Xenia Tchoumi - Empower Yourself

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Xenia Tchoumi is a digital entrepreneur, fashion and lifestyle opinion leader, and public speaker. She is truly international in her outlook, a Swiss-Italian influencer with Russian origins currently based in London, armed with an economics degree and fluency in six languages. She turned down an offer to work full-time at a leading investment bank in order to build her online business and web-magazine. Xenia is now a digital ambassador and digital marketing strategy consultant for numerous high-end fashion and lifestyle brands, as well as writing for magazines. She has given three motivational TEDx talks and spoke at the United Nations on how access to the internet can uplift female entrepreneurs across the world. Above all, she stands for individual empowerment.

This edition first published in the UK and USA in 2020 by Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

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8993 Shepperton Road

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Design and typography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2020

Text copyright Xenia Tchoumi 2020

Xenia Tchoumi has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publishers.

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Designed and typeset by JCS Publishing Services Ltd

Printed and bound in the UK

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-786783-69-1 (Paperback or Hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-786784-64-3 (eBook)

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

BUILD RESILIENCE IN A CRISIS

By no means do I have the arrogance to think of myself as an expert in motivation or as some kind of empowerment guru. Yet I have always been very ambitious in striving to achieve my goals, and similarly keen on supporting the people around me in achieving theirs. It bothers me to observe someones struggle and not share with them my own experience. Not everyone needs advice, of course, but as my social media grows, people are increasingly coming to me to discuss inspiration, motivation and empowerment. Im a self-made girl and a firm believer in the right of all of us to carve our own path for our best possible life. Autonomy, independence and freedom are values close to my heart.

My aim in this book is to share insights from my own journey and from the people Ive met along the way with the aim of making you feel more in control of your life and better able to withstand and even benefit from lifes inevitable ups and downs. The book is not about the political empowerment of any particular groups in society or about the struggle faced by many against government or societal oppression which I do not feel qualified to write about. I do touch on feminism because I have personally experienced the disempowering effects of sexism on many occasions. However, the oppression discussed in this book is first and foremost the oppression that we all inflict on ourselves , by not believing in ourselves, by accepting disrespect from others, by not doing ourselves the favour of looking after ourselves properly. I have written this book for everyone. Whatever gender, race or nationality you are, I offer my tricks and tips on self-empowerment, motivation and becoming a digital entrepreneur in the hope that you will find them useful.

I have often been accused of having had an easy ride and getting everything handed to me on a plate. This couldnt be further from the truth. Yes, I consider myself lucky compared to many in the world, but no amount of luck is enough to support real and lasting success. Theres no such thing as a shortcut or a free meal in life; if you want a happy, successful and empowered life, you have to put in the work. Long days, months and years of work. But Ive had a fun journey of self-discovery, and I hope the next chapters will give you some solid powertricks to achieve your goals faster and more effectively. The good news is that none of my powertricks ever require money. All you need is curiosity about your personal growth, an interest in improving your life and some dedication to the empowered mentality.

In this book, I talk about what I mean by empowerment, and about what I think its main ingredients are: personal responsibility, clear thinking, self-discipline, care and self-love for your physical and mental wellbeing, and perhaps most important of all resilience. I want you to feel able to bounce back from whatever life throws at you and use your own pain and unpleasant feelings for your own advantage, instead of fearing them and trying to avoid them. In other words: make lemonade when life presents you with lemons.

I also zoom into two key areas for me. I look at the digital arena my primary workplace and talk about how to have a healthy relationship with your devices and the internet, and use them to improve your life instead of being dominated by them. I also talk a little about feminism, a topic close to my heart because I passionately believe that we all need to stand up for the equal intrinsic worth of each person on this planet as a human being.

I hope the ideas in this book will inspire you to get to know yourself better, to explore the thought patterns and beliefs that have formed your worldview since you were young, and decide whether you want to keep them or upgrade some of them to a vision that matches your true personality. I want you to put down this book at the end and feel you have gained the tools to help you take control of your life and your future. Anything worth achieving requires sustained effort, but by implementing and consistently repeating a few simple mind-training techniques, true self-empowerment is achievable for all of us.

Thoughts on Resilience in an Age of Global Pandemic

We were all running, we were all busy with the next thing, there was never enough time to get anything done. We were preoccupied with those trivial yet all-consuming tasks: our next trip, an upcoming exam, the demands of a repetitive and boring job, that annoying visit to the in-laws. We were too busy with life to live it fully or to reflect on its fleeting nature.

No one in the world could have anticipated such a drastic, unwelcome and shocking lifestyle change. Personally, the COVID-19 pandemic of the first months of 2020 made me go through all five stages of grief in a very short period of time. And I observed other people going, just like me, through those same stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, grieving for the normality they had so suddenly lost. In disbelief, many people dived into conspiracy theories, others became sad and lazy and spent their days on the couch, while others hid in socially distanced hyper-productivity, distracting themselves with DIY, workouts and cooking. I admit I was among the latter.

In this book I wont discuss this virus, its origins or my opinions on how to fight a global health and economic crisis. Nor will I go into the huge upsurge of protests against racism that have exploded around the world in response to the slaying of George Floyd except to say that as a humanist I take a strong stand for equality and the defence of human freedoms and rights at all costs. A subject of this magnitude needs a whole extra book to do it justice.