MY Story

This little boy below, born in December 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, is my role model, my inspiration.

I don't know if you have ever taken the time to observe kids for a moment. They are fascinating to me. They have an exceptional attitude toward life. Children are always playful, ready to run everywhere, and happy for no reason.

They are curious and creative beings, always trying to understand and explore what's around them and touch everything they can.

As a child, I spent most of my time outside. It started with a passion for football born at five years old and lighted the fire within for more than 20 years.

In the meantime, I was a curious kid who wanted to try and learn many different things. Early on, I learned to ride a bicycle during the summers while camping with my parents. I was passionate about any activity that combined being physical and outside.

I quickly connected to many other outdoor activities such as ping-pong, tennis, badminton, running, skiing, ice hockey, sledding, and so on. I constantly felt great when I came home after being outside.

In parallel, I have always dreamt of becoming a meteorologist. I was fascinated by the weather and the power of nature. I remember vividly reading and wanting to watch documentaries about catastrophic events that can happen with volcanoes, tornados, hurricanes, or snow storms. I was fascinated by mother nature.

Every time I saw the snow outside, it made me happy for no reason, which is still the same feeling I get today. Without noticing, I developed a strong relationship with nature and the outdoors. For me, life was meant to happen outside.

When growing up, kids, we start to catch our parents' flaws, to get influenced by the culture, society, and educational system to be a certain way. Without noticing, I was slowly losing my sense of adventure and connection with my Inner Child.

I remember losing that spontaneity touch with the outdoors during my teenage years. I started to conform to what people thought was suitable.

Playing outside in the snow with my friends was no longer cool because older kids don't do that anymore. Then the school system and your parents play a significant role in choosing what you think you will do for the rest of your life at only 18.

That is what I call the Conventional Path. A path where you don’t think much, following the plan created by others for you. A program where comfort is your number one priority while chasing status and social recognition through hard work or money.

Two weeks after my 18th birthday, I lost that child spirit and discovered the adult world for good. It was a cold January morning in 2008 when I had just woken up hangover after one of my first nights out with friends. Feeling thirsty, I was on my way to the kitchen when I noticed two police officers, my dad's associate, and my mom in the living room. Something was wrong; I felt it straight in my chest.

With a shaky voice, my mom asked me to sit down and told me words that would change my life forever. She said, "your dad has jumped out of the window." I was living on the 6th floor…

Fortunately, my dad miraculously survived landing on the grass in front of the house.

That tragic event made me face the music of what life can be, losing touch with my Inner Child and sense of adventure for “the adult world.”

It is only more than ten years later that I started to notice three lessons returning to my life, again and again, to help me reignite the fire from within, realigning to my Inner Child and sense of adventure. It was like a hidden voice conspiring in the shadows to get me back on track.

Nowadays, we live in a very fast-paced society where we need to do more, faster than ever, things that were due yesterday. And for me, whenever I feel overwhelmed or disconnected from my Inner Child and adventure spirit, it's essential to slow down & retreat.

The first time I did that was in 2011 when I felt my heart shouting hard to live my dream experience in San Diego, California, for six months to get out of my current circumstances and rebuild myself. It helped me take a step back, heal, learn about myself through introspection and feel alive like never before. I felt adventurous, present, and connected to my inner child and other travelers experiencing the same adventure. I met so many beautiful people from everywhere that I became great friends.

Ultimately, I felt emotionally and mentally clear and broadened my perspectives toward life. But eventually, slowing down gave me immense space to develop the second lesson.

I have heard many times before that we are supposed in life to choose only one thing and get good at it. That is what I thought when I came back from San Diego and started to study at Business School between 2011 and 2015 while working part-time at the same time. I was back on the Conventional Path. Once again, I was losing my fire from within, and after four years, I decided to leave everything behind to travel the world for one year in 2016.

Sticking to one thing and doing it over and over, feeling stuck in a routine, doesn't work for me. As a passionate and curious person, it is impossible to stick to one thing. That is why it's imperative to follow my curiosity because that's where my heart starts singing, and I feel excited daily. This one-year adventure gave me a playground to retreat and explore my curiosity which was undoubtedly one of the best years of my life.

After jumping out of the window in January 2008, my dad slowly recovered.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. His fragile mental state was more robust than his desire to live. After two more suicide attempts, he finally found the peace he was looking for in August 2009.

Those two years between 2008 and 2009 turned my life upside down. I lost all sense of identity and belief in myself.

The years that followed were tough mentally. I was not even 20 years old, and I felt mostly lost between a lot of sadness and hope for the future in front of me. I didn’t know who I was anymore and where I was going.

Then I remembered a conversation with my friend Francisco in high school. We weren’t paying attention to the class as we talked about our dreams and aspirations for the future. We were both excited about the idea of living time in the USA, having fun drinking in red cups, and meeting new people.

It got me so excited and enthusiastic that a couple of days later, to my surprise, I received a catalog with a list of places to learn English in the USA. It was my friend Francisco who had given my name and address to an agency online. Even if I was a bit annoyed with him, he gave me one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received – Direction & the belief that my dreams are possible.

It immediately reignited my fire from within and reconnected to my sense of adventure.

Ultimately, this tragic event showed me a different perspective on life. It took me to face the death of a loved one to realize life’s fragility. It led me to realize that I wanted to live an adventurous and passionate life, and I couldn't find a better example than the spirit of a child.

That is why I started to embrace adventure again in 2011 by going to live my teenage dream in San Diego, California. In 2016, I left everything behind to experience and explore my curiosity around the world. And today, I try to spend as much time as I can outside, either hiking in the mountains, running, riding my bicycle, or planning a crazy adventure that fulfills my heart with joy.

Exploring my soul, new places, and feeling connected to my sense of adventure ignites my fire from within. The more I follow my adventure’s intuition, the more connected I feel to my Inner Child and my desire to explore what life has to offer.

Today I am proud to consider myself an adventure seeker looking for a better insight into who I am and pushing my limits while exploring the world and gaining a greater understanding of it.

Keep following my journey to simplify life while exploring my curiosity and building a life of adventures on Instagram or listen to The Adventure Reignition Podcast.

Here is a video of one of my adventures below, rediscovering my hometown Lausanne from a different perspective after traveling worldwide for one year.

Adventurously Yours.