Conversation #41 - Mike Karame | Passion, Freedom, and Who You Are When You Lose Everything

Mike Karame was a lawyer in Lebanon, living up to his father’s expectations, when he watched a fly sit still on a courtroom window and felt a peace he wanted more of. That moment pulled him toward nature and, in time, out of the law altogether.

He built a horse club, became the only kitesurfing instructor in Lebanon, and made a living doing what he loved. Flying stayed personal. He initially refused to become an instructor because he wanted to keep it as his own “mistress.” For 30 years he lived a life of adventure, including flights over the Swiss and French Alps, while deliberately avoiding commitments like relationships and children.

At 48 he moved to Australia to build the same kind of life. Then his business partner disappeared, leaving him with overwhelming debt. Three years of struggle later, he had lost the business and everything he owned, including his house and life savings. Mike talks about what was left of him when everything he had built was gone, and what he learned about the layers of identity beneath the surface ones. That experience became his memoir, How to Lose a Life You Love.

Chris and Mike turn that story into a conversation about passion, freedom, and fear. Mike explains why real passions stay with you for life while hobbies come and go, why so many people bury their natural skills under what society expects, and why he measures success by following his heart instead of money or status. They also get into what to do when you feel trapped in a job by financial responsibilities, and why finding the root cause of the misery matters more than a quick fix. Both men paraglide, so they swap stories from SIV courses, including Mike’s full stall in France, and talk about how facing fear builds confidence.

If you have ever wondered whether you are living the life you chose or the one you were expected to live, Mike has been on both sides of that question.

Connect with Mike Karame Website: https://mikekarame.com Book, How to Lose a Life You Love: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCHGZR6B Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/mikekarame Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mike_karame Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mohammad.karame LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-karame-541a66b9 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MikeKarame TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mikekarame

Connect with Motivated Masculine Men Website: www.motivatedmasculinemen.com Email: [email protected] If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, or know someone who would be a great fit, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch by email.

What You’ll Learn In this conversation you’ll learn: ​How a fly on a courtroom window led Mike to walk away from a career in law ​Why he refused to turn flying into a job at first, and how he still made a living from horses and kitesurfing ​How rebelling against society’s “shoulds” can mature into real freedom ​Why Mike defines success as following your heart and pursuing freedom and adventure, not money or status ​How to tell a true passion from a hobby, and why real passions stay with you for life ​Why people bury their natural skills under social conditioning, and why it is never too late to find them ​What happened when a business partner disappeared in Australia and Mike lost his business, house, and life savings ​What losing everything taught him about the layers of identity beneath the surface ones, and how that became his memoir ​Why finding the root cause of misery matters more than a quick fix like a new job when you feel trapped ​Why inner change has to come before outer circumstances improve ​How facing fear, including a full stall in a paragliding SIV course, builds confidence and opens the way to love, passion, and abundance ​How passions like paragliding and motorcycling can work as meditation and bring you into the present moment