Reclaiming inner peace after a burnout

Uplifting Your Life

Interview with Astuti Martosudirdjo by Beth Davies

Reclaiming peace within yourself can be an arduous task; one that can take years. With some helpful guidance and advice, it is a sight that suddenly does not seem so unattainable. Following a personal burnout, Astuti Martosudirdjo decided to flip her life, and, rather than focus mainly on corporate success, begin focusing on her wellbeing and her inner peace.

What inspired you to create your own business?

After the burnout I experienced at the end of 2008, my own journey to thriving in life began. I learnt how important it is to stay true to what the inner guidance or intuition is saying to us when we really want to live experiencing inner peace.

I had an undeniable calling to change my career entirely and dedicate myself to growing and supporting others in managing their equilibrium between contributing to something bigger than oneself and self-love and care. This was ignited by the knowledge, wisdom and insights I’ve gained after rising from the burnout, as well as my continuous passion for human and soul development. It’s my decision to say “YES!” to my Ikigai – my mission of inner peace combined with what I love doing; facilitating an accelerated transformational process for others to realise their Ikigai; their purposeful and contented lives.

What did you do before becoming an uplifting life catalyst?

I started to run my own business in 2012 when I built up an executive search company called Almarea GmbH. Prior to this, I enjoyed a successful career working for international organisations (both non-profit and corporates) in the Netherlands and Switzerland, within the human resources sector, as a team- and program-leader, an executive recruiter and a coach. I aided executives in all five continents in propelling their careers forward throughout the years.

In 2016, Almarea evolved to become Uplift My Life Today as I focus solely on helping individuals to thrive in their lives, beyond their career. My choices of work have been a natural progression of who I have become over time.

Who can benefit from your uplifting services?

All my clients have tasted their sweet successes yet right now their hearts desire for something more and different in and from life. They usually come when they feel scattered, depleted, and lost. Their measures of success in the past don’t serve them anymore. These are common symptoms to have when it’s time for them to focus on growing. They either require support to figure out what their priorities are and how to achieve them; or they know what they want yet they need help to let go of their fears and take actions.

I generally work with people who embody either one of  two main categories: achievement addicts and procrastinators. While these may sound wildly opposite, they actually share a number of similarities, which are not immediately apparent. Some traits of an achievement addict include having a large amount of energy and can come across as quite intense, as well as being assertive and passionate. Many are risk takers, with a strong desire to excel in whatever they do. Although these are good traits, they often carry unconscious limiting beliefs of themselves, such as that they are responsible for everything, others are more important than they are and that they must do more than expected to feel loved. The other category, procrastinators, often feel as if they are constantly fighting with themselves about committing to anything, finding it difficult to cope with changes or transition. They believe that if they cannot reach perfection, it’s not worth doing anything at all. These are limiting, as they lead to the feeling that they’re not good enough or that they don’t belong.

Beliefs are part of human’s subconscious mind; they make or break people’s lives. Using methods like Rapid Transformational Therapy and life coaching (among others), I help both groups of people to rapidly upgrade their beliefs and conscious life choices so they immediately show up healthier and more peaceful in their lives.

Where do you turn to look for inspiration?

Nature! Nature has its own cycle and works perfectly (when it’s not being disturbed by humans). It takes time, space, energy and investment for everything to grow and thrive. There’s a perfect design in everything. Resilience exists naturally in all of us; nature is hugely resilient, and humans are part of nature. Observing nature allows me to be inspired, to learn with a more open heart and mind.

Who is the one person you admire most? Why?

My late father, Suwarto Martosudirjo. He was the first person in my life that allowed me to question everything and encouraged me to find my own answers for many things, especially about life skills. He helped me to formulate the questions and digest the data that I collected from my own observations and experience, and from reading books and discussing them with others. He helped me to become an independent thinker and for that, I am grateful.

About Astuti: Born in the UK to Indonesian parents, Astuti Martosudirdjo currently resides in Zurich, after having lived in many other countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand, the UK, Switzerland, the US and the Netherlands. She describes her life as a blend of extreme mixtures: a corporate warrior and business owner, having both eastern and western cultures and mindsets, creative and structured, driven by both intuition and logic, loving being free yet closely connected. Her colourful personality directly matches her colourful life. She decided to make inner peace her life mission and share this with as many people as possible.

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Over the past 2 months, I‘ve had many discussions with individuals who are living their lives with intentions. I listened to the stories of their journeys and reflected together with them what they learned. These people are Go-getters. They take actions daily to live their life intentfully, take risks and leave their comfort zones. I‘ll be sharing these discussions with you starting the next episode of my podcast. This is one thing I can share now (and I‘m in full agreement with them): All of them, with no exception, choose to put happiness and inner peace at the top of their success definition. To experience these regularly, everyday, as often as possible. And all of them continuously ensuring that they fuel their life with uplifting beliefs so as they take actions daily, they regularly experience happiness and inner peace in the journey. This reminds me of a quote from Dalai Lama: “We don’t need more money, we don’t need greater success or fame, we don’t need the perfect body or even the perfect mate. Right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.” #upliftmylifetoday https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathankaufman/2019/05/30/mindset-matters-choosing-happiness-is-fundamental-in-building-corporate-success/

A post shared by Astuti Martosudirdjo (@astutimarto) on Aug 31, 2019 at 12:47am PDT