Episode Transcript
Hello. My name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She's really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives and emotions about life. Too many women in this world feel alone. They worry about
the judgment of others and they struggle with their mental health. But when they listen to
the rare girls podcast where empowered women share their voices and tell their stories,
Many women will feel inspired to live a life of freedom and to overcome all insecurities they will feel.
It is a safe space to find their confidence, to remember their unique beauty and to feel their self-worth.
And they will connect with the sisterhood of rare girls who encourage their success and support their dreams.
That's what this podcast is all about.
My guest today is Rovatiana Diyan Ghabakhsaun.
Diyan is the first girl from Madagascar in this podcast.
She is currently living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Diyan studied International Hospitality Management,
and she is currently in the Human Resources Department.
Diyan loves nature, working out, and drawing.
Dianne, how are you today?
I am very good, thank you.
How are you?
I feel honored, privileged, lucky,
and very happy to speak to you today
and very curious about you as a person and as a woman.
So I'll begin with this nice first question,
which is, Dianne,
if your friends could describe your personality,
what would they say about you?
Well, if my friend would say how I am as a person,
they would say that I am courageous, determined,
that I would do anything for the people I love, bubbly,
and I'm trying to be a better person every day.
I love that.
I want to focus on the courage.
Were you a girl who always had this desire,
this courage, this drive,
or did you go through periods maybe
where you were too much in your comfort zone,
maybe a bit depressed or something and then you thought,
no, I want to live really and fully
and that developed your courage
or how was your journey about courage itself?
Well, actually, I have never been
such kind of person before.
When I was young, I was very much scared
about new things, about new experience
and I would always choose the safe side of life,
I would say, but life makes it that when you grow up and you are going through hard times,
you are going through, I would say, identity crisis, you do realize that you have to make
changes in your life in order to make you feel better. And that's how I developed courage.
Actually, my friend says I am courageous. I wouldn't say that it's mostly courage. It's
thing. You just don't think about what will be the negative
repercussion of it, right? There is a saying that say like, if
you do something and you would say like, what if I fail? And
there is another saying that say, so what if you fly, right?
So I think that's that's how I think when I'm doing
something, I just don't think about the result of it, like
the negative result. I just say like, I will do it. And you
regrets is worse than failing. So I think that's how I get to say that I am courageous in a kind of way.
Thank you. I love that. I agree with you. I live a life where I go for a regret minimization strategy where at the end of life,
I don't want to look back and think, I wish I have done more. I want to do it to the limit.
And if there is failure, it's not real because I feel proud that I did everything that I tried
to the maximum without being a procrastinator or afraid or any of that. But to ask you even more,
for some people, that is not natural. Their brain thinks about the negative. Maybe they watch
too much news, which is always negative. Or their parents were always saying, oh, you have
worry the consequences this will go bad and that becomes part of them to you. Did you have like
how does your brain work when you're going through courage? Do you get some negative thoughts but
you're like no no I stop or do you instead begin to get excited about the growth that you want or
the potential results that you desire? Like how does your brain work so that other women maybe
can try that mindset so that they see the potential
rather than the negative consequences.
Actually, I am very pessimistic person, to be very honest.
Because of the past, when I said I'm very scared
of changes, I still have that in me.
Being courageous doesn't mean that you are not scared
or you are not thinking about what is negative.
Of course, you always have that in your mind
we are human, right? You do it afraid, I think, because you are more scared of missing out on
something and on regret than on failing. So yeah, of course, when you do things,
you will be scared, you'll be scared. Of course, we are human, we are scared of changes,
we are scared of new things, of going out of comfort zone, right? But we are also scared of
And for me, later on, if ever like when I'll be old, when I will be like, I will be old,
I will have more regrets if I don't do things just because I got scared.
So when you do something to all the people there, when you do something, of course you will do it afraid.
Of course, you will be scared. It might not be positive. The coming out of it might not be
positive, but just do it and trust on you, trust on yourself. Think that regret is worse than
failure. And as I said again, what if you fly? What if just that one step that you have done
changed your life in a better way. You would be so much happier than that.
I love that ambition. I always wish for you to fly. And it makes me think, because I noticed that
society lives now in a time where people are addicted to comfort. So if they have some problem,
they can forget about it by going to social media, watching Netflix, eating ice cream. I
So how can such a person develop the fear of regret when they are in many ways entertained
so they forget that pain?
Like for me, it's different.
If I look at my life and I think in this stage, this is not the life I want, I will
work hard or die trying to create the life that I want because I'm not.
I understand that the real life is different to virtual reality.
But to some people, maybe some teenage girls that grew up,
all they know since they are 11 or 10,
is Instagram or virtual reality.
They don't really know, especially after the pandemic,
like real life too much.
What would be your advice to them
or if you were in their position?
Imagine yourself.
You could regret, but then very easily
you can click a button and you'll be watching TikTok
and you're like, oh, I'm not, I feel better.
How do you push yourself to take the uncomfortable action of doing it afraid?
You are actually describing a part of me.
Actually, just one thing I think to remember is virtual will always be virtual.
Everything that you see on Instagram or on Facebook, these are just images.
And it makes you feel comfortable in the fact that you are at home and you are looking through it.
And I think even for me, it makes me feel comfortable because then I would just post pictures where it's just a five second picture where your life looks beautiful.
You post it and it makes you feel comfortable and makes you feel like, okay, my life is okay.
but Instagram is, and any other social media is just virtual.
If you look at your life fully,
just ask yourself a question.
Do you feel good if one day there is,
you will not have access to Instagram?
Do you not have access to Facebook?
You will have to live your actual life
and face the reality.
Would you feel good, right?
And as I said, we should never get stuck in that virtual life where everything is just images.
One thing that I always say to people, like when you go through my Instagram, you know me, but you know the 5% of my life, because it's just what I want you to see, right?
And the actual best part of it, it's what I lived behind those pictures.
I have beautiful pictures of places maybe, but it's the memory behind it that is better.
So when you look at Instagram, yes, you will see nice pictures.
Think about how did that person get to that picture?
What was the experience behind it?
think about the experience and think about also the fact that it might be you that person there
the thing that you are liking and putting alike might be you if you just take one step forward
out of the house just stepping out of the house it's it's not gonna happen like
over overnight it takes time growth takes time uh things takes time beautiful things actually
takes a very long time. I heard one person saying some day, like, a baby
takes nine months to be born, not just one day. Why? Because it's it's
something beautiful. It's a lie. Right? So be courageous. You see
something beautiful on Instagram, tell yourself that this might also
be you, you just don't have to be the only you just don't have to be
the person to like, you will be sharing and you will be living. And
Yeah, I think that's mostly what I would say. It's nice to be in a comfort zone. I love my comfort
zone. But staying in a comfort zone, I have to remember that it's something that will
destroy me at some point, because I will stay the same person where the world outside is
involving. I'm not experiencing and I'm not being the best of myself, you know. So yeah,
Just be courageous, and everyone is capable.
Honestly, if I made it, anyone else can make it, right?
So we are all the same.
We were all born the same way, so yeah.
Thank you, and I would love to discuss that,
but first I noticed that you're someone
for whom building memories, new experiences,
experience in life is very, very important.
And so to you, about experiences,
what is the most interesting factor?
Is it like you said, personal growth
and you living up to your potential?
Is it people and the exchange of emotions and energy?
Is it like the emotions that are in different places,
different situations that you're curious about
how you'll feel and all the new emotions
you'll experience or what about experiences
makes you see that as real inner wealth
and the thing that is absolutely great in your life.
For me, experiences, it's actually everything that you say.
We only go through this life one time, right?
And I think experiences bring the best of you.
First, because you grow.
You find a different way of living.
You discover that people live all in different ways
and are happy in different ways as well. You find yourself when you when you go through experiences
you actually find that you have to be very much grateful from where you are standing now. That's
something I really love. The interaction with people I would say people usually say I am a
sociable person but I am not social, not so much social. I love to exchange with people,
I love to discover their life, to know about their experience in life as well because then I can relate and I can grow.
As a person, it's very hard when you are young to find your voice.
A lot of people would say like, you grow up, you find work, you will leave your passion.
I didn't go through that.
I went through a part where I'll be like, okay, I'm trying to live the way of how people are saying, like when you grow up, you live from meditation, you find your voice.
I never got to find my voice in that kind of way. For me, it was mostly through talking to people, living experiences, traveling the world.
I see like, because coming from Madagascar, the country where I am from, you learn a lot about
being humble and being happy with what you have. And I think that's where I got to love
experiencing things, because I got to see things that I actually don't realize
from the comfort where I am living, you know, and yeah, and that and the beautiful part of it also is memory, memory where when you are looking back, when you are old, I used to, when I sit with my grandma, she would talk about her, her past and her life.
And I'm telling myself, yeah, later on, when I'll be old
and sitting in front of my grandkids,
I also want to talk about these experiences
that I would leave, experience that I'm very proud of.
And I love quotes.
And there is the quote that say that today is just,
today is just today, tomorrow it will be gone.
And in that place of today,
I want to have a beautiful memory there.
you know, I want to replace today by beautiful memory once it's gone tomorrow.
Thank you. I understand more the influence of your grandmother on your perspective,
and you mentioned finding your voice. Can you explain that? What does it mean? And how would
other women know that they found their voice? What is the experience? Can you explain that
a bit more? I'm still on my way to find mine. I can't say like I fully found myself
you see I am human, I'm like everyone. Finding my voice would be, you know, like when you are,
when you finish university or even during university, people will be like,
what do you want to be later? When you grow old, what do you want to do?
Or people will talk about their passion. I am very passionate about these things. I'm very
passionate about traveling, very passionate about, and you will find people creating
association, and because they have their passion in their heart. And when you look at those people,
you'll be like, well, they really found their voice. And you're looking at yourself and you're
looking at yourself in the mirror, be like, what about you? Do you have such things? And for me,
the first time I asked that question, it was quite painful because I couldn't answer. I was
like, okay, I am just studying. Later on, what do I want to do? And the way of how I
found my voice is mostly very simple. Actually, I found my voice when I found myself, I would
say discovered myself. You don't have to look at people to find what is your voice.
And your voice doesn't have to be like the voice of other people. Other people
have like a big, big plan, like that will impact the world. Right. You have, you might have a small
plan that will impact also the world and the world will not be the same with that small impact.
Right. So how I found my voice was trying to know myself, what kind of person I am,
how, how, what do, what do I love in life? What makes me feel emotional? You know,
what motivates me. And that's where experiences came. Like when I experiences things, I found
myself very touched, looking at other people's life, where some people are not as much blessed
as I am, where I didn't do anything to get where I am right now, you know, I didn't,
I didn't do anything to be born where I was born. And other people didn't do what,
anything to be born where they were, they were right. And this is something that really touched
me. And that really made me think like, if I have been placed here and see people living like that,
it is a reason for that, you know, that's, I think that's how I found my voice. And also
like family around for me, my family is everything I would my family, my friends is
everything for me. And looking at them and looking at what they are also going for, you'll
be like, there is a reason why I'm here. If there is a reason why I am able to do things
that other people are not able to. And I am here to help people, right? I have been
given freely what I have now. Of course, I might have worked for it, but people
work for it from different start point, right? So yeah, that's how you find your voice. That's
how you get motivated in life. And again, again, and this is something very important.
Your voice doesn't have to be something gigantic where the whole world will know
it. It's a small thing and the small thing makes a big difference in a word, right?
So, yeah, I think that's how you get to find your voice. You get to know
about yourself, really know about yourself as in deeply, deeply inside.
Thank you. That was very beautifully said. I love the way you expressed
yourself. And earlier you said, if you can progress and find more of your
and live more life towards your dreams, anyone can do it.
Can you share a bit about your backstory?
What makes it so that you think if you can do it,
it means anyone in the world can do it.
All right.
So just one thing I would say maybe
that will motivate everyone.
Back home in Madagascar,
we are not an English speaking country.
We actually speak French.
and at school, I was the worst in English. Trust me. I've never had a good mark. I've
never had average. I always had below average. And even the lecturer told me one day, even
the lecturer told me actually one day that you are not going to pass. You're going
to fail. You're going to fail because you're just not good at it. Right. And this is
thing that stick in your mind, you know, but later on, as you
can see, I am living in a country where I am speaking
English properly, you know, so things like that. And even at
school, it's it's a lot of people put their put
themselves like in a big pressure comparing themselves
with the word. Like other people are able to do things
Like, trust me, I am someone, I don't have high knowledge,
better knowledge than any other.
What I'm saying is we were all born the same way.
We all have the same brain at the end.
It's just the difference is just
that others are willing to go toward their fear,
to be courageous, you know, experience, be determined.
That's the point.
If I can do it, anyone can do it.
The way of where you get to your dream
might not be the same for each and every one, of course.
And that I must admit,
I will never be the kind of person
that would say like, yeah,
I started from scratch, everything.
No, because I will not be great.
I will not show great gratitude
toward what I have been given,
but if you are determined enough to do one thing,
you can do it.
You have people, they have been given everything,
but still they are in the comfort zone.
Why?
Just because they are not willing to, you know?
So it's not about what you have or who you are,
or it's about the attitude
that you are going to have in your journey mostly.
Thank you.
I love that.
And yes, it's about the attitude
and also the fact you mentioned that you walk through your journey and do it even if you're
afraid. Well, how do you take care of your mental health and release anxiety when you're afraid?
I know you wrote that you love working out. Is working out a way that is for you a mental
health exercise even more than the body? Can you describe it and maybe to some women or girls who
don't really put effort into working out.
How did it change maybe your body image,
your ability to release stress?
Like, how do you use it?
What makes you consider it something you love,
not just something you do?
Yes, working out is very much about mental health for me.
Because as you know, I'm living here
and I'm actually living alone
and life is pretty hard sometimes.
life can get pretty rough on you.
And working out is a way for me to escape.
So you always have to find a place or something
or someone where you can escape.
And that was part of it for me.
Funny enough, if you compare me from,
I would say around the 19 old me and now,
it's very different.
I never worked out before and I was a very lazy person.
But working out really helped me develop, not only myself mentally, but physically, you know.
Because when you work out, you are more awake. You are more awake and more aware of things.
Especially in the morning, I love waking up in the morning, go work out, and then after start my journey,
you feel more alive, more lively, you know.
And regarding your body, of course, you will have a better body shape. You might have more muscle and
everything. But for me, I would say it's more about your health. When you work out, the body
needs to move to be in a better health, you know. And when you work out, you get more
conscious about your health. So you get more conscious about what you eat. You get more
just about your way of living, your sleeping pattern. So it's just like something that
is attached from one another. Workout is very helping mentally. One thing though,
something that I went through and that I really want to share because I really don't want people
to go through that, working out can take you to a point where you become very much
obsessed with how you look, because you start to look for,
of course, you go to work out, you start to have muscle,
you start to have abs, you start to have all these,
and then you want more, of course,
because you are motivated and you want more.
One thing to remember is to take every step
one time at a time, to take one step at a time,
and to be gentle with your body.
you go workout for your mental health,
for the wellbeing of your mental health,
not to make it worse.
And it can be tricky at some point.
It's just to remember that whether your body,
no matter what is the shape of your body,
you will always be beautiful.
The most important part of it is you are going to workout
for it to be healthy.
Thank you.
And also something that you wrote or mentioned
as well is that you love nature and being around nature.
Well, Dubai is desert.
How do you connect with nature?
Or is now the gym the only place where you feel
that escape from stress and everything?
How is it?
It's a good thing because sometimes when I'm talking
to people and I tell them I love nature,
I usually tell them, actually,
I really don't know why I choose to come here.
But yeah, no, nature here in Dubai, you do have places where you have nature, you know,
every weekend you will find me at the beach because, of course, I love nature. And for me,
beach water is that's, that's, that's where I reconnect as well, apart from the gym. And
because from back home, it's very different from here. I come, Madagascar is an island,
So you would have a lot of green beaches, things like that.
So yeah, here in Dubai, you would find myself mostly
at the beach a lot.
And yeah, you know, you get to travel.
One good thing here in Dubai is
that you can travel around pretty easily.
So yeah, sometimes when I get the chance,
that's what I'm doing.
Thank you so much for this.
And to finish, is there any advice or perspective or knowledge or something
that you can share with other women and with yourself that you think if they
think about and remember, they will live a better life?
Yeah, to end my words, I would say one thing that I would always tell
to people and that I'm always reminding myself because sometimes I tend to forget
it is to take one step at a time, one day at a time, and to not be too hard on yourself.
You know, life is a journey. Life is a growth. It takes time to grow. It takes time to
be the person you want. And every day, just every day, try to take a step to be a better
version of yourself. Even a small thing, a very small thing
can change. And you know, to get to a point of where you want
to be, you just have to start slowly piece by piece. It's
like a puzzle, you know, and sometimes it might work.
Sometimes it doesn't work. And it's okay. You know, you are
not pressured to be perfect every day. It's okay to fail.
It's okay to not be okay.
It's okay to have a bad day.
It's okay to say that today I am tired.
The most important part is that you know that tomorrow is another day
and tomorrow you can start again.
That's my last word, I would say.
Thank you, Diane. It was my privilege, really,
and my honor to share your voice, to hear your story and your perspective.
I wish you all the success, all the ability
to grow your comfort zone.
I wish you to clarify your voice more and more
and know yourself and discover always new experiences,
new memories and new emotions.
And thank you again for participating.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for having me.
This was amazing.
I really loved the time.
And I hope that the words that I have shared
can somehow encourage someone, someone there that they can relate. I really hope. And thank you again.
I really appreciate the time. I really appreciate the movement that you are doing right now. It's
amazing and coming from you. It's an honor to be here, really. Thank you so much. And I know
so many women will resonate, relate and be inspired with your words. Thank you, Dionne.
