Kite Girls Camp in Tarifa

You’re probably wondering how can a water sport save a life. Let me tell you a story. Let’s go back in time. April 2018, to be exact. I was working in London, in the beating heart of the city. 12 hours a day at least, with an “always-on” policy. I was waking up at 5 am, to be at the gym by 6 am and at the office by 8 am. Like this, even a “never an early bird” kind of person, like me, could avoid the overcrowded Northern line. Clapham Common - Bank. My usual commute. This is what hell looks like, look it up. The work stress was skyrocketing. I thought what I needed was to fill my schedule with tension-releasing activities. I started to train for a half-marathon, and I was seeing a personal trainer twice, sometimes three times, per week. I was following a strict diet regime, with meals delivered to my door, made exactly to match my macros and calories. Was I happy? Hell no. But I thought I was doing was I was supposed to. With degrees from two of the most recognized business schools in Europe, what else should I be doing, if not killing myself in an office? "I'm building my future". I was racing towards what I thought to be the best version of myself. Ignoring what was the real one. All the weekdays were going by like this, every day the same. I was only waiting for the weekend to come. And while my colleagues were drowning their pains in a pint, I would often seek relief in nature. I would take a train early Saturday morning, to be able to complete 25 km hikes before sunset. The English countryside is beautiful. Hard choice to make, pints or hikes. I was feeling alone. And isolated. Drinking is social. 6 am trains, a little less. But I needed to hide from noise and crowds. After the initial thrill of the new job was gone, I was left but wondering: is this really what I want? What it seems an easy answer now, it wasn’t then. It was hard to digest: I couldn’t handle the pressure and the rhythm of the city. “They built me like that. I need to be OK with this”. I kept repeating myself. A year and a half went by, until one day. That day in April 2018. All a sudden my mouth started to tingle, the room started spinning around me. And this awful feeling of not being able to breath. Like something was pressing really hard on my chest. My hands were shaking. I stood up from the desk and ran to the office canteen. A colleague of mine saw me in distress and, after seeing me visibly in shock, told me: “Giulia, try to breathe. You’re having a panic attack”. There was not a single event that day that provoked it. I can’t pinpoint one in particular. My manager was out of office, and I was left to handle all our projects. No problems for me, I thought. I actually enjoyed the challenge! But my mind had different plans. That morning, all our clients were trying to reach me via different channels. The phone was ringing incessantly, my inbox was burning, my WhatsApp messages too. And all of a sudden, it was just too much. That summer I booked my first kitesurfing course, and I finally discovered what really made me feel alive. I made a promise to myself that I would build a career on this, and 2 years later, I moved to Tarifa to become a kitesurfing instructor. My mission is to get you closer to nature, and to yourself, through kitesurfing. Help you disconnect from the daily stress, do something for yourself, discover and build a healthy new passion, learn something new. Let's get you on the board!