Meet Justina

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justina a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Justina, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

I believe we’re all here on Earth with a certain “mission” to experience and learn certain things. I also deeply believe that everything happens to us for a divine reason, and in turn, things are really happening for us and not to us. So, with these two principal ideas, it’s very difficult to not stay optimistic because life is always flowing in the way that it needs to for us and in the direction it’s meant to.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I studied neuroscience in undergrad and then went on to study naturopathic medicine and acupuncture, meaning I’ve spent a very long time studying – more than 10 years of my life. I’ve worked at several clinics out of school but after getting recently laid off due to “lack of excitement” for my job I’m taking some time to reassess what it is I really want in life and how I go about in getting it. In the mean time, I’m taking a much needed break and learning how to truly rest and do nothing. My true passions are travel and exploration. I’m hoping to be able to incorporate that with health and healing services.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

In order to get through something you need resilience and determination, which I had plenty of it. This is what got me through all those years of school, my early figure skating career, and even some relationships I probably should have gotten out sooner. I also don’t think there’s a lack of these qualities in most people. What we are missing is spark and things that ignite us from within, and that’s what I was missing. I think many people for a very long time were taught to disregard our interests and the things that light us up in favor of a stable life with good income and job security. However, more often than not this pursuit of financial security turns into a boring soulless life with midlife crises and health problems. If you like math and accounting and that’s how your brain works, that’s amazing but if you feel the world in colors and you love to paint or write or sing, there’s plenty of ways to make money on the side while doing things that make you feel truly happy, especially in America. Or you’re the accountant and an opera singer on the weekends. However, you choose to create stability in your life it’s important to never forget the things that make you joyful.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

I love this question because I’m in a very transitional period in my life where a normal job doesn’t work for me. I’m grateful I discovered this very early on, and am leaning into it. I just turned 30 as well, so there’s been a lot of thought about how I want this next decade to look like and how I want to step into it. If I only had a decade to live I would travel in any way that I can, and there’s so many ways – workaway, housesitting, wwoofing, English language teaching programs and so many other ways I may not even know about. I would see the world, lay in the grass, eat pasta in Italy for the first time, take pictures by the mountains, swim in the Mediterranean, work in an olive farm, learn about bees, help someone plant flowers and grow vegetables, fall in love, etc. And then I would write about it, on real paper.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @justinabkaite