We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nadine Maldonado. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nadine below.
Nadine , we sincerely appreciate you joining us today and agreeing to talk about some very personal topics. So, to kick things off, let’s talk about a tough one – divorce. Can you talk to us about how you overcame divorce?
I have such a loaded answer. Truthfully divorce became me in the beginning. I lived and breathed the pain of it everyday. I was with my husband for 15 years. We met when I was 18. So to say my entire identity and being was being his wife, the mother to our kids, and being the center of the life we created that held everything together was a role I took on and I honored it, and I didn’t know who Nadine was outside of that. Yes I created a business, and something for myself during that time, but at the end of the day my most favorite title was wife and mom! So when everything happened and I found out about the betrayal and infidelity going on in my marriage, I looked at myself and said you failed! There was so much toxic behaviors that I dealt with and hurtful words that were said to me leading up to confirming what was going on in my marriage, that I truly believed I was at fault, and if I wouldn’t have tried to become more for myself and my family and I would have remained the 18 year old girl he fell in love with, then none of this would have happened. However, I forgot one big FACT! That a relationship is a partnership, you give and you take, you compromise, communicate, you protect, understand, you lift one another up, amongst many other things and at the end of the day the deal only works if both parties are in it! I saw my husband disconnecting for about 6 months prior to finding out about the infidelity, and I tried to get him to talk and unfortunately everything came back to me being insecure, crazy, and allowing my childhood traumas effect our marriage. So even though when I confirmed everything I knew I was so broken. How could someone who promised to protect and love me? Would plaster all over the world how amazing we were. Would tell me he’s always got me. Do this to me! & I played that what if game, what if I didn’t try to become more? What if I didn’t try to create more? What if I just did it the way he wanted me to? What if I cooked and cleaned more? Could I have saved my marriage! Then I finally said enough!! Someone who loves you, but most importantly loves themselves wouldn’t do this another person. So I had to forgive myself first, for all the things I felt I didn’t do enough of! Then I started to come back to my identity, and learned self worth again! From one day to the next him and I became strangers. I didn’t know him or this version of him anymore, and for months I tried to get him to realize what he was doing was wrong, until I had a moment and said, Nadine you have been trying to make this man better for 15 years, and you have to see you cannot fix him or anyone for that matter. So I had to let go of the version of him that I knew he could be. I had to face the hurt and pain he put me through for years and what I came to find out through therapy and working with healers is that I was emotionally and verbally abused for years, and all of these labels he put on me like, loser, crazy, insecure, stupid f***ing bi*** were NOT ME! I wasn’t any of those things. I asked God to help me heal layer by layer, but in the same sense I wanted to connect with others and let them know they were not alone. So as I started to heal I shared the journey through my social media stories. Many men and women started to reach out and connect, so now my healing became bigger than me. My kids started to see the work I was doing on myself, journaling, talking, praying, self care, becoming independent and one night my 9 year old son came to me and said you are the strongest woman I know. I don’t believe overcoming divorce has a timeline, it’s grief , while navigating a life you never really planned for. But it’s possible, you have it in you, and you have to say now is the greatest time to heal and become!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I started a Network Marketing business 7 years ago. I joined a company that helped me tremendously in my own personal goals and through that I created a business that allowed me to leave my corporate job, help many men and women get healthy, and mentored others to create their own business. Through that opportunity I went on to opening 5 cafe like brick and mortars and mentored many others on how to do the same. I’ve made it to the top 6% of the company and I believe that this company will always be the vehicle of opportunity for me. It’s given me so much insight, development, and knowledge. Since my separation with my husband I have shifted a bit as I feel like I was being called to do something more, Gods work is what I like to call it. I started learning more about trauma recovery, and other business fields. When I became a single mom I left with nothing, unfortunately the bank accounts were cleared out, I lived with my kids in one bedroom at my parents for 11 months. So really starting from the bottom. I felt like God was taking me all the way back so I could create the way I was meant to. I told God my desire was to become, not to get. I didn’t want to focus on the accolades or awards or money in the bank, but I want to serve and work in purpose. My divorce will be finalized Sept 1St, but for the last 16 months I have silently worked on some new projects that still tie into health and wellness, but on a deeper level. There are certain things I struggled with, self identity, self care, and financial wealth and I came to find out a lot of people struggle with the same thing. So I’m creating a business and coaching program that involves all of the three.
In the midst of my becoming, I heard God say to me write the book. I have been journaling for 12 plus years and my life has quite the events. So the day of my final hearing for my divorce my online ebook will be launching Healing From Within! It’s about overcoming childhood traumas, how to connect our dots looking back, and how to heal into who are to become!
You can follow me on TikTok about all things Trauma Recovery @lifeasnadine_ .. this is a project I’ve struggled mentally with cause I didn’t want to become a place of bashing my ex, so I’ve started and paused this many times. I’m at a place now where I can give the knowledge and truly help people heal, in hopes that no one gets butt hurt over it, but if I keep thinking of protecting everyone else, I’ll stop myself from helping the people who need it.
I will still be focusing on health and wellness connecting mind body and spirit and sharing the life of my 2 kids & I and how God plays into our lives as that is the core to everything for me, on IG @lifeasnadine_
& to promote financial wealth and knowledge, follow @nadineintampa this project is still developing so I won’t say to much about it, but I know this part of the journey will be one everyone can benefit from when it comes to investments.
Oh & my podcast, Win from Within with Coach Nadine .. relaunching Sept 1St! I’ve been recording new episodes and I can’t wait for you all to listen to them!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Take time to get to know yourself. I was such a people pleaser, still kinda am that I had no boundaries. Because of that I left very little room for Nadine and her wants and needs. Ask yourself, what do you want in life? What kind of people do you want in your life? What is it going to take for you to get there? Anything that doesn’t align with this, get rid of it. It’s going to be hard if you are a people pleaser, but once you see the benefits of it, you feel and see the reward!
I heard this in a sermon by Sarah Jakes Roberts, she said, when we go through traumas we want to get rid of what’s leftover from it, but the leftovers are what push us to that new beginning. If I wasn’t left with all this hurt and pain after my marriage I wouldn’t be creating all that I am. Your pain is your power, but you also cannot live in the pain. You’ve gotta heal, gotta align, and gotta believe!
Connect to a higher power. For me it’s God, I asked God in October 2022 that I want him so close to me and for him to take control of every aspect of my life. I pray for discernment daily and I listen for his voice. I don’t want to create my life out of my own wants and needs, cause if I do it will be based on selfishness. We were all sent here with a purpose and many of us our lost souls waiting to be found, but if you allow yourself to get connected and aligned, God never promised it would be easy or all champagne and bubbly, but his promise is worth it! So every test in life, and I talk about this in my book Healing from Within, has always lead me to a greater destination.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Collaboration is the key to success, so BIG YES! I love to work with the underdogs, the people who feel they have a small voice but make a huge impact when they speak. I don’t care the size of your platform, or where you are at in your business journey, I think as we tend to grow we forget that we all started with a vision and at negative bank accounts, systems, and sometimes very limited belief. I want to connect with likeminded individuals, who can add value into not just my life, but my audience as well. If you have a story to tell, please reach out to me! Email me at [email protected] or DM on IG @lifeasnadine_ and reference this article.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lifeasnadinecoaching.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifeasnadine_?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maldonado.nadine?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Other: Podcast relaunching Sept 1st https://open.spotify.com/show/5RJvzpkIRQrFrX77dXLD3A?si=IbwLsNazSPW0T_-SYf1FIA Tik tok @lifeasnadine_
