How Moving to Canada Helped Me Find Confidence
By: Mona Khatib
They say moving to a new country is like starting a new chapter. But for me, it felt like dropping the book I had been reading my whole life and picking up a new one. I moved to Canada thinking I was just changing locations and my biggest concern was adapting to the weather or making new friends. What I didn’t expect was that I’d be changing myself—the way I carried myself, the way I saw my body, and most importantly, the way I trusted myself.
When I first arrived, I wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence. Back home, I had been used to a world where you had to look, act, and be a certain way to be seen as "put together." There was a formula for everything: how you spoke, how you dressed, how you presented yourself. Perfection was the standard. But suddenly, I was in a place where people valued individuality and authenticity more than fitting a mold. At first, I struggled with that shift. I overanalyzed everything I said and did, worried that I’d make a mistake or embarrass myself. But over time, I realized that people weren’t judging me as harshly as I was judging myself.
To push myself, I threw myself into the deep end, taking on jobs that forced me to talk to people, take initiative, and (gasp!) put my ideas out there. At Formula 1 in Montreal, I had to handle guests, solve problems on the spot, and smile through chaos—all while looking professional. At Pet Valu, I had to interact with customers, process transactions, and make quick decisions.
And then there was GWIL.
In my first year, I joined GWIL as a Brand Ambassador, mostly because I wanted to meet new people, but also because I was drawn to the idea of being in a room full of women who were unapologetically ambitious. At first, I was intimidated. I sat in those early meetings watching women speak with certainty, networking like it was second nature, and talking about their career goals as if they were already halfway there. Meanwhile, I was still overthinking how to introduce myself. But slowly, something shifted. I started attending events, putting myself in conversations, realizing that no one had it all figured out, we were all just figuring it out together. By my second year, I had gone from listening quietly to leading the conversations. I became Human Resources Manager, overseeing recruitment, running meetings, and making sure that the next generation of women in the club felt as supported as I once was when I first joined the team. It was a full-circle moment—the kind of growth you don’t notice until you’re already standing on the other side. I am forever grateful for that experience.
Of course, confidence isn’t just about work—it’s also about how you feel when you look in the mirror. Back home, I had grown up with very specific ideas of what beauty was supposed to look like. And like a lot of people, I often felt like I didn’t quite fit those standards. But Canada introduced me to a different way of thinking. Here, self-expression was celebrated, and beauty came in all forms. It was the first time I let go of the idea that I had to look a certain way and instead focused on feeling comfortable in my own skin. I started dressing for myself, stopped picking apart every small insecurity, and began appreciating the things that made me unique. It was a slow shift, but over time, I realized that confidence wasn’t about changing myself to fit an expectation. It was about learning to like myself as I am, not because it was perfect, but because it was mine.
Somewhere between the late-night study sessions, marketing campaigns, job shifts, and meetings, I realized something:
Confidence isn’t about being fearless. It’s about feeling the fear and showing up anyway.
Now, I speak up without second-guessing myself and take on challenges knowing that I’ll figure things out along the way. Moving didn’t just teach me how to adapt—it taught me how to believe in myself. And if you ask me, that’s the best change I could have hoped for.
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