Your Happy Hour - Traveling Tribe Vibes

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Welcome back to Your Happy Hour with Friday Feels!This week we kick-started a new theme - Traveling Tribe Vibes - with entrepreneur and nature-connected community builder, Alex Langue, who founded BWild - an organisation and NGO empowering travel, self-discovery and impactful storytelling while raising awareness for the conservation of our beautiful planet. Alex shares how he found himself and the inspiration for this amazing venture by following his passions and love for connecting with others.What are your visions, missions and travel plans? Let’s go wild in 2025! Friday Feels is all about having those honest conversations, the power of community for personal growth and taking those actionable steps towards being our authentic selves.Thanks for tuning in! Keep it raw and real out there xYHH is produced byswartkat.co via the awesome tech platform:riverside.fm

It's the Friday feels and we're back with your first sip of the weekend. You're now tuned in to this week's episode of your happy hour. I'm your host Nicole Carmine and it's amazing to have you here joining me this week as we uncover the truths about being a human and a working professional. What are you up to this Friday? Well whatever it is, this moment is just for you. It's the 31st of January. We're on the cusp of the change from January to the month of love.

As we welcome in February, we're saying goodbye to the theme of authentic community. And we're moving into a very much related theme, an exciting one called traveling tribe vibes. Travel, finding your tribe and feeling all the vibes. That's all the things that we love at Friday Fields. And kickstarting this theme this week, I'm delighted that I can kick off this month with a very special guest and our very dear friend and fellow entrepreneurial spirit, Alex Long.

We share love for South Africa and for nature and all the fields. And Alex, you've also transformed your passion for the wild into an organization, which is bringing awareness to the world about how we as humans connect to nature. And I'm really glad that we're talking about this as we kind of exiting the topic of authentic community, because I don't think there's anything more authentic than animals and nature are all real. And so they're really teaching us about community and also about travel and about being human. So thank you so much for joining us today on the Friday Fields podcast.

It's really amazing to have you here. Well, thank you. Thank you, Nico. I'm really happy to share this moment with you and thank you for inviting me in your podcast. There is a lot of things we can say about nature and the community around it. But yeah, we will try to do our best to cover everything we can today.

Absolutely. So, most people don't know you and where you come from. Maybe you just want to give us a little bit about your journey, what you do. Maybe how did South Africa come across your path and Be Wild organization? Yeah, just tell us a little bit about that. So it's a big story to tell because yeah, so I traveled like, almost my whole life. I went to many, many countries. Once I was an adult and I fell in love with South Africa specifically, a few years ago, because yeah, I could see like all the wildlife over there and the beautiful nature with the animals living in wild areas and it was so magnificent to see. And so I fell in love with South Africa, it was like six, seven years ago. And with a friend, like three years ago, we founded an NGO, a French NGO called

Be Wild, as I said. And we wanted to do more. We wanted to participate to wildlife conservation and be able to help more the communities and the partners that we have today. But at first, I was not really into white love conservation. I have a different path than I took at first. I'm working in IT actually, but yeah, recently, I mean, like years ago, I think I found my passion and I found the way to create what I wanna create in this life and how to live my dreams and fulfill my inspiration.

So yeah, it took me a long time, but right now I'm feeling quite happy with my project and with BY right now. So yeah, it's a big journey for me right now. Oh, that's amazing. Well, we're very privileged to share a little bit of the journey with you here today. What do you feel traveling is for you? What do you feel it kind of meant to you to when we say traveling tribe vibes? What does the topic mean to you?

I know that's something we're always encouraging people to do is travel because you learn so much about yourself that you wouldn't have necessary otherwise. But it's sometimes hard to find those vibes, especially the tribe vibes out there. Yeah. What does that mean and look like for you? Yeah. And especially, I think you have so many ways to travel and yeah, you have so many places you can visit and so many people you can meet in different countries with different cultures. So the world is wide open right now and you can explore in so many ways. But traveling for me is more like an experience at first. You don't really know where you are going, if you are going in a new place or if you are experiencing a new way of traveling, it's just a discovery at first.

And I think the best way for me to travel is just to find a place or find something you want to experience and just go for it at first and you will see what happens. Because you can't really know what's gonna happen happen when you travel far, far away for example or in a different country. But yeah, I think it's more like discovering ourselves in a way also like for example going to South Africa, learning to, for me I'm a French or learning to speak English and to share my vision from my country with others. So it's quite interesting and also it helps you to build confidence and to go and talk with new people from different cultures.

So yeah, I think it's all about discovering ourselves. It's really much the journey of life in different settings, in different places. So I'm intrigued. So you spend a lot of time in South Africa, but really in the parts that I think a lot of people don't necessarily, you know, most people go to Cape Town or yes, the Kruger Park and all that, but you really go into nature in the spaces that are raw you know and so what have you found in terms of animals and I know on your websites on Be Wild you guys speak of like a nature connected community what does that mean and how are people kind of how are you taking people on that journey? Well, I mean, I'm really passionate about nature in general. And I think that at first for me nature, it's all about also getting inspired by what's

going on over there, like how the animals are living their way in the wild areas and how tough is nature sometimes also. You can learn so many things from nature. So this is why I'm more focused on traveling in wild places and in big cities right now. Even before I loved visiting big places and meet new people and new culture. But right now I'm more focusing on wildlife and when I travel it's mostly only to go in wild places. And also what I found is that the people working for wildlife conservation, there are so many great and talented people working for nature and

building solutions for protecting the environment in general. And at first I was like, okay, so maybe there is some humans around this area, but it's more like humans who have something to tell and something to bring in this world. And I was quite impressed at first to meet this kind of people because they are, I mean, it's their everyday life. They are in this area trying to protect what can be protected and also educate all the people coming in these areas. And so for me this is the real life you know it's going over there meeting the people living over there and most of the times they are experts or scientists or photographers or whatever and they have

the experience to give you hopes about how we can protect nature but also they can raise awareness and they can give us advice or the best gesture we can have tomorrow to protect our planet. And what I wanted to do is to share this with the world. I'm like, okay, I know this kind of people, I know this rangers or this guide or this CEO of an organization for protecting the environment. And I wanted to share their story at first, but also like, if you can meet these people

as I met them and have their experience and speak with them and be educated and have more ideas for you, I mean, it's the best for me to bring to the community, you know. And we can, I mean, we built a community at BeWild. We are sending our volunteers, we are sending people who want to learn some stuff also, because you can have some training over there for the students who want to develop their skills in particular areas.

So yeah, it's quite interesting to see, like, you can build a community, even if it's far, far away, you can build a strong community because people love nature and people want to protect nature and they want to learn more about how we can protect nature. That's exciting. I also want to go volunteer and I want to go back to my own country. I think it's great. You know, you're reminding me, Friday feels very much about having a global working experience, human experience, but I think that the one thing that connects us all is nature. It's really the earth. We're all on here for a reason. And I think that's really beautiful that you are wanting to share the

story. And I know you also do some documentaries. Maybe you can share a little bit about that because I think that's really amazing that you're using storytelling to share the message out there. Yeah, definitely. So at first we funded the NGO too because we are working with partners right over there. And so we wanted to promote them in a way in France and like tell their stories through our platform, through our social networks. And then we found this idea to send them some volunteers to be able to help and also to

educate the people who want to go there. But the more I was developing the NGO and the more I wanted to educate the people who can't necessarily travel. So I found at first different ways to create contents, but the more I was creating contents for the social network, the more I wanted to create real documentaries. Because I love the Nat Geo documentaries, the BBC Wild Lab and everything. Every time I, I, watching some of these kind of documentaries, I'm like, okay, I'm so inspired. I want to do more stuff. I want to be involved more and everything. So I'm like, okay, maybe I'm dreaming now, but

maybe it's going to be the case in a year or two. So I started to work with it with my co-founder and yeah so we did the first documentary two years ago, it was one of my dreams that I did it, I was really happy that I did and we record in Mozambique the bottlenose dolphins, the wild dolphins who are living close to the bay in a small town called Ponta d'Oro. And it was amazing how we could show the interactions between wild dolphins and humans over there because there is a research center working to protect the wild dolphins and so the teams over there are special bonds with these wild dolphins. And I knew about this project a long time ago. There are all my friends over there.

But I wanted to kind of build like a small production and create a documentary around it. And so we did it with like a talented South African filmmaker. Actually he's South African and French, so it was kind of funny to work with him. And so it's like a seven minutes video, you can see it on YouTube on our profile, but it's really how I envision nature

and humans in nature also. And so since this production, I'm like, okay, I want to do more, I want to do more production, more documentaries. So I'm working with different other filmmakers right now. Actually, we have a new documentary released on next month, on February. So it's a bigger documentary, so we worked more and more on it but it's

going to be about a rehab center like you have a center when we have injured animals or lost animals and this center is taking care of these animals before releasing them in the nature and so it's going to be a full documentary on them. I saw the image already, it's magnificent. And I'm quite happy also to release it. And we have more and more project now around, yeah, small production. And we can use this content to different parts in France. For example, we are working with schools, we are

working with companies, we are doing some events throughout the year so we can also promote this content in different areas so it's quite nice to see it and and just seeing the people watching the documentaries and having the feedback, it's fulfilling. Super rewarding. And I'm so excited. I think this is now very timely that we're having this conversation and your next documentary is coming out.

So we'll definitely showcase that to our audience as well. I'm quite curious, what is the feedback in France when you're sharing here? I know Be Wild's website is mostly French and obviously my Google Translate can put it in English if it needs to. What is the feedback that people are giving about what you're doing and are people wanting to travel more? At first at first it's like, okay, is it possible to do this kind of travel? I'm like, yes, of course you can do it. It's just like you just need to know the good project to go over there. So this is why we are working tight with projects in different countries because it's really

difficult to find a good project in wildlife conservation. You have everything on the market right now. But we are going every year in South Africa and different countries just to check on our project and see how it goes. And we are only working with the organism which has the same values than ours. It's really important. And so we can provide a good quality project for our community. And yes, so at first it's like, okay, maybe I'm a little bit afraid to be, you know,

surrounded by animals or to go far, far away from my country or to do this and that. But our teams are most of the time over there already. So it's kind of easy to show them what's going on and what's going to happen if you go there. What are you going to do? For example you are in a natural reserve surrounded by elephants and lions. How are you going to work over there? What are you going to learn? And it's all about giving as much information as possible. When they decide to do the first step and to book the travel and to go over there, every time it's like, okay, the first day it's more like an adaptation, but at the end of the

journey it's like a different people coming back to France because you lived a special experience, you also can see the reality of things because we know now that animals have less and less places to live but you can see also the solutions. And so you can come back with more hope, but also you can educate the people around you. So most of our volunteers who went for a project over there, they come back and they are like ambassadors, you know, they are giving some voice to wildlife conservation. So it's quite interesting to see. And we have some who want to come back and they already did actually. And this is how we build a community, I think.

It's more like finding people with the same values and keep the community active in a way, because for example, this year we're gonna sell more and more projects, we have more organizations that we want to work with, and so we're gonna promote other projects in this way. But yeah, it's always, like I can see it's a big step for most of the people, but once they did it, it's like you traveling for the first time in a country.

For whoever's listening, highly, highly encourage, first of all, from Africa, I'm obviously biased, but second of all, just put yourself out there. And there are these amazing communities and tribes and you know things like what you're providing Alex out there that can help people feel a bit more safety within a community as well as go and experience something amazing in nature and Yeah, it's just nature is just such a animals have such a beautiful way to communicate the spirit of being human, I think. And you keep mentioning partnerships and organizations and obviously, you've alluded to the fact that you didn't always do this and you obviously mourn to IT. So I know

a lot of people listening are probably wondering the same as me. How has the journey been into being more of an entrepreneur, building this organization, having those partnerships and organizations that you can work with? What have the challenges been? Has it been an easy ride to set it up or sure not? You saw my face, I think. But yeah, I have to say it's not an easy task, for sure. Being an entrepreneur, it's an everyday job. You need to find ideas, you need to tackle some challenges most of the week but it's also rewarding in a way when it's moving forward when you can do even if it's baby steps to you know what you

what your vision is it's always rewarding. So yeah it's been a long journey for me because like I think I built my first company more than 10 years ago as a freelance. I didn't know nothing about how you can build a company. I'm not like a paper guy doing the accounts or just signing the papers for me it's a lot. But I think you learn more and more each day along the way. The thing is to being an entrepreneur is for me it's to like living your dreams and your passion in a way and if you are passionate about what you are doing, it's kind of easy to move forward and do a thing after another.

But you have like your roller coaster of emotions, sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down. And I think you learn also to deal with it. You learn a lot about yourself also also what you are capable of. You develop new skills and you just sometimes need to take a step back and just seeing you living as a new human, I would say, doing your new project and building new stuff. It's good to find a balance also between your project and your personal life because sometimes like I had like hard times already like you I'm sure Nicole you had this also like sometimes nothing is working.

You are waiting for I don't know like emails or for phones or for other things but nothing is working and I think you need to be able to step back and just let the things go for a while and you can come back after and have more ideas and more creative things. But yeah, it's a long journey. I'm still in progress, I would say. But I'm feeling much more better than at the beginning because when you have a project you want to do, you see the mountain but you just find a way to do the first step. So it's quite, yeah, the beginning is not that simple, but once you do the first step, after that, it's getting more and more easier to move forward. Also, I think the most important thing for me is to not be alone in this kind of project. It's always good to share your journey with people around you

because we are human, we need connections, we need to share our ideas. Like, are we going in the right direction or are we finding new problems and we just don't know how to tackle them. So it's always good to have people around you to just give you some more space and give you maybe new ideas. I think my best idea that I had was from the people around me and they didn't even know it was a good idea. and they didn't even know it was a good idea. I didn't tell them. But I always...

If you are a good B-Seller, if you can see the signs around you, you can do great in your project, whatever it is, even if it's a small project or maybe a huge thing you want to accomplish in life. I think it's worth it. At. I think it's worth it. At the end it's worth it.

All the energy, all the passion, all the steps you can, all the problems also because every problem is like a lesson. You can see you growing in your project and it's quite amazing. And as always, it's quite amazing. It is always, it's not an easy journey. I read something this week that really stuck with me and it's coming up now as you were talking that the universe doesn't really meet you at the peak of where you're at. It meets you at the bottom of your surrender.

It's really that, you have to kind of give in and let flow happen. And like you say, sometimes you're waiting for funds, you're waiting for email, whatever it might be. And it's really tough and really teaches you to step back and realize that you have to have faith and something animals do so beautifully together. Oh, yeah. Unity is they have a lot of faith and they also communicate in beautiful telepathic ways that we have forgotten we can do I think so you you kind of

were alluding a little bit to this but obviously ten years ago you didn't think you would be doing what you're doing today in this way no no not at all I was I was so far away from everything I'm doing right now. Yeah, I mean, I think it's been just a few days I wanted to be where I am today. But yeah, I think 10 years ago I was more like finding myself. You know, I was more like, okay, what I want to do with my life. I was really struggling in like, is this it? Or is there more I could do in life? But

yeah, I mean, going back to the beginning of the discussion, traveling helped me a lot, for sure. It's when I traveled that I found my first passion, is nature and nature gave me the first inspiration about building the first project, building BeWild actually. But it's like it's something that I was something that I was looking for in a way because it's when you find inspiration you have your creativity starting to work you know and, you have your creativity starting to work. Once you have your creativity working every day, you feel different emotions within you. When you feel this emotion, you feel your purpose. This purpose helps you to build great things at the end.

I didn't know that I could create a documentary, I didn't know that I could work with South African organizations from where I live in France. If you told me on paper like okay Alex you in 10 years you will do this, you will do that, you will create an NGO, you will build a community and everything. I was like, no, no way. No way. But it's helped me also to because so right now I'm tackling bigger challenges and it's helped me to see that I can do it also. And so it gives me confidence in doing bigger things because I know, I don't know how, maybe not yet, but I know I can do it somehow. Yeah, you've proven to yourself, you have kind of a track record to go back to and look back and say, okay, look at where I was, look at where I am now.

Yeah, it's really true. And I don't know why this analogy keeps coming up, and it's the worst analogy for this talk, but it's a true statement that you eat an elephant bite by bite. You can't consume the whole one. Anyway, no more eating of elephants. But it's just true that projects need to be broken down and you have to move little by little. I've also learned that a lot. I have all these big ideas and it can be extremely overwhelming if you don't break it down into

steps and just start, like you say, from the inspiration and then let the universe guide you because we're often so worried about the how that we forget about the why, I think, you know, and then you get lost. So yes. And so also the how is you need to accept the how will change. No matter how you want to control the how it's going to change. Like from the beginning, we changed so many things in the project. At first, it was difficult to let it go, but the world is changing so fast.

So you need to be able to adapt also. And I think being an entrepreneur, it's also about adapting and it's also about finding new ways, be open to new things and also be aware of your surroundings because you can learn so much things around you and if you are open to this you will do well whatever happens. Yeah, love that. And so as you journey through everything you want to do and obviously with Be Wild and everything else you're working on, a year from now, where do you see yourself? Well, I mean, if I can say six months, it's good, but one year, it's far, far away.

One year, I mean, we, for sure we have more things we want to do. What we learn also about building a community with my co-founder, it's to show your human side more. It's like showing yourself more and be able to connect more with the community. So what we want to do is to tell our story to the people as much as we can and be everywhere, on social networks, at events, doing some conference or some talks. Because I think right now we have a story to tell and it's also good for people to like to know who we are in a way and how we built the project. It's not an easy exercise of course because we are not really good at this at the moment

but we are willing to learn and willing to, you know, we need to adapt. So we are willing to do this. But yeah, what we want to do is to build a stronger and bigger community. So right now, yeah, I think in a year it will be, yeah, maybe more in this area and also producing more contents and get more funded because in the wildlife conservation the biggest problem is money. So we are working with all these organizations which are lack of money, definitely. So we need to find new ways to involve not only the community but other actors around the projects. And so this is something also new for us and I'm sure we're going to learn a lot of things. So if we can be there in a year, like being stronger and having more backups would be really nice. Oh, well that's very exciting and however Friday feels as a global community and

experience can help with bringing awareness and yeah I know funding is always the hard part of all of this, with any project, but yeah that's really great and it is important to tell your story and I was chatting to someone else on your happy hour recently about stories and how life, we understand our lives through stories and we want to see people explore life in their own stories and that inspires us so I'm glad you guys are doing that, I'm glad you're telling your stories and that you could come and share that here today. So I'm curious in your journey and your story, and you and I offline have obviously spoken about this a little bit.

What has been that thing that's kept you going, that's kind of helped you along your story, that's given you some inspiration to keep going, some advice that you can give our audience? Yeah, well, I think it's more if you have a strong vision and if you like your vision, it's more... My vision is all about my passions. Nature is my passion and working with great people, talented people about why life is mine. Also, connecting with human is also one of my biggest pleasures in my project. And so, yeah, I mean, it's just, at the end, it's just enjoying the journey, you know. It's all about connections, it's all about meeting new people and creating stuff together. Like, for example, this year, we're going to create a comic book, our first comic book with talented writers, Vincent.

And it's also like a small dream of mine to create a comic book. And we will do this this year. And we have so much stories that we can tell in this book. And I'm quite happy to do this and it's more like you know enjoying the rides and be with people and creating things together and growing together. When I see like people around me getting inspired or having ideas to build some stuff also alongside us. It's always a pleasure to see this and also sharing all we can, all the things we are

doing with the project. It's also a good feeling. So it's quite easy. There are so many things. I think once you find your dreams, your passions, it's easy to move forward. It's also more like, okay, what's the end of it? There is no really an end, but what you want to do with your life, what you want to achieve in your life, and what makes you happy also? Just seeing an elephant or lion, it makes me happy.

It's simple as that. So I want to see them growing and having some space. And for the future generations also, I want to have this for them. I think it's amazing what you guys are doing. So just keep going. and I'll definitely read the comic book and I'm so I'm giggling to myself because often when I walk here in the streets of Paris I see these comic book shops and it's not I haven't seen it anywhere else I just think the French love comics you know know, it's such a beautiful thing. I mean, so very excited for the comic book. Please do let us know so that we can tell

everyone on the socials and for everyone listening out there. Yeah. What are you feeling about your your traveling plans for 2025? Have you found some kind of tribe? Are you feeling the the bug of travel biting you? Reach out to Alex, we'll definitely share everything. And yeah, just very quickly, where can people find you? So we have a website of bewild.org, B-W-R-L-D. So it's all in French, but we are translating the website right now. So we want, but we are translating the website right now so we're going to have the website in English soon, I hope. But also on social networks, we are on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn also. And so you can reach us like anytime we are here. We are giving you all the information you need to travel safely and to have a big impact when you travel, which is really important these days. And also having the best experience

you can have with us. Love it. We definitely will share that. And I hope I can join in one of your journeys very soon. And talking about travel, I just quickly want to do give a little spotlight on the fact that we are actually a traveling podcast. Maybe I've started traveling a little bit less now, but for the last season. And now, a thank you to our partner and our co-adventurer really on this journey,

our co-pilot in Riverside FM for making this possible. Thank you for helping us give content out there so in the happy hour and being able to host a whole lot of projects that are still coming. So if you are a content creator, a podcaster or a YouTuber of any kind of sorts, do check out Riverside FM. And they've given us a very special discount for our community. So feel free to DM us on Instagram at fridayfields.co and we'll send you the discount code.

And then I also just want to give a quick shout out, something new we're doing, Alex, is a shout out to our people, places and spaces that give us inspiration or we feel like we have found the feels with them. So something really interesting came across my path is a lady called Leo Hibbert and I want to give a quick shout out to her. Speaking about finding what we want to do in our lives and our mission and vision, I think sometimes we all struggle with that, you know, and we look to other people to kind of guide us and sometimes that's a healer or a therapist or some kind of career coach. And Leo is really doing something amazing from a healing and health perspective and I had the pleasure of having a numerology report done by her recently.

And it just gave me so much perspective. Sometimes we forget that our name, our birth date, and all of that also has a frequency. It has an energy that it carries. It's so important in life. So thank you for the insights that I got from that. It's really helped me in my path. And we'll put it in the socials as

well so you guys can check it out. And she's just doing the most amazing sound healing work as well. So thanks Leo for what you're doing and we love your feels. And then I want to move into a little section we do each week and that's called the James. Now it's really just a space of gratitude and the things that we experienced in the week that might have stuck with you. So I'll start and you can share if you want, Alex. But this week has really been two things that come to mind for me are the appreciation of crafts. I started knitting again just to keep my hands busy and out of my mind. It reminded me a lot of growing up and with my grandmother.

My scarf that I'm knitting is definitely by no means perfect. In fact, I have no idea how this shape has turned into what it is, but I really enjoyed the process. It's been wonderful to get my hands dirty, so to speak, in the wool and all of that. And then another thing that's come up for me is talking about all these projects, you know, as you say, seeing something develop. I've had a lot of projects and things that have really taken a long time to come into fruition and it's been so lovely to see the hard work being paying off and yeah just kind of another boost of motivation for to keep persevering. Sometimes you know you start something and you you're so impatient to see the end result and it might take years, might take years to get

there so that was really a gem for me a lot lot of new things, a lot of amazing positive things are happening in that space. So yeah, how about you? How has your week been? Well, it was a busy week, but a good busy. But yeah, I mean, this week was for me special because it's like, for me, it's like the first week of the year. It really started this week.

Before it was like everything going slow and nothing was moving but this week was yeah it was the start for me and yeah I had so many calls with all the people that I want to work with this year and it was so great how everyone was involved or wants to do things within the project. So I'm really grateful for all the support and all the talented people around me that I met throughout the years. And it's all about having a community and having connections with people. This project and I can see, I mean, this is why I do this, you know, it's like, like I said,

it's like just building things with people and having fun. So yeah, this week was all about it and it's like, it's launching the year for me. So yeah, really grateful for that. Well, really glad to hear it's a good busy. And then I also want to know, while you're busy doing all these things, you probably have to find some time to fill your cup. And I know one way of doing that is reading. And we've spoken about some books that we've shared with each other, but we'd like to share with our community what is in the stack. Now the stack is like our reading room, our inspiration

that we find through books that we know about or recommended to us, maybe that you've read. So what's in your stack at the moment? Well, I'm not reading at the moment. I'm just finding my new books to read. But yeah, the last book that I read, I read it so much. This book, I like it. I'm trying to read it once a year.

It's The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Because for me it's always important to live the moment and to be present as much as possible. And so it's just like a reminder for me to stay present and to enjoy everything that we do in a day, for example. I like reading this book once a year because every time I read it, it's different. Because I can see me changing. And when I read this special book for me, it's always a pleasure to see that I see things differently and in a better way.

It's interesting how we change and then the way we read things changes. I feel like there are a lot of books from our childhood days we should probably read again and see what comes up for us. Oh yeah, definitely. Écartole is a great, great inspiration. And I might have my facts wrong, but I feel like he sat on a bench for about two years, really just trying not to think, and then came up with all these insights, right? Yeah, yeah, and he had a tough life.

He was really in a big depression at the moment. And this is after he was touching the bottom that he got inspirations to feel better and to... So, he was studying, reading a lot. I think he was getting passionate about how he can't help people around him. And so, yeah, it's a great inspiration for me, his life and his world and what he's doing. He's like a master for me. How to live your life just with fun and enjoying every step of the way. Yeah, it's a good inspiration for me. That's amazing. Yeah, no, he's really amazing and I should read that book again.

It's been a long time since I picked it up. So thank you. We'll definitely add it to the stack. And so head over to the website and you can click on it there and get the book. And yeah, thanks Alex. Thank you for coming to share with us today. And it's really inspiring what you're doing. And I love how you just following your dreams

and your passions and yeah, just taking one step at a time. I think that something you probably also learned from nature and from traveling. And yeah, thank you for inspiring everyone to come and see South Africa and just anywhere else. Mozambique, you mentioned Mozambique and I've been to Pont-Aleure, it's a very special place. So if anyone is considering Mozambique, definitely check that out as well.

Oh yeah, definitely. Well, thank you, Nico. It was a great pleasure to share ideas and grow together with people. Thank you for giving me this space. I hope I can connect more people in this way and give some small inspirations to the people who want to build something for them and for nature or for the people among them. Love it. Thanks Alex. If you haven't just yet, follow Friday Feels on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn. You can share with us all your feels this week by tagging us at fridayfeels.co week by tagging us at fridayfields.co and you can also find the website at that handle. And now as you ease into this weekend take a moment, celebrate who you've become, what you've overcome and what is yet to come as you do the crazy

and cool things that you do as the authentic you. You know the truth about life and work is that it's hard but the beauty is this global working experience that you're in while we are in it together. So keep connecting, empowering and inspiring this week and of course keep it raw and real. Until next time.