Welcome to Nobody Told Me. I'm Jan Black.

And I'm Laura Owens.

And we've very much been looking forward to talking with our guest on this episode,

Najwa Zebian. She's a Lebanese Canadian poet, activist, author, speaker, and educator,

and her work has been featured in the New York Times, glamour, Huff Post, and a lot more.

And Najua's latest book has been described as a book for anyone who has ever asked,

How do I Find Myself? Or How do I find myself or how do I forgive myself or how do I

learn to love myself? The book is called Welcome Home, a guide to building a home for your soul.

Nashua, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. How did the book,

Welcome Home, a Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul, come about?

Well, it started with my search for a home, which took up most of my life since I was a child.

And not really knowing that that's what I was searching for, what I knew was that there was something missing. And that

something that was missing was the feeling that I belonged somewhere, the feeling that I mattered

to someone, that someone loved me just as I am. So it began that early on in my life. And it manifested in

my adulthood as trying to find myself in places and

people and titles and, you know, job titles and just communities that I was part of.

And I just got to a point where I realized that I fully defined myself by who welcomed me

into their life.

I fully defined myself by how others saw me and what kind of worth they saw in me.

And the time that I fully understood that was when I would feel, I'd go

through moments where I would feel empty on the inside every time someone walked away from my life

or every time there was an opportunity that I really wanted and I couldn't get, I would feel that

...