Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero. That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities, perspectives, and emotions about life. Too many women in this world feel alone. They worry about the judgment of others and they struggle with their mental health but when they listen to the Rare Girls podcast where empowered women share their voices and tell their stories, many women will feel inspired to live a life of freedom and to overcome all insecurities. They will feel. It is a safe space to find their confidence, to remember their unique beauty and to feel their self-worth. And they will connect with the sisterhood of rare girls who encourage their success and support their dreams. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Dina Dobro-Volska. Dina is a Ukrainian girl from Tsharkasi, living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for the last two years. Dina studied physical education and she is currently a personal trainer in Dubai. She previously worked in aviation for three years so she traveled everywhere. Dina loves dancing. It's an important part of her life since childhood. Dina, how are you today? Hello, Aziz. Happy to meet you in this podcast. I'm very good. And thanks for the introduction. You are welcome. I'm happy, honored, very, very excited to know much more about you. So I'll begin with this nice first question, which is, Dina, if your friends and the people who know you best could describe your personality, what would they say about you? Mostly they say your energy fills the room because I'm always coming with a smile. I'm not shy to talk to people even in the group where I don't know anyone. So I get attention from people and I have a good connection with everyone. So I would say they consider me outgoing person and like a bright personality. I like that the sunny personality is very, very important. And for many people in general, normally their brain is more depressed. It's sad. They listen to bad news and negative news. So were you born a sunny girl all the time? Or do you do some things like yoga, meditation, great gratitude or whatever so that you become positive, you have the energy to fill the room So that maybe that inspires other women to do similar things. So I would say that I'm born with this personality, but the life is not that simple all the time. So I had a situation when sometimes I lost my shining, my energy, and I was overcoming the difficult moments. And usually my favorite things helped me, sports, dancing, and meeting people. And yes, that's the most important, to not sit locked in your room with anxiety, with your bad feelings. You have to go out, do physical activity, meet people. Even if you're alone, just try to be alone with people. That's what I do. Going out to the beach or some cafe, and it's making me distracted from my thoughts. Because usually, this anxiety is not only the situation. Usually it's created in our head. We make our thoughts going in the way that it affects us. And sometimes I also have one technique, how I deal with anxiety or with any other negative feelings I might encounter. So first of all, you have to find where is it located in your body, which sensation do you feel? For example, you feel like burning, scratching in your chest. So you have to find it and you have to ask which color is it, feel the color. When you describe the color, ask this sensation, what is the emotion? And when you have answered this emotion is anxiety. You can talk to your anxiety and ask, "Hello, anxiety. I'm Dina. What are you trying to tell me?" So it's like 10 minutes, not meditation, but practice. So you can encounter your emotion and you can talk to it and find the answer why this emotion appears in you. So that's what I use sometimes when I cannot deal with bad emotions. So with my other tools, I use this tool for extreme situations. Thank you so much. That's absolutely very, very interesting. And thank you for sharing that. I'm sure that many will find it very useful. You spoke three times about meeting people. I understand that it's very important for you. What do you love about meeting people? Is it their stories and when they share it with you, you are absolutely interested and fascinated by their life and the challenges they have overcome? Is it similar to aviation that each person is like a new country and you're discovering all the landscapes and all the different things that they offer? Is it energetic that maybe you love giving people positive energy because when you make people happy, you feel happier? Or is it the exchange that you think maybe I'll find people who share the energy with me and together we feel both very, very good? What is it to you about people, meeting new people and being around people that you love? And maybe a little bit, what's your advice to some women who don't feel comfortable meeting new people because they worry about judgment and maybe those people think something about them that is negative. That's in their imagination. They just imagine it like that. OK, so my thoughts about it that meeting a person is not coincidence. Sometimes they are coming to share their story. Sometimes they are coming to answer your question. So it happened to me many times that people, random people in my life were leading me to some ways that I would never expect I can go. It can be random person who suggest me to go for some job interview or who gave me an answer, how can I deal in my business. And this one of the points that I really appreciate when life sends me answers through the people. Also, I love giving, not only taking advice, but giving something to people I meet. Sometimes they need support, sometimes they need attention. And especially in aviation, I noticed that many people, they more likely share the story to unknown person. Like when I was Kevin Crew, they would love to share it with me than to their closest circle. So it's much easier to talk to strangers. And usually when someone approaches me and starts sharing something, usually people share, I don't know, they have some confidence in me and they share their stories. So I would like to listen and support the person. So yeah, I think the communication is the way of helping each other, improving each other, given the best solution. And regarding the judgment, I think your people will not judge you. So if someone is judging you and you feel it, it's better to step out of this conversation of this circle of people. Whenever you don't feel comfortable, don't force it. But if it's the situation that you feel uncomfortable all the time. I would say it like you should start going with some known friends, people you know already, and you should start joining the groups of similar interests. So that's how you train the skill of communication without being too uncomfortable. So that's what I think about this. Thank you for that. That's very, very interesting. And you mentioned that you believe life sends you answers through people. What is your belief that is more spiritual perspective on life? Do you see the world as all of it energy? Do you see the world as all of it destiny? Do you see the world as all of it like a teacher full of lessons? I don't know. But how do you see the world? Do you feel you're protected in this life or maybe you're a reincarnated queen or princess and you're living your new life, what is it to you that allows you to be so positive and to see the world as helping you and giving you lessons? For me it's the experience that showed me that I'm always protected. For some reasons any situation happens and there is always a person who comes to tell me the advice, a situation to help me to go out of certain crisis. So for some Now when something happens and I don't know what to do, I relax and I tell myself, "Usually something helps you and now maybe something will come." And yeah, I feel like there is some sense with me and the universe that it feels what I need and it gives me back. So that's how it is. And also I believe that not everything is a destiny. A lot of things are our choice. We always get the results by making choices. And if you even you made the wrong choice and you feel like it's wrong, after some time you will see it leads you the way you had to go. So I believe in this that there is no wrong choices. At that particular time, you couldn't do, couldn't behave anyhow in another way. And if you decided to act like this, at that time, this was the right choice. So that's what I believe in regards to this. I like that that's very, very empowering and it keeps you positive. And to understand too your ability to adapt, you moved from Ukraine to Dubai. It's very different. The culture is different. The weather is different. sharkasi and how many people are there is not it's like a small neighborhood in Dubai. So how was adaptation to it? Did you because you worked in aviation, you already had a sense of adaptation or maybe you always were fascinated by the mysterious Arabic culture and you're like, I love it. I'm in the Arabic desert. It's so cool. I feel like a princess. Or there was some difficulty. And then what's your advice to women who maybe move to Dubai and then they feel they miss their family, they feel so different so that they adapt better. My first move to Middle East was five years ago and I moved to Qatar. Before this I never traveled anywhere. So I went first time abroad, I went to Turkey and then after one month I had to move with all my staff to Qatar and it was like a serious move for me because after traveling only once, moving right away, it was really tough move. And actually when I just moved there, I was feeling shocked because while going through the immigration event, you don't see many people with a bias and covers in Ukraine. And when I saw in Qatar, and I saw every, like all the lines, they're wearing the traditional attire. And I was like, "Oh, is it okay or it's not okay? How these people, what are they hiding? It's a little bit of like cultural dissonance. But then after leaving for some time, there I understood it's the same people, just a different culture. And yeah, they are also open to communicate, open to make friendships. And yeah, in the beginning a lot of things were unusual and some things that are like normal for our culture, not okay for them. But it's It's very easy way just to accept. You will not build your own country in another country. So you accept people the way they are and try to know the most about it. It's very interesting journey. But after the move to Dubai, actually it was again second move for me two years ago. And it was a really discomfort, a big discomfort for me because Qatar is Doha, a small city. So I know I knew already everyone and it's similar like Muslim culture. And yes, it was similar, but Dubai is big and it's way more people and it's more multicultural. And the first year when I didn't meet any people, I met people, but I couldn't make friendship fast here in Dubai because it's different way of dealing with people. It's not like in a small city. In small city, everyone knows everyone and it's much easier. But Dubai pushed me to open my abilities to the maximum. So even Qatar for my fitness business, I didn't need to do much. Everyone knows me after a month. In Dubai, I need to push hard with Instagram, with YouTube with all the platforms find clients and prove that I worth it that I'm like I can stand out from all these people like to show myself and my advice if you're going into situations like this when you're just moving, don't be scared to use your full potential to show yourself from all the sides. You never know which part of you might work in business, in work, or even in relationship with people. Try to meet as many as you can trust, but not everyone. So that's how I noticed here. So that's, that's my actually the most advices that helped me in the buy to build my business and to get to know people and to feel finally comfortable here. Thank you. That's such an interesting life and journey and adventure. And you, as someone who studied physical education and someone who is a personal trainer, well, when you are working on your body, you look at yourself to notice progress. But that also means that you're very aware of how your body is and so easy to compare it to other fitness girls, to photoshopped girls on Instagram. So maybe it makes it difficult to see your unique beauty and fall in love with your body. Maybe to you it's different. How do you do it? But there are many women who even when they progress on their fitness journey, they compare themselves to other women that they see on Instagram and they always feel not good enough. They feel they're not progressing fast enough that they don't look like those girls. How do you take care of your mental health as you fall in love with your body? And what is your advice to women who are taking care of their health now so that they love their journey and love the way they look in its unique way? So I always tell that there will be always someone more beautiful than you that has longer legs, better body, better skin and things like this. So you should never compare yourself to other people unless you want to get inspired. So for me, I find the people as an inspiration and I might look what they do, how they behave. So I take some like advice for myself, but to compare your appearance, it's a really unnecessary thing because all the comparisons will not be like you will not win in the comparison. you will always find why this person is better than you. So it's very unhealthy, I consider. And yeah, I'm just trying to look for people just for inspiration. And that's my way of dealing with this situation. And also, I always say, and to my clients and to my Instagram, I tell a lot about this, that you have to praise yourself for every small win. For example, you lost some weight and you wanted to lose weight, and you have to consider this is a good job, and you have to keep invisible medals in your head for every achievement, and you should never forget even a small achievement that you made. And only compare yourself to you before. That's the only way I do. And usually I progress and even doesn't matter the age with age getting better because, uh, like I work on my body and I work on my spirit and, uh, that's how it should be just to pay attention to your feelings and treat yourself as your favorite person, the best way as I feel. I like that treat yourself as your favorite person. Very well said. Thank you. And you said your first year in Dubai, it was hard to make true friends. You had a lot of acquaintances, people you met. Well, to you, how do you know if someone is your person? Is it that you match the sunny, optimistic, positive energy? And that's what's most important. Is it something else that they are developing all the time and not people who are stuck in one way or in general? What are the things you look for in order to consider someone a friend? And maybe you said trust, but not everybody. What's your advice to women about some red flags in a big city like Dubai or maybe even New York or any other big city so that when they meet that person they think, "Oh, that person is acting nice now, but I understand that maybe they shouldn't be my person." So for me there are no factors like this person has to be pushing forward, being optimistic or it doesn't matter. I can make friendship with any personality but the most important is to see this person is sincere, they are open to you, they help you the way you help them, you give and they give you back, like in terms of communication. And after the conversations you feel happier, you feel full, you feel satisfied. So this is green flag that you have to pay attention on. But I think red flags, I noticed sometimes people, they try to use you in a way like for their financial maybe benefit for they might use you for like to get into connection to someone you know so if you see it it's visible like from the beginning and these people we should try to avoid and also the people who are like sometimes they're your friends and sometimes they disappear And if they need something, they write you. If you have a problem, they are never with you. But luckily, I met some people here in Dubai that were giving and sharing everything like in equal proportions. So it took me some time. I think with friends, it's destiny. There is no number of months or years when you will meet people. But if you're oriented to that, if you're aiming, if you're showing real you, the right people will approach. So from your side, you shouldn't pretend to be another person, and then the right people will be attracted by you. SL. I agree with that 100 percent, because similar people have chemistry instantly with each other, And so pretending to be someone else would attract the wrong people. And to finish this, there are many people in the world, many women, who feel stuck in their comfort zone. Maybe they are staying, living in Sharkasi, but they wish they could live in Dubai, but they feel too much anxiety, self-doubt. Or they think, "Oh, if I go and then I fail, and then I return to to share coffee, my parents will be so disappointed and I'll break their heart. Or they think, oh, if I go there and I'm alone, I don't have any friends and something bad happens, I don't know if I go to the hospital and I'm alone. All that worry, all that stuff that keeps many women stuck in a life that they're not really their dream. How can they go after their big potential? Go out of their comfort zone, be more brave and believe, like you said, that the world will always manifest something to help them when they need it. But in general, it's how to deal with that initial thinking that could be stopping them from even trying. For me, this is part of my life. I went through this and I realized that if you don't follow your dreams, someone else will hire you to follow their dreams or someone else will use you for their results. So that's why I reconsider all the potential, I have all the knowledge, all the abilities, and I decided from now on, no more. I'm showing to the maximum, showing my personality. I was really, by the way, shy to talk in Instagram. I was so shy to talk in front of camera. Half a year ago, it was like I put camera and I'm fainting because I cannot. But after you do such things And you realize people like it and people writing me all such a good video you did. I'm admiring you that you are not shy to speak with your accent. And only by doing, you will understand that maybe people accepting it and maybe people like it. And it's encouraging you more. So do small steps and every small step, see how the world reacts to you. And of course in the beginning, you might disappoint your parents. And to me also it was the situations when my parents told me, "No, don't do it. You will not make it." As for example, with driving. Sure, because it's very small city and you don't need a car there. So no one from my family ever drive. And in Dubai, obviously you need a car, especially with personal training, the thing that I'm doing. And I went to drive in school and it took me like half a year to finish. It was so bad, my driving. But I finished and I received the license. And all this half a year, my mom was telling Tina, come on, you will not make it because no one ever driving our family and you're not doing well. So it's not for you. But I'm like, no, mom, if I don't finish driving school, I will be cabin crew and I don't want to be cabin crew. So I did it for my dream. And when I finished driving school, there is no obstacle in this life for me. I did something that no one ever said, and thought that I'm able to do. So such achievement that you go through your fear and you do it showing you that you should never hide your potential. You should never be scared because you are losing, not when you fail on trying. You are losing when you're not trying. That's what my belief. - 100%, thank you so much, Dina. It was my privilege and my honor to have you here to share your voice and your story. I wish you bigger and bigger success. I wish you to meet all of the best people and to give and receive and have the best life possible. Thank you again for participating. And before we finish, because I'm happy to support you. If people want to find you, they maybe want to use your services or discover more about you what is the best way for them to do and what are some of the things that you do that they might think about benefiting from? To find me, you can share the Instagram, you can share even the number, like if they need some services like personal training and stuff. So I usually help people with not only losing gaining weight, but plus flexibility, mobility, rehabilitation if they have any injuries or Genetical body disbalances so all these things I work with and Yeah, also I'm open to meet the different people from different fields So we might like collaborate in some way or take each other services So yeah, like the best way is to share Instagram everything is going on. I am sharing here I'm sharing there, so it would be the best possible way for me. Thank you so much. I'm happy to share it and keep going. I appreciate your episode and this nice conversation. Okay, thank you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
