- Reneem
Hello and welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast. That sounds so professional and real. It's real. Surprise. This is the Stop Wasting Your Life podcast. I'm Ava Heimbach, your host and founder, and I'm here with my lovely, beautiful friend, Raneem Alasmi. Good job. She said my last name right.
- Ava
It's kind of a hard last name. It is. Just a little bit, but.
- Reneem
Elasmi is better than Alasami.
- Ava
I like Alasami more, actually.
- Reneem
No. We'll stick to the original one.
- Ava
Okay, fine. Raneem, Elasmi. But here we are. First episode. It's going to be a little bit of a different episode. We're going to reverse the roles a little bit. Raneem's going to interview me. Yep. Which I don't know the next time I'm going to be the one interviewed. So nobody get used to this. I don't know how it's going to look, but we're kind of just going to. wing it and answer some questions about what this podcast is about, why I started it, who the heck is Ava. I'll tell you a little bit about me, a little bit about Raneem.
- Reneem
That's no pressure at all.
- Ava
Yeah, no pressure. No pressure. But yeah, that's pretty much what we're going to cover in this podcast. But before we get into the episode, just a couple of things I want to let everybody know. The first is that we are doing a giveaway and it's five free nights in a house in Hawaii. So if you are interested in that at all, and I don't know who wouldn't be interested in that because I would be interested in that. And I know Renee would be interested in that also. If that's something that you are wanting to look into, it's a four bedroom, four bathroom house, three minutes from the beach in Hawaii. And all you have to do is go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com and click on the giveaways tab. And there you will find all the ways that you can enter into the drawing. There's a ton of different ways. Even just following on Instagram will get you an entry. So go look at that and put your name in there. And the other thing that I am going to mention before every single episode, and I just want to make this very clear that there is no right or wrong way to live your life. and that definition of a fulfilling life. is unique to each person. It's different to me. It's different to Raneem. It's different to you. And I want you to know that we are all entitled to our own opinions and we aren't here to tell you how to live your life. We just want to give you ideas, knowledge, inspiration so that you can create a life that is beautiful to you. So I just want to make that very clear before we begin. And I'm going to say that before every episode to make sure that everybody understands it. But Anyway, should we begin? Yeah.
- Reneem
Okay, let's do it.
- Ava
Welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast that helps you break free from a life of self-doubt and distraction and inspires you to create a fulfilling and purposeful life. Each week, we dive into actionable advice, meaningful conversation, and insightful interviews to empower you to prioritize your well-being, pursue your passions, and become the best version of yourself. It's time to stop wasting your life and start building one that you are excited to wake up to. Okay, we're back. Once again, I'm Ava Heimbach, your host, and this is Raneem Alasmi, and this is Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast. So Raneem, while we're here, just maybe you should tell us a little bit about yourself so we know who we're talking to,
- Reneem
even though the podcast is not really about me today.
- Ava
But yes, boo. I want to know about you and everyone else does.
- Reneem
I want everyone to know that I am forced to be here.
- Ava
She is forced to be here. I bought her coffee, though. I bought her matcha. So she did get paid - Payment.
- Reneem
Okay, so my name is Raneema Lasmi. I am from Syria and I've been in the U.S. for eight years now, almost. So I am a citizen, which is good. I speak three languages. So if I ever say anything funny during the podcast. Probably because English is not my first language. Let's make that clear.
- Ava
A lot of languages she has to think about, guys. Cut her some slack. Yes.
- Reneem
So, yeah, I left Syria when I was 13 years old. I escaped Syria, went to Jordan, and I stayed in Jordan for four years. Spent one night in a camp, and then we escaped, and then I lived in the capital for four years, like I said. And then I came here with the U.N. to the U.S. And I studied journalism in French and I'm graduating very, very soon, which is scary.
- Ava
Big girl.
- Reneem
Exciting. And that's where I met Ava. Not at the same university, but like a friend of a friend. Her cousin. A friend of a friend.
- Ava
A friend of a friend of a friend. A friend. And here we are.
- Reneem
We had a wedding and here we are.
- Ava
Besties. It was not my wedding. Let's be clear. It was not my wedding. It was a friend of a friend of a cousin's wedding.
- Reneem
Not my wedding either.
- Ava
Nope. Neither are weddings. Anyway, I'm Ava. I'm 22 years old. Currently living in quotations. because I do a lot of traveling and hopping back and forth from place to place. But when I'm quote unquote living somewhere, it is in Kansas City, Kansas with my whole entire family. They all live here. So grandma, grandpa, parents, cousins, Raneem, everyone. I'm studying business administration and management fully online. So I chose the online route so that I could travel. and not have a set schedule. So that's one of the reasons why I'm all over the place doing a bunch of different things because nothing is tying me down. I enjoy going on adventures, trying new hobbies. I'm currently in my hot yoga and pottery phase. So I do that both of those twice a week and I love them. And I also like to travel, spend time with my family and friends, being outside. and doing anything to stay active. I also am really passionate about anxiety awareness and anyone with special needs. I love them. So throughout this podcast, we will be partnering with organizations that also support these causes. So I am really looking forward to that. That's awesome. Yeah. Do you know enough about me now?
- Reneem
Well, I think I know way more than this about Ava and I am very, very lucky.
- Ava
There's a tear flowing down my cheek. Okay.
- Reneem
Can I ask you more questions now?
- Ava
Of course. Yes.
- Reneem
Okay. Why did you start this podcast?
- Ava
Why did I start this podcast? So a couple of years ago, I was right about to graduate high school. I was living in Hawaii and I woke up and was pretty much like, what the heck am I going to do with my life? It like hit me like a bus. I remember waking up and Really just being overcome with this feeling of, oh, my gosh, what am I doing with my life? I need to figure this out like right now. It was like a random Wednesday and I all of a sudden decided I need to like get my life together and figure it out. And I was really torn between what the world slash like what our culture wanted or what I kind of grew up thinking like a life should be lived or what my career should be or what. it should look like after high school. Like I kind of had all of that in my head of what was quote unquote right. But then I also deep down knew inside that I kind of had a different direction I wanted to go or I wanted to figure out what I really wanted to do without being put in this little like societal box of what people wanted me to do. And don't get me wrong, I'm still figuring out each and every day what I want to do, what that future looks like. I don't know 100%, but I know that I am a lot happier now than I would be if I would have taken the route that I grew up thinking I was going to take. And so when I woke up and asked myself that question, I felt like I just had very little direction as to how I was going to get to where I was becoming the. best version of myself. And I feared, hence the reason of the name of the podcast, but I always feared wasting my life. Like that to me sounded so awful to be on my deathbed and thinking about my life and thinking, wow, I really wasted that.
- Reneem
That made me think of something that we always talk about, like taking the hard route or making the harder choice. Do you remember us talking about this? Oh, yeah. There's always a harder choice that you can make. Every decision is a hard decision. You say it in a very good way. I think you should explain it.
- Ava
Yeah, we talk about this all the time where it's pretty much there's different ways that you can live life. There's the hard way of living life and the easy way of living life. And the hard way of living life would be taking the harder route, the one that's going to require more work. and more effort. Or you can take the easy route, which is the route that doesn't take a lot of effort. It's maybe the route that everyone else takes. And I kind of... woke up and decided that I was going to push myself to take that hard route, even if it meant not doing what everyone else was doing or what my friends and family kind of expected. But the way that I got to where I am today was the all the people that I met and talked to. I've met so many cool people and I've talked and had, yes, Raneem, that means you calm down, jump off your high horse right now. I just have learned so much from so many different people. And also the lessons I have learned, they've put me where I am today and all of my mistakes. And don't get me wrong, I have made a lot of mistakes, but I just want to be open and honest with people and just be super real because we're all human and we all make mistakes and all we can do is learn from them and keep moving forward. And then also the experiences that I embraced, the adventures I said yes to, all of those have shaped me into who I am and where I am today. And I just want to share and be open about those things that I've learned and the things that I continue to learn and continue to shape my life. I wake up every morning just trying to do the best job that I can of creating a life that is. beautiful for myself, creating a life that I am proud of, that is not going to be wasted, that I love. And I want to help others try and figure that out by giving them the resources and inspiration to do the same, to build a life that's beautiful to them. And one that everyone just wants to wake up to and be so excited to be alive.
- Reneem
Amen.
- Ava
Amen.
- Reneem
So what is this podcast is going to be about.
- Ava
So it's pretty much going to be building a life that you are excited to wake up to. That's something I want to say over and over and over again, because how beautiful is it that we get to wake up in the morning? But how beautiful is it that we get to wake up in the morning to a life that we are so excited to wake up to? Like, that's amazing. And I want to help people build that life. and I want to give people the resources to become the healthiest, happiest, most joyful, content person that you could be. I want to give people that inspiration and the information to get them there. And that might look different for everybody, but one person might really need to know how to gain financial security and one person might not. But that one person who needed to know about it, hopefully that made their life a little bit easier. And I want to help people define a life of intention, one that they love and a life of purpose and figuring out how to get them from where they are to where they want to be. It's going to be a very authentic podcast. And I want people to realize that we're all human. And I want to embrace that humanity. I want. people to know that it's okay to cry and be happy and scream and feel joy and learn and do all the human stuff, feel all the feels, be a human, embrace it, feel all the feels. I love that. Every time you say that, I'm like, I'm feeling the feel. Like every time I'm sad, I'm like, I am feeling the feels and that's okay.
- Reneem
That's a good one. Yeah. So beside the fact that you are the main host of this podcast, what makes this podcast more special?
- Ava
I think this podcast is going to be special because it's going to be all about just being as real and authentic as possible. I think we live in such a world where everybody kind of has this mask on. And I just want this to be a space where people can take that mask off and they can see other people who take that mask off and really just be open and vulnerable and feel okay making mistakes and not knowing where you're going or what you're going to do, but having that desire to work every day to get to where you want to be or take the steps forward in the direction that you want to be. And then also how many podcasts give you the opportunity to go win free nights in Hawaii. That's very true. But yeah, just real and authentic. And I want people to learn and grow and feel the feels.
- Reneem
Does that mean I can be mean to you on the podcast?
- Ava
You can be mean, but to an extent. You can bully me a little bit, okay?
- Reneem
Just trying to see how real and authentic you are. No,
- Ava
yeah. Someone needs to do some character building. Of course. Anyway.
- Reneem
Okay, so who is this podcast for?
- Ava
This podcast is for anyone who wants to better themselves, anyone who wants to learn how to create a beautiful, fulfilling life, who wants to find purpose and adventure, anyone who wants to learn from their past mistakes and heal and grow. I want people to be able to take what happened to them and turn it into something beautiful. Most episodes will be interviews and conversations with guests. We have a lot of cool guests that are going to be interviewed. So I'm really excited about that. Maybe solo episodes every once in a while, but mainly interviews with guests. And we're going to have a lot of meaningful conversations, personal stories, a bunch of information and actionable strategies to learn and grow episodes. are going to drop every week on Tuesday. Each episode will be around 30 minutes long. We'll go over a bunch of different topics for everybody. Lots of personal health, well-being. I deal with a lot of anxiety on a day-to-day basis and I'm very passionate about it. I'm very passionate about sharing it. We're going to do a lot of talk about anxiety and mental health. for sure. And traveling. I love to travel. So we're going to do a lot of traveling. We're going to have a lot of giveaways and discount codes from companies, from different travel companies. And so I'm excited about that. So where to go, what to see, how to get there, all the traveling information needed. And those trip giveaways every once in a while. So keep listening for those. also just talk about financial security. I know that for the younger generation, especially finances can be kind of a stressful topic. So we have some guests who are really good about that and know a ton about that. And then also just passion and purpose, lots of figuring out how to live a purposeful life. And then, of course, we have a bunch of cool stuff plans. So large giveaways every couple of months. Like the Hawaii house and then also smaller giveaways monthly here and there. Bunch of fun, cool stuff. Live, laugh, love. Stop wasting your life, everybody. Good job. Thank you. Thank you.
- Reneem
Okay. So since this podcast is about me and you.
- Ava
Oh, yes.
- Reneem
What is your favorite memory of our friendship?
- Ava
Of our friendship? Ooh, good question. Probably. It was a little traumatic memory, but Florence, it was such a bonding moment. Like after that trip, I was like, you felt bonded to me too. I know you did. But fun fact, I am extremely terrified of vomit. That's just a little side note for the story. But I went to visit her in France when she was studying abroad last semester. And we spent a weekend in Italy. So one of the stops we had was in Florence. and... Checked into our Airbnb and we were going to go to the David statue and my stomach started hurting. And that's never a good sign because obviously a fear of vomit and stomach aches do not fit well together. But anyway, my stomach started hurting and I couldn't tell if it was just an anxious stomach or like my stomach was actually hurting. Go to the David statue. Like my stomach's like actually hurting. We have a pasta making class that we're trying to get to. On the way to the pasta making class,
- Reneem
which I feel like you should give a little bit of like a background to that. Because Ava has been trying to do this class for so freaking long.
- Ava
Okay, sorry. I want to make pasta like in Florence. No, no,
- Reneem
I'm just saying. So this was like a big deal.
- Ava
This was I was so excited for this. I had been talking about it for so long.
- Reneem
And doing it in Italy was like even a bigger deal.
- Ava
Yes, I was so excited. So we start walking to this pasta making class that we booked like an hour before. and that's when I decided that my stomach actually hurt. So I sat down on the road in the middle of Florence, cried my eyes out. Raneem sat there and talked me through it. And eventually I was like, screw this pasta making class. We are going back to the Airbnb. And I sat outside. My stomach was like actually hurting. I sat outside in the courtyard and I threw up on the ground right next to me.
- Reneem
She kept asking me, is she going to throw up? She kept saying, I feel nauseous. And I kept telling her. Like sometimes you can feel nauseous and you don't have that doesn't mean you 98%
- Ava
of the time I feel nauseous. I don't throw up and I couldn't tell if I was actually nauseous because I was gonna throw up or I was so worked up for my anxiety and I couldn't tell either. Because we both couldn't tell.
- Reneem
We're completely fine. And all of a sudden, and you with Ava, like if she feels just a little bit of pain in her stomach, she's going to be like freaking out. I couldn't really tell. Are you going to throw up? Or am I going to throw up?
- Ava
She handled it like a champ. I, again, this is my favorite best friend memory because it like was such a bonding moment. I threw up next to me in the courtyard of our Florence Airbnb. I was an absolute mess for the next 48 hours. I was completely just out of it. I'm pretty sure I just like rotted on the bed.
- Reneem
What happened when you were outside? I was not there, remember?
- Ava
Oh, Renee was actually grocery shopping and I threw up next to me and I texted her and I said, I just threw up. And her response was, I'm running, period. So she was sprinting down the road of groceries to come get me. And she sat by me for those two days. she cleaned my vomit up for me. She held the trash can. She made me food. She made sure I was okay. And I was like that. If someone doesn't love you like Raneem loves me in that moment, then why are they in your life? Like if someone wouldn't put themselves in that situation for someone they love, then are they really your best friend? I don't think so. So that is my favorite best friend memory because that's when I realized I was like, okay, you passed the vibe check. Literally, This is why people have one of the.
- Reneem
the first episode.
- Ava
Yes. So there you go. That's a little side note story, including my anxiety, which again, we will talk about. So if you have anxiety and you're here, please keep listening because we're going to love talking about anxiety. This is a safe anxiety place. But yeah, that's my favorite best friend memory.
- Reneem
I love it.
- Ava
Anyway, I think we'll just end it right there. I think That was a pretty short, condensed why. is this podcast here and who the heck is Ava? A little bit of snippet of information. So thank you again, Rene Meepoo, for being here and interviewing me. I wouldn't have asked for anyone else to interview me today.
- Reneem
Any day, any time. You know my phone number, my address.
- Ava
Your credit card information. Your sushi. And I will buy you another matcha next time. Deal? Okay, perfect. But anyway. Thank you all for listening. I really hope that you continue to listen and go enter yourself into that Hawaii House giveaway. I definitely will. We're names not allowed to though. That's cheating. But everyone else can go enter into the Hawaii House giveaway. Thanks. Live, laugh, love everybody. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Stop Wasting Your Life. We hope that you are feeling motivated to take charge of your future. and start living with purpose, intention, and authenticity. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to leave us a good review, give us a follow, and subscribe to our newsletter. For more information, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com and we will see you next week.
