1K status has earned me privileged access to, I reflect on how frivolous and disgusting that makes me feel.

I feel a sense of entitlement that because I traveled countless days and weeks last year, leaving my wife and boys behind, serving a corporate objective that I am entitled to have premium access to comfort in an empty airport.

How can I feel this way, knowing what today is?

I do not believe in coincidences, so for me to be at the end of one of the most amazing and fulfilling 5 days of my LIFE...having witnessed some of the most majestic views that Allah has created.

This trip, that is now considered a 'work trip' for me as part of RYSE Coaching, also happens to come to an end with me sitting in Calgary Airpot on October 7th, 2024.

Exactly 12 months after my entire life (and the world) changed! This absolutely cannot be a coincidence.

This is divine wisdom.

Well, I ask myself, what is this wisdom ya Allah?

12 months ago on October 7th, 2023, two very consequential events took place that completely took my mind and heart into an uncontrollable twister that has now landed me on a comfortable couch, on the farthest boundary of the Calgary International terminal.

On October 7th, 2023, my priorities in life completely changed within a split second.

Filled My Heart

I witnessed for the first time what it felt like for me to help another person overcome their fears, doubts, limiting thoughts, and just plain lack of confidence in themselves in order to achieve something amazing.

I saw my friend, who one week before Oct 7, cancelled his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee because he told himself that he would not be able to complete his first Ironman 70.3 race that we had signed up for.

He texted me and told me he will not be joining me on the race and he had already cancelled his hotel.

I, of course, immediately called him and began to explain to him that he can do this and that we will be there together. I told him to trust in his training and trust that Allah has his back. I told him that if he allows this fear to hold him back from even trying but not crossing the finish line, he will regret this moment forever and think 'what if'.

After many conversations, alhamdulillah, he rebooked a hotel and said he is coming and will give it everything he has, then leave the rest up to Allah.

Well, on October 7th, 2023, not caring at all that I completed my first Ironman 70.3, I saw my friend running down the final stretch of the race after 8 hours of continuous work and I just broke down in tears. My heart became so happy and filled that this person that didn't believe in himself, actually achieved the unthinkable.

That moment, seeing him run across the finish line, with his wife and three boys watching, was the first inception of what I believed my life was meant for. As I write this right now, I have goosebumps running through my body and tears in my eyes remembering that moment of liberation.

This was the moment I witnessed what it meant for a person to take my advice and liberate themselves from the shackles of doubt, fear, and limiting thoughts.

I witnessed what I believe is true freedom.

Knife to My Heart

After completing the race, I was talking to my wife and she asked me if I had heard what happened in Palestine. I said, no, I haven't checked my phone.

What happened?

She began to explain the sad loss of life and then said, I am so worried about what may come.

At that moment in time, on October 7, 2023, we both had no idea that we would be sitting here today on October 7, 2024 still witnessing the genocide of the Palestinian people, executed with no remorse or respite. We are also witnessing an expansion of this destruction and killing to other blessed lands and people, such as Lebanon.

At that moment, despite the jubilation I was feeling for having completed my first Ironman and seeing someone I love complete their first, I couldn't stop myself from having that sinking feeling in my heart.

After witnessing the horrifying attacks and killing executed by a unjust military state in the following days, I came to the realization that my priorities in life were completely flipped.

Traveling all over the world for conferences and talks in order to hit revenue targets and maintain my status as a corporate leader no longer made sense to me.

Leaving my family and earning higher and higher dollars and travel status no longer made sense to me.

Being a slave to a system that clearly does not value the sanctity of life in the way that I value it, no longer made sense to me.

The RYSE

Therefore, after sitting with these feelings and witnessing the daily death toll and destruction increase (nearly 42,000 Palestinians murdered). I started to feel my faith in humanity was slipping from my grips.

Waking up in the morning no longer was something I was looking forward to.

Jumping on zoom calls and talking about the future of the company no longer mattered to me.

All that I could think about was how do I restore humanity in humanity.

It was at that moment, on an unremarkable Thursday morning, that I decided I could no longer use another second of my life doing something I didn't believe in anymore.

Long story short (or shorter let's say), I created a company that I believed would allow me to replicate the same outcome of liberation that I witnessed on October 7, 2023 when my friend crossed the Ironman finish line.

I wanted to spend the rest of my life, working tirelessly, to inspire people to feel freedom from their doubts, fears, and limiting thoughts so that maybe, just maybe, those people can go out in the world and find a way to help liberate ALL people that are still NOT FREE.

So now, sitting here again, at the far end of the Calgary International terminal, I CHOOSE to not believe I am entitled to any good, any premium access, any comfort but rather show gratitude to Allah SWT for opening my eyes to a world that is in profound need of liberation and freedom.

The Palestinian people are an example of what liberation and freedom of the soul feels like and I ask that one day very soon they have physical liberation as well.

I ask Allah SWT to USE me as a means for people to ACTUALIZE that liberation and freedom, and I ask Allah SWT to allow me to witness a world with a FREE Palestine!

May Allah SWT accept all of the martyrs who are children, women, men, and elderly.

I ask that Allah SWT resurrects me with those shuhada' and allows me to be in their company with Rasul Allah SWS.

Ameen.

Let's RYSE Together!