Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Already Taken!

Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Already Taken!

“Wherever you are, whatever your age, you are only a thought away from changing your life.” Dr. Wayne Dyer

Do You: Meditate and Reflect on Yourself

Recently, I decided to work on a series of get-to-know-you short interviews with some remarkable people I’ve met through several social networking sites; men and women who cherish the interactions they have with others and share their gift of communication by joining the social media conversation – each in his/her own unique way. My format is quite simple, I ask my interviewees the same/similar set of questions and get wonderful answers back that are varied and insightful.

This week, I bring you another remarkable person, Deana Wilmink Martina. Deana and I connected on Twitter back in the day when sending out marathon Follow Friday kudos were ubiquitous. We soon found out, through our online conversations, that we both traveled around early in our lives, settled down in countries that weren’t our place of birth, married and manage busy households, love uplifting quotes and brilliant photography. While I live and work in New York and she in The Netherlands, our friendship has grown in spite of our virtualverse/twitterverse beginnings and our distance.

Deana’s new blog, Blogging Baby Boomer, covers a range of topics on life, work and other matters. As a self declared baby boomer, she is always eager to learn, share ideas, enjoy sports and a good laugh. While Deana might not play Bocce, Tennis is her sport of choice, she has solid ideas on making money from and for the baby boomer crowd and interested readers of the piece by Scott Adams of Dilbert fame. will enjoy her blog too.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Confucious

View over Curacao

At Home: Deana and Pointer

Foundation Questions:
Tell us a bit on your background: Who are you? Where did you grow up and where do you live now?
I’m Deana Martina, 61 years old and married to Ronald Wilmink. We are parents to two sons; Patrick and Niels. The eldest (Patrick) is 21 years and Niels is 19, turning 20 next month. Both are students and they still live at home with us. I was born into a big family. My mother had 8 children. She was a twin and had two sets of twins.

I was born on Curaçao, an island in the Caribbean. I was 5 years old when my mother started to get sick and soon she took one of my sister’s and me to an orphanage, where I lived until I was 18. My mother never really got better and died when I was almost 11 years old. I must say that it wasn’t a pleasant time… I have always tried to block out that time in my life, so I could turn my life around without looking back.

When I was a teenager, I decided that I would not copy my mother’s life. I didn’t want my children to have the same experiences I had growing up. So I chose to live a completely different life from my mother’s life. I left my native Island when I was 22. I went back home soon after, then I returned to Europe again at 29 and never left. Today, the village of Wildervank in The Netherlands is home to me and my family.

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it…”
– Mahatma Gandhi

Groot Wildervank via RTV Noord

What do you do for a living?
At the moment, I am both an entrepreneur and a stay-at-home mom. I’m building a home based business and recently started writing a blog called Blogging Baby Boomer where I share my views on life, work, books and more. I was an employee for 37 years until I lost my job in 1999. For a short time during my 37 year career, I worked as a Credit Controller. The rest of my time in the Corporate World, I worked in the Accounting department of a mid-sized firm. I was responsible for payroll for 21 years.

After searching for new work for quite some time, I decided to follow my own path and start my own business. I’m building a Network Marketing Business from home and using the internet to expose and expand it. Making valuable network and wellness connections are important parts of the business. Before moving to this village, Wildervank, in the countryside, I lived in the City, Groningen, for 24 years and had a network that I don’t have anymore. Rebuilding/building my network will add to the excitement of being an entrepreneur.

Why did you choose the path you now follow?
Being out of a job and living on what my husband earns was not giving our family the room to do anything extra. All our savings were used up during the years after my job loss. I felt that I could do a lot more than just wait for my retirement. Once I realized, in my opinion, that employers will not hire older employees, I chose to become an entrepreneur. I now have some new goals in my life. The transformation from an employee to an entrepreneur is very exciting because I can aim higher and reap the full rewards.

When did you decide to make key changes in your life?
I started to make changes in my life at a fairly young age; leaving the Caribbean, moving to Europe and building a new life there. I’ve been married once before and Ronald is my second spouse. We met at a tennis tournament, where we both competed. We love the sport and continue to play mixed couples tennis at our Country Club.

“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken!” Oscar Wilde

View over The Netherlands via Larry Kikstra

Share your world view: How do you live your life and manage your household?
Officially I’m a stay at home Mom, building a home based business. My husband has a job and brings in the family income. We live in a country where everyone is entitled to get a Scholarship to study at a University or College, as long as they qualify and get admitted. Regardless of your parent’s financial situation, every college bound student in The Netherlands receives a scholarship.

My favorite quotes are: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken!” by Oscar Wilde and “There is no greater beauty than the real YOU” via Nappturality. Both impact the way I plan to market my new business. My view on the world is that we are in the information era and the Internet is the perfect way to educate and inform people about industries and products lots of people don’t know are available to them. The Wellness Industry is one major Industry that will grow in the coming years.

Paul Zane Pilzer had a definition of wellness in an article he wrote in 2004 in the magazine Success from Home. He wrote; “Here is how I define Wellness: Wellness is money you spend to make yourself feel healthier, even when you’re not “sick” by any standard medical terms.”

The Baby Boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, is the largest generation around today and Baby Boomers are living longer than in previous generations.
They want to see better, hear better, be stronger, have a strong immune system and fight the symptoms of aging. So they will spend money in the Wellness Industry. The Wellness Industry will continue to grow and through the Internet, people can be educated and informed about the products and services available to them.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.” B. Olatunji

Bloom by Mike McPinatton

Reflective Questions:
What motivates you to get out of bed?
This new life, building a people oriented business, studying people and building relationships with people offline and online is so exciting to me. Seeing my grown up sons enjoy life with their friends and learning a lot of new skills myself. Having my spouse support me in what I do; all of this motivates me to get out of bed.
One of my life goals is to help with projects on my native Island to raise awareness for the younger generation; especially girls. I want them to become whomever they want to become and to take responsibility for their own lives. I believe education is a way out of the difficult situations women experience while living in such a masculine community. They can change their own reality without having to flee the island, like I did.

What makes you happy/laugh?
I love comedies. Both of my sons have a good sense of humor and like to tell jokes, or funny stories. So does my spouse. We have a dog, Pointer, and he is always so happy to see us, even when we’ve left him for only 30 minutes or so. Looking back, as most people tend to do when they reach my age, I am happy with how I managed to live my life mostly on my terms.

What makes you sad/mad?
What makes me sad is when I think, read, hear and realize that so little has changed for many women and children on my native Island.
There isn’t much that makes me mad. I have to admit that because I don’t have bosses to report to like I used to when I worked and lived in the Big City, I am less angry. Now we live in a peaceful, small village in the countryside.

What would you do differently with your life if you had the power? With the world if you had the choice?
If I only knew then, what I know now, I would have done things differently. I would have started learning the skills to become an entrepreneur earlier in my life. I would have avoided conforming to the mass beliefs that holding a regular, 9 to 5 job was the ideal.

If I could, I would change the world around me, by changing things on my native Island. I would offer all young girls the opportunity to gain more knowledge through education and help them to become aware of the power we all have within us to become what we want to be. I will teach them to take responsibility for their own reality and be aware of the fact that male dominance can only continue if we permit it to continue.

“We don’t see things the way they are. We see things the way WE are.” Talmud

Look for the Light Within ~ Northern Lights via VladStudio

What guiding principle(s) do you follow to make your life meaningful?
First of all I have this mantra: Be yourself, everyone else is taken! I try to learn the Universal laws and the process of daily living; I learn what I need to function on my life path. Some other principles include, blocking out negative thoughts and deciding what I permit to enter my mind; becoming aware of the law of prosperity and “letting go” of things I don’t need for important things I need to reach my goal; and permitting only the information I need to help me get the skills I need to succeed. I believe I can become the person I need to be to have the success I’m looking for.

What word(s) of advice would you give to others today?
I would advice others, not to depend solely on a job, but to learn the skills to become an entrepreneur. Gone are the days when we imitated the actions of the majority and expected to have a job for life; that time is over. I would advice people to depend less on Government welfare as they change the rules anytime they want. Be responsible for your own income.

How would you like to be remembered?
This is a tough one. I haven’t thought about that yet… I don’t know. However, I would like my sons to remember me as a good mother and my spouse to remember me as a good spouse.

Happiness is…..?
Happiness is for me being surrounded by the people I love the most, knowing that they feel good. At a different time in my life I would have thought of something else. Now I enjoy chatting with my sister on the phone and laughing with her even though we live more than 300 km apart. Seeing my kids being happy makes me happy.

Deana Wilmink Martina lives in a beautiful little village outside Groningen and recently started writing a spirited Baby Boomer Blog. You may connect with her on Twitter at this link @DeanaMartina
What are your reactions to this subject? Enjoy the piece and share your feedback with us. Thank You!

PHOTO CREDITS:
Meditation Too ~ via Google Images
View over Curacao ~ via Google Images
At Home: Deana and Pointer ~ via DWM
Groot Wildervank ~ via RTV Noord
View over The Netherlands ~via Larry Kikstra
Blooming Canola Flowers ~ via Mike McPinatton
Northern Lights ~ via VladStudio

Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank