#100 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Dominique

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Dominique, her life in Australia, and how the 2008 financial crisis and losing everything she had taught her resilience. We also discuss aging and body image issues. 10 Facts About Dominique (at the time of the project) 57 years old.Dominique is from Belgium and her first language is French.Dominique moved to Australia when she was in her 20s after backpacking around the world for about 12 months. She fell in love with Sydney straightaway. So Australia became her home almost 30 years ago.Dominique lived in Drummoyne initially and then she’s moved 14 times in the last 20 years.Dominique has two kids. Laura 25, and Sebastian 23.Dominique met her husband 26 years ago in Sydney, but he's from Belgium as well.Together they opened three Belgian restaurant in Sydney that were very popular.In 2008, during the financial crisis, they lost everything they had built in 20 years – three restaurants, a house, and money - and had to start from scratch in 2012.All these events taught Dominique to be resilient. And that's when she connected with spirituality. She did lots of meditation, yoga, and retreats. That's when she really got to know herself and made her strong. It taught her the real values of life.After leaving her husband a month ago, Dominique is starting from scratch at 57 and thinks it's exciting.----more---- INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (auto-generated) Hi, you're listening to the My Body, My Story podcast. I'd like to age gracefully. Like I see some of these, you know, all these full of wrinkles for the strong inside and the inside beauty comes out, you know, and that's how I'd like to be. This is the 45 over 45 chapter where we celebrate Rule Breakers and role models, the women who inspire us to live life our way and to show their sensuality beauty, soul, and true essence. Here we talk about what it's like to be 45 Plus, adjusting to the changes that come with time, and we listened to the stories about participants. If you have an interesting story, we'd love for you to participate. You can email us at [e-mail] That's Aleksandra spelled with a K S. Or visit our website aleksandrawalker.com Hello, everyone, and welcome to the My Body My Story project and today with us Dominique in the studio. And while Nicole is doing her makeup, I'll be asking her a few questions. Hello, Dominique, welcome to the studio. Welcome to the project. And let's start and tell us 10 facts about yourself. Hi, so I am 57 and I'm from Belgium, French speaking, as you can tell, so I moved to Australia when I was in my 20s after backpacking around the world for about 12 months. And I basically fell in love with Sydney straightaway and I wanted to live there. So a year later, I moved to Sydney, I was lucky I was in it and it was easy to get the permanent residency when I moved. So I got a job straightaway and I felt home. So basically, Australia became my home almost 30 years ago. So where did you move to which city? I moved to Sydney. And I was in Drummoyne initially and then I've moved 14 times. Oh my in the last 20 years. Wow. Okay, in 20 years, it's still fine. Yeah, it's still a lot almost every year. Oh, well, yes. years. You know, when you rent you have to. Usually they kick you out after a year or I just wanted to live somewhere else. And I know you mentioned earlier you lived in Queensland. Well, I moved to Queensland just three years ago, after 25 years in Sydney, I wanted a bit more nature and quietness and affordability. So I moved to Queensland with my husband and we also kicked the kids out of the house. And so we're like, let's just get an apartment in Queensland and by the beach. And we did. How many kids do you have? So I have two kids. Laura 25, Sebastian 23. And Laura's in Europe at the moment doing ski season and you know, working there and Sebastian finishing his university in Newcastle, so they're everywhere. So but now we are doing it in Sydney. Have you moved back to Sydney? Yes, yes. I love Sydney. It's, it's, it's a good city. Better than Queensland? No, no, I love Queensland. I love Queensland. I will go back there eventually. But for now, I'm hoping to have a few more years in Sydney and meet new people. No, no, this is like the third stage of my life. And I'm excited to start it all alone. And start from scratch. Basically, you know, I left my husband a month ago, packed the car drove to Sydney, staying with a friend so I have no more husband no has no job. I left my job as well. So it's like completely starting from the scratch from scratch at 57 I think it's exciting. it's very brave. Yes, yes. But no regrets. Nope. No regrets, I'm actually more excited than regretful so but you mentioned that you start a new job very soon. Are you still in IT or you're doing something else? I know I'm, I'm still in IT consulting. So I wanted to do I've actually studied to do life...