Dariko, on “a wonderful trip to the Georgian Caucasus mountains, and Blue Abudelauri Lake impressed me a lot. I really enjoy spending time in the nature, so usually my weekend relaxing is happening somewhere outside of the city” – Photo provided by Dariko – Used with permission

Today’s mini-interview subject is Dariko, who was born in Ukraine and moved to Georgia. Dariko decided to move after she developed a deep interest in the Georgian culture during her time working in the German Parliament in Berlin, where she made friends with many Georgians. Below, she shares her project about urban pedestrian safety, her experience learning to run, and her advice on conquering the habit of overthinking.

(If you’re interested in being interviewed for this blog or have someone in mind for me to ask, please let me know or leave a note in the comments section.)

What is one of your dreams for your life?
One of my dreams is to step on zebra crossing in Georgia, the country I live in, the country I love… To step on, and not to be angry with the drivers. Currently they are not super respectful to pedestrians. The situation is improving slowly, but still the driving culture is like in many Southern countries. But as I want to spend my life in Georgia, I wish this could be better! For raising awareness about the problem, my friends and me launched a small project called “This Is Zebra” (“Es Aris Zebra” in Georgian). We want this problem to be finally solved, so we speak up about this.

What is something on your bucket list?
I would love to participate in Tbilisi Marathon 2015. I could never run or jog even 2 minutes long. Never ever. Always had an excuse for not going to jog – even though it seemed attractive for me. My health was not perfect, I’ve been bad at running and jogging at school, people will watch me, the weather is bad, I don’t have good shoes… But finally I just went out of my house and started. It takes time to learn, but it’s worth it. Nobody is watching me, nobody forces me to run a marathon distance, nobody expects from me the results of Usain Bolt, nobody gives an ef! It was me who didn’t want the truth: I was just lazy and scared.

So, during this marathon, there will be also a track for beginners. I think I will try to do it this fall!

What is the best advice you ever received?
Well, it was not an advice to me personally, but it was the advice of a life coach I really respect (Olesya Novikova). As she was talking about barriers which prevent us from developing and moving forward, she said that the majority of things we “know” about ourselves is the mixture of what the others were telling us, and our overthinking.

“Start a Big Cleaning”, she said. “Get rid of this mental garbage. As long as you keep your old beliefs, you keep getting what are you getting now, and not something new. It’s impossible to change your life without changing your old beliefs and habits.”

It was such a useful advice! Helped me a lot. “I can’t,” “I am not able,” “I have a difficult character,” “I am too strong, nobody can handle me,” “I am stupid,” “All the guys/girls are mean/lame/taken,” “It’s impossible to start your own business,” “It is impossible to lose weight,” “I am as I am, I am not flexible, I was born this way” – the majority of those statements we believe in are based on bad experiences of people we know, or our failings we don’t want to accept. After I started revising all this, life became much better. A truly amusing process!

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Thanks for sharing your time and dreams with us, Dariko!

Readers: Do you want to be interviewed, or do you know someone I should ask for an interview? Let me know.

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