Born in Amman, Jordan, of Lebanese origin, raised in the UAE. I’ve always said to myself, why not. As a kid I used to always think what If I could live the life of a cartoon character (let alone be in a cartoon). Weird thing to say here but thought it was relevant 

Maybe that was the beginning of the end for all my problems. As a kid, I was the quiet one. The shy one. The “so mature for his age” one. But behind the quietness and shyness there was a boy who couldn’t sit still, who felt everything but didn’t know how to label it. The noise in my head was always so loud, but didnt know how to control it. 

I thought if I could just get things right school, body, job, friends, then the chaos inside would quiet down.

Spoiler: it didn’t.

I spent most of my academic life, “trying to make it” which looked like failing most classes but then somehow someway everything finds its way eventually. I Spent the majority of my twenties trying different things, picked up sports properly (which in hindsight changed my life), worked in advertising selling people things they didnt need, managing projects because that’s what paid the bills, but within that there was so much confusion. Who am I? Let alone all the emotions, overthinking, depression I was going through and working on them, understanding what’s wrong and trying to work on them. And that’s when I started therapy and part of this world opened up for me, understanding the value of vulnerability and facing problems head on.

And somewhere in that mess, I found my voice (literally because I broke out of my “quiet / shy” shell). That’s how Koon Rijjeil was born.

Not because I had it all figured out, but because I didn’t and I knew I couldn’t be the only one. I couldn’t be the only man out here going through this. It’s impossible.

Today, I juggle a lot. I work in brand strategy. I workout (quite a lot). I started to love racing (fitness racing) and challenging myself physically and mentally. but ofcourse, I overthink most things, my food, my sleep, some daily decisions so nothings perfect (as you can see).

But every week, I come back to myself to be honest with myself better questions about what it means to be a man, what’s something I can do to be better as a man and lead as a man. 

This podcast is my personal reminder that healing doesn’t have to look perfect, you dont need to be perfect everyday

and that maybe being brave to be open and vulnerable is the new kind of “strong”