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Beautiful Buenos Aires & Other Favorites

We’re back with round two for Alyssa Richter, a fellow nomad and world traveller. After having given us useful tips and lessons learned from life on the road, we decided to check in to learn more about her favourite experiences as a traveller. Enjoy!

As someone who is constantly on the road, we are curious to know which place or places have had the greatest impact on your personal development and why?
Choosing to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina and then slowly travel around the entire country was one of the best decisions I made for my life. I moved to Buenos Aires just two months after graduating from university. The city had had this image in my mind as a romantic and electric cosmopolitan city where I would start off as a post-grad nomad. 

Being that it was the first and last stop of my trek through lower South America, it’s solidified as a place where I found peace and vigor to keep working hard. Between leaving and returning to the city, I grew up a lot, making peace with parts of myself and my past that had yet to be reconciled with. 

And while in the city, I worked hard to figure out how I wanted to make this fit into the bigger picture of my life. I met like-minded go-getters who inspired and comforted me in knowing that I’m not alone in this search for a more impactful life. Without the idea of a life in Buenos Aires, I never would have ventured off to that part of the world and wouldn’t be writing about my experiences today. 

People have asked me if I fell in love in the city because of how fondly I talk about it. You might say that in falling in love with the city, I fell back in love with my life.

Which city or cities are your favorite and why? 
Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro both have my heart! They both have incredible energies that pull someone in and make it hard to leave. I’m a big fan of music and love to have variety in finding things to do. In Buenos Aires, there’s something different happening every night. The city seems to thrive on a prominent music culture that keeps its’ people dancing well into dawn. The European-style architecture only adds to the romantic charm of the city while melding seamlessly with modern street art and electric style.

While Buenos Aires lives for the night, Rio de Janeiro thrives in the day. The iconic, sun-splashed beaches and jungled mountains that lie scattered throughout the city are some of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. To me, it feels like there’s infectious, happy energy flowing through the city and its people. The laid back, blissful nature contrasts with rhythmic chaos in a way that it seems only Rio can harmoniously achieve. The ever-present music culture differs tremendously from Buenos Aires but doesn’t fail to keep you on your feet as you try and keep up with the rapid Samba steps. 

What are your best travelling memories so far? 
There are too many to count, so I’ll share one that really sticks out whenever I think back on my favourite adventures: 

When my mom came to visit me down on the Southern Hemisphere, we hiked around Torres del Paine, Chile. The park is famous for three flat-faced rocks that jut into the sky like towers. We woke up at 5 o’clock in the morning when the light of dawn was just starting to crack through the night. Instead of camping in the park, we would take a bus back to a hostel we stayed at in a nearby town, so we would have to hike up and down the mountain in time to catch the last bus out of the park. The path is pretty strenuous, with a good amount of rock scaling towards the end. We wanted enough time to enjoy the view at the top, so my mom and I set a quick pace that made our muscles burn for the rest of the week. But this made the end result so much more worth it. 

To see the Torres del Paine stretched up behind a green, glacier-made lake is a sight that will not soon leave my memories. The raw, natural beauty of the mountains almost hurt to stare at. For a moment, I was overcome by the endorphins and an existential sense of awe at how lucky I was to get to see that. Being that I shared the experience with one of my favourite hiking partners makes the memory even more special. 

After nearly running down the mountain to catch the last shuttle out of the park, my mom and I collapsed from exhaustion into our seats. While my mom slept, I stared out the window to watch the Torres del Paine envelop into the horizon. As the sunset, the sky melded into brilliant hues of fiery orange and soft pink, illuminating the landscape in an otherworldly beauty. The hazed mountains beckoned against the horizon before disappearing into the sunset.

What has been the most fascinating thing(s) with your lifestyle so far?
The people that I’ve met since starting out on this journey have been some of the best parts about choosing this lifestyle. Of course, travelling around the world and having the opportunity to live in beautiful and different places brings about its own fascinating features. 

However, the adventurous people I meet along the way keep me convinced that this is a career worth pursuing. In each place that I go to, I’ve met some truly interesting people whose lives could each fill up a book of their own. They inspire me to keep striving forward and to maintain a good work ethic while indulging in life’s awaited adventures. Aside from fellow travellers embarking on their own trails, the locals of each community remind me of humanity’s connection. 

Despite all of the customs, cultures, and languages, people can connect in ways that feel entirely familiar. When it feels like everyone is divided up and sorted into labelled orders, this is one of the most fascinating and refreshing truths I get to encounter while living my lifestyle.

For more from Alyssa, visit adventureandalyssa.com.

Manifesting the nomadic lifestyle

Jordan Carroll had a mix of reasons for pursuing a nomadic lifestyle. He always had an intuitive and longstanding desire to grow and learn through travel, and often spoke about moving abroad “one day”. The idea stuck around in his subconscious, slowly surfacing during times of the year where we reanalyzed his career goals and lifestyle ambitions. He eventually reached a point where his hunger for freedom, both professional and personal, became insatiable. This, when paired with his passion for personal growth, made the nomadic lifestyle very appealing. In exploring this and truly getting out of his comfort zone, all while exposing himself to new cultures and ways of life, would lead to unprecedented growth, he reasoned.

Once the decision was made, how did he manifest it?

Well, it wasn’t easy, and it required a sequence of events to enable Jordan to go from idea to realization. First, he had to quit his corporate sales job of four years, which required him to physically visit with clients and customers, and report to an office. Next, after a turbulent time that included remotely running a small marketing firm and breaking up with his long-term girlfriend, he made the conscious decision to pursue a nomadic lifestyle at all costs, and without making any excuses. He got rid of his apartment, despite having five months left on his lease, thanks to flip. lease. A sign from the universe, he figured. Jordan then got rid of most of his stuff and put the rest with his parents in California. He then got a remote commission-based sales job and embarked on a journey that he is still on. Having now lived in 9 different countries, Jordan has found a way to live the life he truly wanted, and all while maintaining a career (different jobs) and a healthy, fulfilling lifestyle.



* this interview was initially conducted in 2019 and has since been edited.

If you’ve ever made an effort to work on your personal growth and development, you know that this pursuit is endless. Here are five of our recommendations for personal development books. 

Building healthy habits takes time and effort, which is why so few people are able to maintain it. This book outlines a system where you get one percent better every day, and slowly but surely build something better. 

According to the author, anxiety can be conceptualized as a habit, or worse, an addiction. When you look at it in such a light, the way to work with it becomes quite different from what one might think. This is a unique take. 

This book teaches you how to be kinder to yourself, and that’s pretty damn important for your physical and mental well-being, as well as the well-being of the people around you. Enough said. 

The approach of Susie Moore will make sense to some, and upset others. In this book, she argues that stress is self-induced, and can just as easily be replaced with positive inductions, like peace and power. She’s got the strategic methods to prove it in the book.

Humans tend to limit themselves with their beliefs, unintentionally robbing themselves of joy and creating needless suffering. The four agreements of Toltec Wisdom combats this, and Ruiz goes over each agreement in detail in the book. 

Five Self-Growth Books Worth Reading

You need to work on your ability to manage, use, and understand your emotions, and those of others. How do we know that? Because we all do. With balanced emotional intelligence, you can navigate through any personal, social, and professional situation with ease. It lets you develop positive affirmations, motivation, empathy, and reasoning capabilities. These traits are vital for your overall well-being, and these three free apps can help with that. 

This app allows you to note and track yoru emotions, thoughts, moods, and overall mental well-being. In short, the application uses a short daily survey to keep track of how you are doing. As with most other data-centric options, it gets better and more accurate with time, and will help you analyze your mental health and correlate mood changes. 

If you often have negative emotions this app is for you. The concept is centered around the ideology that there are six pillars of self-esteem, and that you can improve yours by mindfully working on one pillar each day. 

 The app uses a technique called sentence completion to attract positive affirmations and balance emotional intelligence, and many people swear by it. 

If you are looking for ways to relieve stress and elevate your overall mood, download Egao. The app is designed to put a smile on your face and attract positivity. We could explain the concept further, but you will get it within five seconds of downloading it. Do it, it’s well worth checking out, and serves as a reminder of the power of the smile. 

Free Emotional Intelligence Apps

While we have been pushing to grow the digital nomad community since 2018, we’ve seen a real upswing in 2021. With many people around the world being forced to work remotely, digital nomadic living has exploded, and it’s not industry specific. From finance to tech, and anything in between, more people than ever are pursuing the lifestyle. 

As a result, we have also seen an uptick in super-cool and slightly unusual alternatives to makeshift home offices and the neighborhood coffee shops. As more and more people say goodbye to cubicles, crammed elevators, and long commutes, the options for remote work are seemingly endless. Today, we look at three of them. 

By getting a Blueground Pass you are giving yourself the opportunity to live in nine different American cities, five in Europe, and one in the Middle East, all in 12 months. But unless you plan on hitting all of them, you’re faced with the daunting task of ranking places like Athens, Boston, Paris, and Dubai against each other. Picking and choosing may keep you up at night, but the move-in ready, professionally designed, and fully furnished dwellings that you will have at your disposal through the Blueground Pass should help.  

We are officially celebrating the one-year anniversary of Digital Nomads Madeira Islands, which was launched off the coast of Portugal in February of 2020. It’s the brainchild of Madeira’s regional government, Startup Madeira, and long-time remore worker, Gonçalo Hall. 

It’s more than just a good Wi-fi connection, though, and closer to a full-blown digital nomad community. That includes things like seminars, guided hikes, yoga classes, and other events that fits into their work-from-anywhere approach to having work-life balance. 

While their flexible-term leases, fully furnished apartments, and unique co-living spaces are available to anyone, the company has become increasingly popular with remote workers. 

If you are looking to settle down, but not for long, this is a great and flexible alternative. You have incredible destinations to choose from, from Buenos Aires to Miami, and can move around fairly freely thanks to flex leases. Thanks to Anyplace, we now have one more option to explore the world without interrupting our work schedule.

Flexible Living Options for Life on the Road

If you are a digital nomad, or have aspirations of becoming one, you may want to answer if Croatia comes calling. They opened the new Digital Nomad Valley Zadar in Bokir just a few months ago, and it’s a significant addition to the remote work ecosystem. 

The specialized village, which lays just a few minutes away from Zadar’s historic center, exclusively caters to digital nomads and international entrepreneurs. Whether you’re looking for luxurious mobile homes and beachside campsites, or a reliable WiFi connection and well-designed co-working spaces, you will find it here.

In terms of options, flexibility is at the heart of their offerings. You can stay alone or with others, and sign up for as short of a stay as two weeks. So far, rent is also proving to be significantly less than the typical accommodations in European countries. But affordable living and a village optimized for digital nomads aren’t the only perks – participants can also attend networking and social events organized by project administrators.  

If this sounds interesting, you may want to check out Croatia’s digital nomad visa scheme. It comes with very favorable terms, including a year-long stay and no requirements to pay income tax, and it’s available to travelers outside of the EU as well. 

Digital Nomad Village

No skiing, no problem. There are a ton of wonderful winter destinations that cater to all types of travelers, and many of them feature top tier adventure activities and world class accommodations. At these resorts, there are a whole host of happenings that are certain to get everyone in your party excited about the experience.  

Here’s our list of three European winter destinations for non-skiers. 

Perhaps not a great choice for skiing, but that’s not the focus here. Seefeld is an old farming village turned alpine travel destination, and the picturesque little town offers opportunities for Nordic walking, tobogganing, paragliding, ice skating, and swimming. It also has a number of wellness activities. 

The best part? Seefeld is known for being a winter walker’s paradise, with over 88 miles of cleared and salted walking paths, as well as a plethora of traditional Austrian huts for refreshments. 

While you can ski here, there are so many things to do in Zermatt that you may not get around to it, and that’s okay. The mountain town, which lies below the iconic and pyramid-shaped Matterhorn, offers car-free streets around Bahnhofstrasse, boutique shops, high-quality hotels, and a number of renowned restaurants.  

During the day, non-ski options include tandem paragliding, hiking, climbing, snowshoeing, curling, mountain excursions, sledding, and ice skating. As the day turns to night, enjoy some serious shopping in the village, a lively après-ski scene, and some delicious mulled wine at Igloo Bar, which is made almost entirely out of ice. 

If you’re a part of a group with both non-skiing and skiing members, then Cervinia is a great choice. It’s just across the Swiss border of the recently mentioned Zermatt, but it’s significantly more affordable. Whether you’re hoping to save some money on ski passes and equipment rentals, or just need a great cup of coffee that won’t break the bank, this is the place for you. 

For non-skiers, there’s a fun snow park and a natural ice rink with a bar and sun terrace. But that’s not all. Cervinia is also close in distance to some incredible attractions, including the ancient village of Chamois and Europe’s highest ice caves. This makes our third and final entry on this list a great and fun budget option. 

3 European Winter Destinations (for non-skiers)

You’ve heard of Opumo, right? The UK-based platform is the universally accepted home of great design, and it exists to support emerging brands like ours. They have a world-class team of carefully selected curators that handpick every brand and product that they feature, and they put an emphasis on design that unites form, function, and style. 

Celebrated for their unique and unparalleled ability to sniff out the latest in fashion, homeware, art, and technology, it’s safe to say that we are delighted about our recent write up on their site.

You can read the piece in its entirety here. 

Oh, It’s an Opumo feature!

It's the shopping experience of the year, and the majority of us have, at one point or another, gotten caught up in the thrill of it all. Saving money is exciting, and the thought of getting a good deal can be intoxicating. But there’s two sides to every story, and that is why we won’t be participating in the global event this year. 

 While we are no strangers to discounts and great offers, we truly feel that Black Friday encourages overspending and impulse buying. We believe in intentional purchases and thoughtful consumption, and as fellow nomads, we hope that you do the same.

In the coming days, as you are bombarded with steep discounts for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we ask you to think twice before contributing to what we genuinely believe is an unethical and unsustainable shopping movement. Mind you, we say this as a direct beneficiary of Black Friday sales. But, there are many things that are more important than that…   

Speaking of more important things - if you are hell-bent on spending money in the coming days, consider checking out one of our favorite causes - Charity: Water. 

Black Friday Blog Post

Five ways to stimulate personal growth

Let’s start this off by being as clear as we can – personal growth is an incredibly broad topic, and what counts as growth to you may very well not to someone else. Whether you think it’s about personal development, finding yourself, or something else, the key is that you’re in charge of the process, the progress, and the final product. 

Pursuing said growth often requires the exploration of your own identity, talents, aspirations, and potential. It pushes you in more ways than one, including physically, mentally, spiritually, and intellectually. 

Talking about personal growth can sometimes feel like you’re casting a wide net, but that’s the whole point. It’s your net, and it can look however you want it to. Your journey might involve up-skilling or traveling, or it may be centered around yoga and spiritual healing. The key point doesn’t change – put yourself in positions that triggers exploration and growth. 

Surround yourself with people that make you better, and allow them to rub off on you. If you value kindness, compassion, bravery, and inner drive, find likeminded people and build a community that you can count on. While this can take time, be patient, and practice what you preach. You often attract what you are, or aspire to be. 

Along the same lines, but admittedly a much tougher task - you should eliminate people, places, and activities that bring you down. Sometimes this includes loved ones or a childhood friend, and it’s rarely easy. But just like you’re expanding your circle with the right people, you have to be open to removing people that are no longer fitting in. 

You may have come across this on social media, and the irony is not lost on us. However, we’re not here to tell you to quit social media, which is a trend that is picking up steam. We’re just here to remind you of the fact that you need to pay attention to what consuming different content does to you. If it evokes positive feelings, keeping it in your life (in moderation) may help you with your personal growth. If you catch yourself consuming content that is stealing time from your other activities, or you experience more negative emotions as part of your social media consumption, you need to reevaluate how you spend your time and who you follow. Lastly, and we hope this goes without saying, never forget that 99% of what you see on social is clipped, cropped, and cultivated. 

Take time out of each day to get some fresh air. Meet up with a friend to walk through the local park, visit the beach for the sunset, or go an extra block when you walk the dog. Such mini escapes can make a world of difference, and usually energize you for an entire day. 

Be the change you wish to see, and seek out opportunities to act on it as often as possible. Whether it’s assisting a stranger at the coffee shop, helping a friend, or connecting with your mom, doing something to brighten someone’s day can make a significant positive difference for you, and the person you were kind to. This stuff spreads, and you can be the butter knife. By practicing kindness on a daily basis, your immediate surroundings and world will be filled with positive interactions, good people, and good times. 

Do you have a favorite way to stimulate personal growth? We’d love to hear from you!

Four ways to stimulate personal growth

Whether your next trip is a long weekend getaway to Budapest, or a week-long hiking adventure at Zion National Park, planning ahead can make a world of difference. This holds true when it comes to the potential impact that you have on the environment that you’ll be experiencing as well.

Eco-friendly travel – minimize impact and maximize the experience

Whether your next trip is a long weekend getaway to Budapest, or a week-long hiking adventure at Zion National Park, planning ahead can make a world of difference. This holds true when it comes to the potential impact that you have on the environment that you’ll be experiencing as well. 

As the world begins to open up again, and our desire to travel grows, it’s important to reflect on the travel habits from the past. The truth is, small actions can affect the bigger picture, and stressing that fact is perhaps more important than ever.

So, how do you make smart, eco-friendly choices when packing and planning for your trip?

While passing on straws is always a good idea, bringing your own reusable water bottle will have a much more drastic impact on the environment. From filling it up at airports and restaurants, to the thought of how many plastic bottles will be left unused as a result of your actions, makes using a reusable water bottle a no brainer. 

Along the same lines, consider bringing a portable cutlery set. This will come in particularly handy if you’re going on a road trip, having meals on the road or out of your car. There are a ton of affordable, good-looking sets a Google search away, with some costing as little as $5. Put your water bottle and your portable cutlery set in one of our leisure totes (as opposed to a plastic bag!), and you’ll be ready to minimize your impact while maximizing the experience. 

Most of us have been there – at the local pharmacy of our travel destination, buying big bottles of shampoos and body washes, and turning a plastic bag into a toiletry kit. By the time you’re getting ready to head back home, you’re left with half-used products that will not fit in your luggage, so you leave it all behind. Instead, consider using travel-sized, reusable bottles. It takes up less room, and you get to bring your favorite products from home with you on the road. For extra style and convenience points, throw all of your new travel-sized products in one of our transformer toiletry bags. 

We’ll round this out with a helpful PSA – make sure that your sunscreen is environmentally friendly (and covers UVA and UVB rays!) and that your insect repellent, should you need it, is plant-based as opposed to being filled with unhealthy and damaging chemicals. 

Looking for travel inspo? Look no further. 

Helpful advice from the co-founder of @Svenskanomader (Swedish nomads) and digital marketer Christoffer Persson. From chasing childhood dreams to the importance of planning.

Why did you become a digital nomad?
Living abroad was a childhood dream, and when becoming a professional soccer player, and later a bartender, didn’t pan out – I ended up studying media in my mid 20s. Fast-forward a few years of office work and a general sense of lack of direction, and you’ll find me in Sri Lanka on holiday. After discussing my new line of work as a digital marketer with a few locals that I had met, I ended up helping them out with some related services & Google Analytics. To pay me back, they offered me housing, transportation, and food in return. It was both heartwarming and enlightening. Right there and then I realized that I could fulfill my childhood dream of living abroad, and work from anywhere. Becoming a digital nomad became a no brainer, and that sole experience was the spark I needed.  

How did you become a digital nomad, and how did you go from idea to realization?
Once I learned what a digital nomad was, I spent six months figuring out a way to do it full-time.

First, I tried to create a clean slate and a more minimalistic way of life. I got rid of the apartment, furniture, subscriptions, electronic devices, and other things that tied me to a physical location.

Second, I set up a budget where I cut all unnecessary costs, and calculated how much I needed to earn in order to get by in countries I wanted to visit and temporarily live in.

The next bit was admittedly a bit harder, as I had to convince my employer that me working remotely would be good for the company. Before presenting the idea to my boss, I really pushed myself at work and tried to make myself as irreplaceable as possible. I collected admin rights, participated in all new projects, and took on more digital responsibilities. Once I felt that I was in a good place, and more valuable than ever to the company, I approached my boss with a unique plan. I had so many arguments for why I should be allowed to work remotely, like the fact that we could extend our office hours to include more time zones, or I could be doing market research in emerging markets, but I didn’t even have time to push those reasons before my employer had already said yes! 

What inspired you to live as a modern nomad? 
I realized that I valued freedom and flexibility more than money and materialistic things.

What would you like to say to those people who are curious about the nomad lifestyle, but don’t really know how to get started or don’t have the courage to pursue it yet?
That it starts with yourself. Examine your skills, goals, and digital tool set to see how you can find a mix that will bring you an income remotely. Once you have that, actively seek out information related to it, and become engrained in communities built around your interests and skills. Sign up for newsletters, subscribe to podcasts, and follow people and companies on social media. The more you’re exposed to the lifestyle and its possibilities, the more inspired and courageous you’ll become. Once you’ve planted that seed, let it grow until you’re ready to act on your ambitions. Then, start designing your life, piece by piece and little by little, until you have your nomadic life mapped out. Once you have that, it’s time to take the first step.

(You can connect with Christoffer on Instagram and LinkedIn)

From lack of direction to a fulfilled life on the road

The power of positive psychology

Each time something goes wrong in your life, something else is going right. Good and bad have always complemented one another. Yet, in our society, we tend to only focus on the bad. Negative self-talk is one of the biggest barriers to positive thinking. People become so accustomed to negative thinking that their conscious mind will pull them down, even when they have done nothing wrong. These people become insecure, overly apologetic, and indecisive. The worst part? Negative thinking is a constant source of stress-related problems. 

Next, we’ll show you three common mindsets of negative thinkers, and how to overcome them.

Filtering
Many negative thinkers will filter situations or experiences and only focus on what went wrong, especially when it’s a situation with negative connotations. The next time you have a negative experience, see if you can draw 1-3 positives from it. 

Personalizing
Some people will personalize every negative thing and assume that bad things happen because they’re unlucky or as a result of something they did or didn’t do. Instead of this, take a step back and look at the situation when you are ready to evaluate it objectively. Instead of automatically placing blame upon yourself, evaluate what happened and the different roles.

Catastrophizing
This involves anticipating the worst. Some people even precipitate it. They can turn a slightly awkward interaction into an overreaction, making the situation worse. To counter this mindset, and this is especially true when faced with a scenario with negative connotations, practice picturing the best-case scenario and other favourable outcomes.

The life of a digital nomad

At first, I thought about how I wanted to live. I craved endless blue skies, sunshine, fresh fruit, the beautiful Spanish language, and above all else, a flexible work schedule. That’s when the digital nomad lifestyle came into fruition, as it would allow me to both travel and work.

Thankfully, I was able to fund my initial travels through work, as I worked for a radio station and managed to convince sponsors to pay for the nine countries (3 continents!) that I intended to visit and talk about on my podcast.

What made me want to pursue this lifestyle, in the long run, was a happenstance meeting with a fellow traveller in Nicaragua. The man, originally from Holland, told me that he was travelling indefinitely. This was an unfamiliar concept to me at the time, and so I asked him how he supported himself. He kindly explained that he was a digital nomad; someone who works online with a technical device and wi-fi to earn a living. It was at this time that I realized that I, too, was a digital nomad.

To this day, I continue to be inspired by digital nomads. From new ideas, different ways of living, and unique perspectives, to genuine energies and the sharing of knowledge. They focus on what makes them feel good, in heart, mind, body, and soul.

These days, being uncomfortable is being comfortable. What was once weird is now interesting. The fear of reinventing myself has now become a unique opportunity to express me. I believe that nothing is definite and that those who are brave are to be rewarded. 

Today, I want to stress that being a digital nomad is just an updated version of being a freelancer. What has changed, and it is a massive change, is that you now can have the world as your office. Clients come and go, that hasn’t changed, and with that comes uncertainty at times. But if you can’t handle the ups and downs, you may struggle as a digital nomad.

If you are considering the nomadic lifestyle, my advice is simple – just try it. We won’t know unless we try, and we’re unlikely to get help unless we ask for assistance. Talk to like-minded people, share your thoughts, learn about your options, and figure out how to turn your dreams into reality, even if it’s one baby step at a time. You can certainly turn your dream into reality, but it’s going to require a bit of planning, and lots of hard work.

Helping others help themselves

We caught up with fellow nomad Max Bergander, and discussed the importance of staying true to who you are, and how you can help others do the same.

We celebrate uniqueness and those paving their own paths here at the Nation of Nmds, and so do you. Why does this approach resonate with you?
I’m truly passionate about people in general, and well-being in particular. I believe that everybody has a right to be whoever they want to be and that society actually benefits from a broader range of personalities, ideas, and unique characteristics. I believe in a society where people feel respected, seen, and included for who they are.

In my own life, I eventually came to a point where I got tired of how you are “supposed” to act. As a competitive football player, I was fed up with the stereotypes that came with it, and the macho culture surrounding the sport. I knew I wasn’t alone in my reasoning, this was killing people’s love for the game, and affecting their psyche every time they had to put on a (figurative) mask to fit in. 

From there you took action. What was that like?
I wanted to be a part of the solution, and help others see things from a different perspective. That was when I quit the sport and started travelling the country to give lectures on the importance of letting people be who they are. From youth clubs to international companies, I wanted to give people the tools to create environments that allowed people to be themselves and feel secure. Changing the culture is work too, and when done right it allows everyone to operate better and happier.

How did people respond?
The reactions were honestly amazing. I was a bit nervous about how people would respond, which is to be expected, but it was almost entirely positive reactions. In hindsight that isn’t strange, because nobody truly wants to have to pretend to be someone they’re not.

Making such a drastic change, even if it’s simply deciding to be true to yourself, is scary to many. Do you have any advice for people who are thinking about, or longing for, significant change?
For me, it came from within and eventually got to the point where I couldn’t ignore it. Looking at myself in the mirror and seeing that I was a part of a culture, and a way of behaving, that I didn’t believe in or could get behind. My desire to become a part of the solution to a problem that I for a time helped create became so powerful that I couldn’t ignore it. That’s when I knew I was ready to make a change for the better.

Trusting yourself and your values can be difficult, especially if it goes against what you’ve learned or seen. But know that you can really and genuinely make a difference if you try. Ask yourself what you think is important, what you like and care about, and what you would prefer to change in your life, and then make a plan to tackle whatever you discover. That’s a pretty good start.

Lastly, where do you find inspiration and support to live the life you’re living?
I am proud to say that my mother and my father are my inspiration in so many ways. They have shown me that you really can make a difference if you believe and put the effort in. They faced plenty of adversity in their lives, and learning perseverance through them was incredible.