In talking to the Middle East Institute about Syria ten years after the Arab Spring, I told Alistair Taylor that had the negative personal impacts of the uprising over the past ten years occurred over a few days or weeks instead, I'm quite sure I would've gone insane.

That's the power of expectations. The signs early on and the brutal response of the Syrian regime to our peaceful protests were enough indications that what was coming next was going to be painful!

Yet on balance I'm still positive and optimistic. I explain why in the podcast.