Don't Call Me A Khawaga!

Have you ever looked at your life — when everything seems fine — and wondered…

Was this really my choice… or everyone else’s?

A conversation about regret, expectations, relationships, and the quiet realization that some choices may not have been entirely yours.

In this episode, I talk about a quieter kind of regret...

The kind that builds slowly — through expectations, compromises, relationships, family pressure, and choices that made sense at the time… but maybe weren’t entirely yours.

And how, somewhere along the way, many of us stopped hearing our own voice underneath everyone else’s.

If you’ve ever replayed your life in your head… this one will hit.

What is Don't Call Me A Khawaga!?

Don’t Call Me Khawaga is a podcast for Arab Gen X women navigating identity, aging, relationships, and ambition — without a neat narrative.

If you grew up between East & West, between cultures…
Between expectations and reinvention…
Between being told to stay quiet and now being told to brand yourself…

Hosted by Heba Shunbo, this podcast blends sharp humor, cultural commentary, and raw honesty about midlife, marriage, motherhood, career pivots, friendship, regret, ambition, and finding yourself at 40, 45, 50 and beyond.. This show is for you.

We talk about:
- Being in midlife without a neat narrative
- Relationships that didn’t work — even when you tried your best
- Identity confusion when you’ve lived in more than one world
- Aging without pretending it’s either tragic or magical
- And the strange loneliness of being capable, strong… and still unsure

This isn’t self-help.
It’s self-awareness — with humor.