Gabriele’s story: live life the way you want. Only you know what you want for your life.

Meet Gabriele Andrukianec, she decide to change her lifestyle after she understood that it was leading to depression and she didn‘t know what to want. She decided to travel and went to live in Mexico. But it wasn‘t the nicest experience for her. After the first trip to Mexico, nothing was scary.

Tell us your story.

My name is Gabriele. I am the founder of my company tugabi. lt which successfully organizes courses and training for people who can not afford them. The company works with the government (to be specific the ministry of education) to get funding and to help people who are on various government social projects. 

One of the bigger tasks for me is coordinating my love for traveling and my work. I don’t spend much time back in my home country – Lithuania. I usually travel a lot. Recently I have been in Mexico, The USA, Tenerife, France, and Canada, now I am trying to prepare for 2 months in Miami and then 4 months in the Dominican Republic. In Lithuania, I mainly stay during the summers and some of the most important holidays throughout the year.

The other thing that is a big part of my life is self-development. I spend a lot of time studying myself, trying to understand myself, to understand my feelings, how they arise and how I can control them. Trying to perfect in body and soul.

What did your life look like before?

Before starting working on myself (which was the main factor for me choosing my work and my travels)  I lived in a small village town in Lithuania, in a simple family with low core values, without the will to make sacrifices. I wasn’t very well looked after so I had a lot of free space to do whatever I wanted. But the most important thing was that I was loved. From a young age, I already dreamt of the life I have now and I was saying to all my relatives that one day I’m gonna have it. After finishing school, I went to Vilnius capital of Lithuania to study in college and work. I have already been working various jobs since 14 and I was into professional athletics. I had such jobs as an animator for kids, etc.
When I was 18 I already started traveling, I had a rule that on all my birthdays we had to celebrate somewhere else other than Lithuania. After a little bit of work and college there came a time when I decided to leave the relationship I was in. my high school and the job I had at the moment. I decided to travel and went to live in Mexico. It wasn’t the nicest experience for me. It was challenging because of the living situation and the people that surrounded me there. I had fallen into depression at a very young age and after that, I decided that I needed to better myself, understand myself more, and start doing what I want. The bad experience of traveling to such a beautiful place like Mexico didn’t kill my Joy in traveling, on the contrary, it made me understand how good and important is to travel and how important is to deal with your mind and your body. While dealing with your financial situation so you can travel.

Why did you decide to change it?

I decided to change because the lifestyle I had led me to depression and to a place where I didn’t know what I wanted.

The biggest lessons you learned on the trip. What did you understand about yourself?

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from traveling is that you should travel with people that you trust. I am also a perfectionist so it’s hard for me to travel with people who are lazy, not clean, and have many problems of their own. 

The travels have brought me the love of my life, which I met in Mexico, also a Lithuanian. We started dating not even in Mexico, but when we were back in Lithuania. We went out for a coffee though neither of us drinks coffee. He is the most important person in the world

If you would do everything from the beginning, what would you do differently?

Of course, all the time we want to protect ourselves from bad and negative things but our main life lessons come from here. I would not change anything now, because I don’t think that making mistakes is bad. Mistakes are reflections of life and the only way to move forward. If you don’t make mistakes, you cannot move forward. I am not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them, it’s kinda my motto. I feel that a lot of people are afraid to make mistakes and for me, it’s the same as being afraid to live. Mistakes are good if we learn from them

If someone is secretly dreaming about the lifestyle you are living now, what would you tell them?

I sincerely believe that my lifestyle is exemplary. I live a healthy lifestyle – I don’t smoke, I don’t drink alcohol, I eat healthily, I work out and work on myself – I work with my emotions. I am free and I am happy. There is a very good question that everyone could ask themselves “ what would I do if I didn’t need to work hard to get my money” I wouldn’t change anything. I would do everything the same, well maybe I would buy more clothes ;D This is my advice for everyone reading. Get to know yourself. All the answers that you are looking for are within – for happiness, a direction in life, etc.

Is it scary to go on the adventure of a lifetime?

After my first trip to Mexico nothing can be scary  I am a person that dives head first into adventure, so for me, it’s not scary at all.

What are the most amazing things about living here?

To be here and now is not easy, I have been learning for a long time and still am. We are used to thinking about the past and what we could have done, we are used to thinking about the future and what it is going to bring us, but the most amazing feeling is to be here and now, to be able to enjoy things in the present moment. To be grateful for being alive and being able to be heard, feel, live and experience the moment.

 Living the way you live. What was the hardest thing in this whole experience?

 The hardest thing for me was to change my mindset, that life isn’t standardized, that you can be whoever you want to be and you can do whatever you want to do. Also not to be offended or just affected by other people’s usually negative reactions to how you live your life, or how much money you spend. For me, it was hardest to not think about other people and what they say and do. Because I always try to analyze and for me it’s impossible to understand how it is possible not to want to live better, not to want to improve yourself and reach your dreams.

What would you suggest for people dreaming about this lifestyle?

Dreaming is mandatory. I am a big dreamer myself. I have been dreaming all my life for the life I have now. Dreaming helps you to achieve your goals. It helps you to get the inner motivation to DO. To go study, to go workout, to go improve yourself. I like the following phrase a lot: “ Discipline- it’s a mandatory condition to achieve your dream” And discipline comes from within. You have to find your own pace, things you enjoy now or things you’ll enjoy later, and start doing the work for it.

What are the first steps in preparation?

The most important thing is to understand what you want to be responsible for in your life and be the author of it. Live life the way you want. Don’t live for your parents, don’t live for your significant other or your kids. Only you know what you want for your life.

What are your next steps Is there any adventure you are planning?

My next step in life is to develop my company. Hire more staff, and make a good team. I want to make a difference in Lithuania’s education. I want to raise the level of self-awareness, especially of the youth of Lithuania. I want them to understand that life is not only about school and 40-hour weeks working in a job they hate. I want to teach them how to be brave, how to travel, how to better themselves, and how to get to know themselves.

I also want to keep on improving my self-awareness, my brain, my body, and my soul. Psychology is a great interest of mine. Maybe I’ll go learn more about it at Uni.

The most planned adventure for me is a camp of silence in India. It’s a camp where people come to be silent and peaceful for a month. To mediate, breathe and learn from within. I feel that I need it to become a better version of myself.

You can follow Gabriele’s adventure on:

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/gabriele.andrukianec/