Paula Out of Africa, Part 3: Hurghada and Why You Should Stop Postponing Your Joy
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Hurghada became one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. Between standing in the Red Sea, saying yes to a flying dress photo shoot, and dancing in the middle of an Eid al-Adha celebration, I was reminded how joyful life can be when you stop trying to optimize every moment and simply allow yourself to experience it.
As high achievers, we are often quick to postpone joy until after the next promotion, project, or busy season. We make plenty of room in our personal brands for expertise and accomplishment, while forgetting that people also remember our energy and how we made them feel. Joy belongs there too.
In Part 3 of my Paula Out of Africa series, I’m taking you with me to Hurghada and sharing what this part of the trip taught me about being fully present in your own life. I’ll also tell you about the unexpected conversation that reminded me how much we have in common, even when our lives look completely different.
Chapters
1:13 – Why joy belongs in your personal brand alongside expertise and executive presence
2:47 – How arriving in Hurghada changed the pace of Paula’s Africa trip
5:56 – A flying dress photo shoot by the Red Sea and the power of giving yourself permission to play
8:15 – Experiencing Hurghada during Eid al-Adha and seeing the city beyond the resort
10:31 – Why permission, more than confidence, helps Paula participate fully in her life
12:30 – What a conversation with a shopkeeper revealed about career pivots, resilience, and identity
15:00 – Trusting a stranger’s advice and finding another spiritual moment in Hurghada
16:53 – Why high achievers need to stop postponing joy until someday
Mentioned In Paula Out of Africa, Part 3: Hurghada and Why You Should Stop Postponing Your Joy
Paula Out of Africa, Part 1: Kenya, Wonder, and the Brand You’re Becoming
Paula Out of Africa, Part 2: Egypt and What Your Personal Brand Preserves
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This episode is brought to you by PGE Consulting Group LLC.
PGE Consulting Group LLC empowers individuals and organizations to lead with purpose, presence, and impact. Specializing in leadership development and personal branding, we offer keynotes, custom programming, consulting, and strategic advising—all designed to elevate influence and performance at every level.
Founded and led by Paula Edgar, our work centers on practical strategies that enhance professional development, strengthen workplace culture, and drive meaningful, measurable change.
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Transcript
Paula Edgar: Welcome to Branding Room Only, the podcast where your personal brand gets a front row seat. I'm Paula Edgar and if you're here, it's because you know your brand isn't just about what you do, it's about how people experience you. In each episode, you'll hear stories, strategies and lessons from leaders and influencers who built their brands and made their mark. And I'll share the tools you need to do the same.
Let's go. Hi, everybody, and welcome back to Branding Room Only. It is your girl, Paula and this is part three of my Paula Out of Africa series. And before I jump into telling you about that part of the trip, I want to share something I've realized as I've been reflecting on the trip. Every destination gave me a different gift. So Kenya reminded me to slow down. It reminded me how much I needed wonder in my life and how healing it can be to simply stand still long enough to appreciate the beauty around you. Cairo challenged me to think about legacy and history and the stories that we're intentionally leaving behind. And then there was Hurghada, which I'll tell you more about in a minute. Hurghada gave me joy and it's not the kind of joy that's loud or performative or manufactured for social media. I'm talking about the kind of joy that sneaks up on you when you're fully present, surrounded by people you enjoy, with nowhere you have to be and nothing you have to prove. And the more I've thought about it, I've realized that joy belongs in our personal brands. I know it's a part of mine, but I want to make sure that you all are also thinking about things, other than what we often talk about. We talk about expertise, accomplishments, credentials, our LinkedIn profile, executive presence and definitely how we show up at work. And those things absolutely matter.
But I want to make sure that you remember, you don't want to just think about what you do. You want to also think about how you make people feel, because that's a part of your brand as well as a part of how people experience you. They remember your energy. They remember whether you brought curiosity into a room, whether you were generous, whether you made them laugh, or whether you were happy to be there. And so, you know, because most of us listening and me included, obviously, are, you know, ambitious, in terms of our career intent. We think only about those core things and not about joy. So I want us to take ourselves a little less seriously and dial down some of the core things and just remember the joy. Remember to focus on the joy. All right, so I wanted to take a side trip on that one, and now I'm going to talk about Hurghada.
So when we left Cairo and flew to Hurghada, I could immediately feel that the trip, the rhythm was changing. It was slowing down. Hurghada is a city that's by the Red Sea. And you know, Cairo was energetic and bustling and it was traffic and people and museums and monuments, et cetera. And my brain was like on one, processing everything that I was seeing. But Hurghada felt like it was the first time I was taking a deep breath. So let me tell you about it. So we checked into this beautiful all-inclusive resort overlooking the Red Sea. And from the moment that we arrived, I knew that this part of the journey was not going to be just checking another destination off of a list. It was intentionally designed, again, for us to slow down, to rest and to spend time together and just enjoy ourselves. And I have to tell you, I think too many of us have forgotten how to do that. And I included myself in that too, because we focus so much on productivity that we feel guilty when we are resting. And we shouldn't, right? We should be thoughtful about our achievements, but also we should be thoughtful about our rest. It's why I do my summer sabbatical, to intentionally focus on rest.
So. One of the first things that I did when we got to Hurghada was I walked down to the water. And if you know me, I love a beach. I love looking at the ocean. I love hearing the waves. And I love taking pictures, obviously, by the water. But I am not a swimmer. Let's be clear about that. But I knew I had to go down to the Red Sea, because it wasn't just another beach or body of water to me. This was the Red Sea. The Red Sea, the place that so many of us have heard about throughout our lives. And I was sitting there thinking, I feel so connected to the stories of faith and perseverance and miracles. So standing there, I found myself doing exactly what I had done throughout the trip, whenever I found myself somewhere that felt spiritually significant. I prayed. I prayed for my husband, my children, my father, my family, my friends, my cousins, the people who I mentor. And I prayed for the people who asked me to pray for them before I left. And of course, I prayed for all of you. There was something about standing there with my feet in the water that made those prayers feel especially meaningful.
I remember laughing to myself, because somewhere in the back of my mind, I half expected something dramatic to happen when I stepped into the Red Sea. Fear not, nothing happened, but the water was cold. The shoreline was rockier than I expected. The sea did not part. But it was really one of the most peaceful moments of the entire trip. I think because I wasn't asking anything of the moment. I was simply allowing myself to experience it. That has been like really a recurring lesson for me this year. Not every meaningful experience has to produce something, right? Not every beautiful moment has to become content, although this did. Not every trip has to become a business opportunity, although thankfully it often does. Sometimes an experience can simply just be a gift. And I think that's something that we all need to hear. So, later that afternoon, we were relaxing by the beach and one of the resort photographers came over and asked if any one of us wanted to do a flying dress photo shoot. Now, y'all know me, you already knew my answer. Absolutely. I had done a flying dress photo shoot in Barbados and I couldn't think of anything better than wanting to do one here, in Hurghada by the Red Sea.
You know, my dad's a photographer. I've always loved photography. And over the years, I've told you over and over again, I've never apologized for it. But people assume that because I enjoy photos, it's only about social media. Like, it's not. Photography is one of the ways I document my life. Photos for me are memories. So, you know, some people journal, some people scrapbook. I take photos. And years from now, I'll be able to look at these photos and remember exactly how I felt standing there. So that's why I wanted to do the photo shoot. Then my friend said she'd do it as well, then another friend, and before we knew it, six of us had signed up to do this. And watching that happen made me smile, because it's exactly how joy works, right? Joy is contagious. One person says yes, then somebody else says yes and then all of a sudden we are laughing, encouraging each other, fixing each other's dresses, taking like behind-the-scenes pictures and then creating memories together. And it wasn't about the dresses, although it was about the dresses. It wasn't just about getting a perfect picture, although the pictures are pretty perfect.
It was about giving ourselves permission to play and to be joyful together and to document a wonderful experience. When was the last time you did something simply because it was fun? Not because it was career oriented, or it would make you money, or it would look impressive. When was the last time just to bring you joy? Of course, I chose red. It was between red and purple, but I chose red. It was something about wanting to be there, standing on the shore of the Red Sea, wearing a beautiful flowing red dress while the wind caught the fabric behind me. It felt symbolic. I can't fully explain it. It just felt right. It felt, again, joyful and free. You got to go check out the pictures in the show notes, because they're wonderful. I know that I keep saying it, the thing I think about this part of the trip was I was gleeful almost with joy. Anyway, so that evening we decided to leave the resort and head into Hurghada itself. And I'm so glad we did, because what we experienced there became one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. So, you know, I love a beach resort probably as much as anybody. Give me a beach chair, like a good view, something to sit on and I am perfectly happy.
But one thing I've learned about myself over the years is that I don't travel around the world just to stay inside of a resort. I like to be able to meet people, to walk in the streets, to hear the sounds, to smell and taste the food. And I want to see how people live, right? I studied anthropology in school and I want to experience cultures, not just observe it from behind big gates, or just sitting in a lounge chair, although there's a lot of lounge chairs. So that evening, we signed up for an excursion into the city and I'm so glad we did because, as it turned out, we arrived during Eid al-Adha, which is the festival of sacrifice and one of the most important holidays in the Islamic faith. And so the city was alive. It was popping. There were families out together. The children were dressed in beautiful clothes. There were lights everywhere, like decorations hanging, streets, music was playing and there was this, like, incredible sense of celebration from the moment we stepped off the bus. And I love moments like that, because you're not seeing a destination that's been curated for tourists. You are seeing people living their lives, witnessing a celebration that would have happened whether or not we were there or not.
And to me, that's one of the greatest gifts of travel as well. Not just checking landmarks off of a list, but seeing humanity. So as we walked through the streets, there was so much happening. I found myself wanting to look in every direction at once. There were vendors calling out to people. Families were laughing. Children were running around with that kind of like uninhibited joy that kids have. And every few steps, there was something new to discover. Then at one point, somebody dressed up in costume for the celebration, because there was like a little parade going, stopped in front of our group and started dancing. And, well, you already know what happened. I was dancing back. And thankfully my friend captured that, so I'll include that picture, too. It wasn't even a decision to make. It's simply who I am. People sometimes ask me where my confidence comes from and I don't think it's just confidence. I think it is permission. I have given myself permission to participate fully in my own life. I have given myself permission to stop worrying about whether I look silly, or whether someone is judging me, because I have given myself permission to experience joy. Now, that doesn't mean I'm fearless. When it comes to dancing, I'm fearless. But otherwise, I am not fearless.
But it means that I have decided that the memory is worth more than my momentarily having any self-consciousness. And that's one of the biggest things that has changed in my life as I have grown in my profession. Because my brand is connected to that authenticity, to my joy, and to being one of the people who was going to say yes. So you should know if we're hanging out and music starts, I'm probably going to be dancing. And if somebody invites me into the experience, I'm definitely going to be saying yes, because one, yes, I do like being the center of attention, but I also like to have fun. And so, moving on. We continued walking through the city and then stopping in little shops and getting snacks and ice cream and then talking with vendors. Egypt has this hustler, entrepreneurial spirit. I think that's probably why I connect to it so much. I love it. You heard me speak, you've been to my website, you know one of my favorite phrases and my business tagline is Engage Your Hustle. Let me tell you. The hustle is alive and well in Hurghada as well. Everybody was selling something. They had spices, scarves, magnets, jewelry, perfume, T-shirts, souvenirs.
And some people might find that overwhelming, but I admired it so much. I admire people who are willing and want to work, who are creative, who are resilient. There was one conversation that I had in the shop that we went to that I loved so much. They had so many things in there. I was talking with one of the shopkeepers there and he was asking me what we all did for a living. And I told him that we were lawyers. And he smiled and said, I'm a lawyer, too. And I was like, aha ha ha, I thought he was joking, but he wasn't. He explained to me that after covid, tourism had slowed down dramatically and the economy had changed. And so he had taken whatever work he could do to support his family. And, you know, like hearing him talk about that, it really stopped me in my tracks. Like here we were, two lawyers on opposite sides of the world, or from opposite sides of the world, on the same side, whose lives looked completely different. But I understood exactly what he meant. Because sometimes, lots of times, life asks you to pivot.
Sometimes your identity has to become bigger than your job title. And sometimes, all the time, resilience means doing work that's available while keeping your dignity intact. And I think as entrepreneurs and particularly in the conversation around branding, we need to understand that better than most, right? There are seasons when I'm speaking every week. There are seasons when I'm building behind the scenes. And there are times when you have to reinvent yourself and none of those seasons or pivots diminish who you are, right? They simply become a part of your story, a part of your brain, a part of your resilience. And so I love that he shared that with me. I love that we could have that connection. And I left that conversation with a few souvenirs, just a little bit, but I also left with a renewed respect for adaptability. Maya Angelou, again, shout out to her, famously said that we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike. And as someone who has worked in diversity and inclusion and talks a lot in my sessions about bias and the impact of bias and the need for us to be more thoughtful and inclusive, we need to be thinking about how more alike we are. And this travel has a way of reminding you of that, right? That no matter where we come from, most of us are trying to do the same things, right? We are trying to take care of the people we love, to build something meaningful, to create and have opportunities and hopefully to leave things a little bit better than we have found them.
So, as we continued along, we came across this beautifully decked out camel. So I had seen camels earlier in the trip when we visited the pyramids, but I never actually rode one. And this time I did not want to let the opportunity pass me by, so I, you know, the young man was there, he was caring for the camel. And he said, climb up and sit on its neck. And I was like, on its neck? Like, aren't you supposed to sit in the humps? And so I was like, sir? And he said, this is exactly what you needed to do, sit on the camel's neck. So I trusted him, because travel tells you to trust people when you don't know something and they probably do. So I got the picture. And basically, he was saying that, you know, when getting up on a camel can be unstable, because everything going on, he didn't think it was safe for me to get up. And so I'm fine. But the picture, which you'll see in the show notes, is very cute. And I love the camel. And it smells good, actually, too, which is odd. Anyway, one of the last stops that evening was a mosque. And I don't even know if the photograph is going to capture how beautiful it actually was. The architecture of this building was stunning. The lights seemed to make the entire building glow against the night sky and there was a quiet hush, even though we were in the middle of this big celebration as soon as we got there. We didn't go inside. We just stood outside and took pictures.
But again, it was a spiritual moment for me, too, because each destination that we had been to, I experienced that spirituality differently. Kenya, Cairo, of course the Red Sea and then this mosque, right? Different traditions, different histories, different expressions of faith, but every experience pointed towards something that's larger than ourselves. And that idea stayed with me. And I've been thinking back to Hurghada, like now doing this podcast for y'all, the camel ride and the flying dress photo, even putting my feet in the Red Sea was not what changed me the most. It was remembering how joyful life can be when you stop trying to optimize, or as my therapist would say, control every single moment. When you stop asking, what is the most productive thing I could be doing right now? And instead, ask what would make this moment meaningful. Stop and take a moment to experience joy. We have to, as high achievers, stop postponing joy. Don't say we're going to celebrate after the promotion. We're going to travel after this project. We're going to wear this dress after we lose 10 pounds. We're going to rest after this busy season.
The problem is that all of those wins may not happen, so that joy needs to become a decision. One of the greatest gifts that this trip gave me was permission to stop treating joy like something I had to earn. Or reminding me, because I don't need permission. I already know this. Joy is not the reward for building a meaningful life. It's part of building one and it's a part of your brand as well. As I go back thinking about the entire journey and there's one more part of this that you'll get a chance to hear about, I really, really, really loved this trip. I loved saying yes to experiences that will remind me years into the future just how extraordinary this world really is. So please, if you can, take the trip. Wear the dress. Dance anyway. Pray by the water, talk to a stranger and of course, take the picture. Your personal brand is not simply what you've accomplished. It is the life you've chosen to live. So thank you for joining me for part three of Paula Outta Africa. In the final episode of this series, we're going to be heading to Luxor in the Valley of Kings, where... That lesson is the one I think is going to sit and hit in ways that I didn't expect, I know even experiencing it and I hope for you hearing about it. Until next time, hakuna matata, y'all. See you next time in the Branding Room. Stand by your brand.
That's it for this episode. I appreciate you hanging out with me on Branding Room Only. Now, please do me a quick favor. Head over to ratethispodcast.com/branding, so more people can join this conversation. And make sure to stop by PaulaEdgar.com/events to see what's next. Whether I'm live, online or in person, I'd love to see you there. See you next time in the Branding Room.
And until then, stand tall, shine bright, and always stand by your brand.
