beach – NINA SADLOWSKY

Life is a mental challenge

If you follow me on social media, you will know that I spent a week in Fort Myers, Florida, to be coached by JT FOXX, the world’s #1 wealth coach. The programme that I’m currently doing is called Top 1% coaching, which includes a 3-day coaching training at one of JT Foxx’s houses and I chose to go to Florida. The house was all about creating an experience for all participants and working on a strategic level. I will also have a 4-day coaching training in Munich at the end of November, where the focus will be more on the implementation and execution of the strategic aspects discussed in Florida.

But first things first: I arrived a couple of days before the training started and spent one day in Naples, about an hour’s ride away from my hotel in Fort Myers. I absolutely loved the vibe of that town, everything was pretty, I loved the wide streets surrounded by palm trees and the way towards the beach was getting more and more beautiful. If it hasn’t become clear by now, let me tell you just how much I love the beach & the ocean. I’m sure in my previous life I lived by the beach, because otherwise I really cannot explain myself this strong sense of coming home.

My breath slows down, time stands still and I’m filled up with a flood of happiness.

The next day I went down to reception wearing my wristbands and instantly of course another woman recognised them which meant we got talking right away. Nice start! We – a group of approx. 40 people – were picked up at the hotel and taken to JT’s house. Conversations in the lobby were already on a high and they continued up until the coaching started at JT’s house at 9am.

Life is a mental challenge.

My biggest takeaway was that life is a mental challenge. I hold the power to train my mind to be a successful mind. And so do you. If you want to live a successful life and be happy from within, you better have the right mindset. In JT’s coaching the most important points repeatedly popped up, which I’m going to share with you here for your personal growth.

No excuses. The less excuses you make, the more success you will have. If you come up wth excuses, question them. Ask yourself, why you bring this up, are you scared of that next step? What exactly are you scared of? Or is this actually not important enough and that’s why you are not getting it done? At the end of the day, you will get it done, if you really want to do it. You will find a way to make it happen. If not, don’t bother and don’t spend time on it. I can so relate to that. I regularly find myself making excuses, but most importantly I notice it and I act on it, one way or another.
Trust, but verify. I’d like to say, trust and verify. No matter if in private or in business, ensure that you trust the people around you and that you verify the information you get from others. As I explain in another blog post, everyone sees the world through their lens, hence the perception of realities differ and consequently, so do information that are being passed on to you. So, in addition to trusting the person providing you with info, why not checking and verifying for yourself? Knowing that everyone applies their own filter. Just think numbers, gossip, recommendations, etc.
Be positive. That’s one of my favourites. When comparing my today’s self to my younger self, then I can proudly say that I’ve made a massive shift towards positivity. Whilst in the past I might have been caught up in some (mental) drama, I now avoid the drama and focus on positivity instead. I also noticed it’s because I don’t have time for drama anymore, I don’t have time for bullshitting anymore and I also noticed it is a waste of time. Dear readers, if you do resonate with this paragraph, I ask you to watch yourself. You have to understand that living a positive life is your decision just like happiness is. So, ask yourself and answer honestly: Who am I? Who do I want to become? What are my values in each area of my life?

Happiness by choice.

If you’ve been following my work regularly, then you’ll know that I truly believe that happiness is a choice. I can choose happiness every day. I did it, I do it and I am doing it.

What do you choose?

Yours, Nina

PS: There are only 2 spots left in my upcoming 3 hours workshop Feel Understand Heal #2 in Munich, on 19th September at 6.30pm. Details, booking & payment here.

Beach, Buggy, Brazil

As the year 2017 is coming to an end, I had a look back at all the beautiful moments I have been lucky enough to experience. One of these moments or experiences was my holiday in Brazil in October 2017. It has only been two months and yet, it feels like a long time ago. Hence, this is a good time to relive my travels through Brazil and today I write about my 1st stop, which was Jericoacoara. Jeri (as everyone calls it) is a small fishing village located around 300km west of Fortaleza. I flew into Fortaleza airport around 5.30pm and luckily my friend had already organised a driver to take us to Jeri directly. We were torn between going directly which was another 4.5 drive to Jeri or staying one night in Fortaleza. We decided to head to Jeri straight away despite being extremely tired. Luckily, our driver was already waiting for us outside the airport. He, the driver, was Portuguese, and his partner was a lovely Brazilian woman (Danielle). Together we drove close to 5 hours to the kitesurfing mecca in Ceará, Brazil. Before you leave the airport, ensure to take enough money out of the cash machine, as there aren’t any in Jeri.

The roads seemed fine at first, but as we drove out of town, the roads got bumpy. Talking about bumps, they love street bumps in order to avoid speeding. My friend and me were fully knackered, so we would wake up with each and every bump, but directly fall back asleep again. If you organise a driver, I highly recommend to get a 4×4 wheel. We booked via the Facebook group ‘Car Share Jericoacoara’ and there through Danielle Freitas. You won’t understand the need of a 4×4 until you arrive into Jeri, an idyllic place full of sand.

We eventually arrived at our lovely Pousada Vila Bela Vista around midnight and were simply grateful to have a full week ahead of us. Just so you know, most travellers are deciding to stay for longer than they had originally planned. Just because it is lovely.

The next morning, I woke up at 7.30am and my friend and me headed for breakfast in the beautiful garden of the pousada. Oh, how I love being served breakfast. The coffee was strong and really good. The reviews on booking.com did not over-promise. We decided to use the first day as jet lag compensation, sunbathing and relaxing day. Already on our first evening, we get in touch with a German guy (who happened to be a friend of a friend…such a small world) and we had dinner all together. We mentioned we are interested in kitesurfing and so an hour later we had the owner Marko of a kite surf station joining us for dinner. We ate at Serafim by the way and I can definitely recommend the tuna there. After clarifying details regarding the school, the spot, transport and prices, we decided for Marko and his team from Blu Kiteschool Jericoacoara. 1st session planned for the next day, pick up at 10am at our pousada.

Wow, I was so excited and a bit nervous, as I haven’t been kitesurfing for 4 years (apart from once in September in Austria). But I hoped it would be just like ice-skating or cycling that I would not forget. We headed to the beautiful beach of Prea with a cool sand buggy. Already the drive to the kite surf station was so much fun and so enjoyable, that I simply felt happy, free and alive.

My kite surf instructor was from South Africa, patient, fun and motivating. We revised a few things regarding safety, but then I just grabbed my board and said I wanted to surf, which I did and the first water start worked. Yes! I was so happy and pleased. My instructor gave me suggestions on how to improve my techniques and I was quickly able to do upwind even more. The next days we continued working on my techniques including transitions. I really enjoyed kitesurfing again despite the muscle ache after the first two days. I was out in the sea for 2-3 hours for each session and I just loved the breeze (haha which you need for kiting), the sun, the water, the physical activity, the atmosphere at the kite surf station and all the lovely people I met. Each person interesting, kind and talkative. This is the perfect example of how a passion connects people. Beautiful.

Passion connects people.

One afternoon, Marko took pics of everyone kitesurfing and he got some great shots of me. I’m still waiting for him to send them to me, hence the image featured is still at the station. But it perfectly shows my happiness feeling despite my similarities with Calimero.

I also headed to a yoga class one evening. I couldn’t find anything on the internet really, but our reception gave me the number of a yoga teacher named Maria. You can contact her on Whats App +34 610 68 10 41. She taught at another hotel called Pousada do Renata, which was approximately an 8min walk from our pousada. I was so much looking forward to my yoga practice. And I was not disappointed. Maria was from Galicia, she was very sweet and did great corrections. All in all, a challenging and great Vinyasa Flow class for approx. 12 USD (90 minutes).

Tipps where to go:

If you go to Jeri, ensure to have sundowner at ClubVentos just by the beach. They have a great offer on ice cool beers, enjoy.

Also, I recommend you to go to Hotel Hurricane to see the sunset from the rooftop terrace. Be there for 5pm, as otherwise they won’t let you up anymore. On Fridays, there is a great live band playing and the atmosphere is just amazing. Loved it up there.

Did I already mention that I’m addicted to Acai bowls? If not, now you know it. We went to SOS Acai many times and it is simply awesome, as you can choose your toppings and then the bowl is weighed at the cash desk. This place only opens at 4pm… to avoid disappointment. For me, it was the perfect energy snack after a day of kitesurfing.

If you fancy Sushi, look no further than Kaze. Go to the one next to the Hurricane hotel, as again they have a cool rooftop. I think I notice a pattern of rooftop love, whilst writing this.

Another place I really liked was EAT, a burger bar all outdoors. The burgers were fab, ideally try the trial of 3 small burgers, in case you are indecisive just like I am with food.

I wish I could go back right now. Jeri is really an idyllic place to stay in, great food, nice bars and restaurants, a fab place for kitesurfing (we had wind every day), lovely hotels with hammocks to relax in, and the best of all, you just need flip flops (or your bare feet) to get around.

If you have any questions regarding Jeri, get in touch with me through a Pink Note. Otherwise just explore and enjoy!

Yours, Nina

Reason why

You might wonder why I started this blog.

I first had the idea to write a blog on 30th December 2014 after my 10-year relationship ended. I instantly knew that I needed a holiday. It needed to be a destination far away, a country I have not been to before, and I needed to do this on my own.

I decided to travel to beautiful Mauritius, setting off to new shores. Two days into this friendly and peaceful environment, I thought, sitting by the beach, that this is the perfect opportunity to start writing. About how, for the first time, I travelled completely on my own, to capture all amazing moments in pictures & words and to heal, day by day, week by week.

Fast-forwarding to my return to London 2 weeks later, I realised that everything I wrote into my notebook felt way too personal and intimate, that I wasn’t ready to share this yet.

Turns out the reason was I indeed wasn’t ready. Life held bigger plans for me. As you might know, we always get exactly what we can handle, not less, not more. Very obviously I was able to handle way more.

In June 2015 I got together with my new boyfriend. Yes, it was a rather short single break, but sometimes things simply happen and I just felt in flow.

It has been my dream to travel through Latin America since age 17 and when we both quit our jobs, I knew I had to finally make my dream come true. So, we decided to go on this adventure together, 4 months of travelling, from 5th June until 25th September 2016.

Jumping to end of August 2016, our relationship ended between Peru and Bolivia. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. But I was shocked. Another break up in such a short period of time? In South America? Really? In my head, I already titled this experience, which felt like the stupidest movie ever “Nina left in the middle of nowhere”.

Despite all confusion and heartache at the time, I heard my heart talking to me very clearly. It said that I should keep following my dream, that I should continue my travels, that I shouldn’t give up and that life holds so much more for me.

Fast-forwarding to Santiago de Chile in September 2016. I sat in my apartment planning the next stops in Argentina, when it suddenly hit me that my return flight was only 2 weeks away. I felt nervous, yet calm at the same time, a feeling hard to describe. And yet again, I knew the answer. The answer was already within me. My heart told me to extend my journey, to give myself more time to digest, to continue my healing process and to figure out the next step (moving back to London which had been my home for 4.5 years or back to Munich, my hometown).

So, I re-arranged my flights to give myself more time in Chile and Argentina plus I built in another month in Mexico. Fast forwarding to the end of October in Tulum I was fully relaxed, peaceful and in a very happy place, when I suddenly pictured Munich. And I knew this is it, this is my next step. Tulum has become my magical place. It forms the origin of my spiritual journey, of self-love and personal development and hence deserves the first entry on my blog.

In this very moment, I also knew that I wanted to share my experience of travelling, yoga and how I started my healing process with as many people as possible. So here I am.

You are my reason why.