From Hotsteppers blog to Hotsteppers Experience: my story
At the heart of an era conducive to the creation of blogs and the comments of followers a little suspicious (even jealous) who reiterate "you're really lucky" at arm's length, I held for the first time since the inception from this blog, my blog: Hotsteppers, to tell you the story, my story. The opportunity for me to reveal this new project that sees slowly but surely the day in early summer 2016: Hotsteppers Experience. Sensitive souls, you are welcome.
Hotsteppers: the story
From euphoria to disillusion
In 2009, after studying biology / nutrition engineering and an MBA in international marketing (Canada), I came back to France full of ideas, excited by 7 years of ultra-comprehensive scientific and marketing knowledge. Despite this craze, France was in crisis and reluctant to offer me so easily the long-awaited job. After a long and trying first period of unemployment, it's all in paradox and in response to a disappointing system that I joined the Air Force for 18 months. My physical tests were very good and my record convincing. The wearing of the uniform, the love of the French flag and the surpassing of oneself for a welded collective as well as the permanent association of physical and intellectual challenges seemed to me attractive. Conquered by a memorable training at the Air School where I met great people and lived weeks out of the ordinary but then disappointed by the inertia of the military daily leaving little room for change, it is a new period of unemployment that then imposed on me.
Particularly challenged by years of quest and disappointment, convinced of having no place anywhere, anxious and deeply depressed, I knew the worst . My family has been my essential or even my only support in this moment of profound malaise. Some doctors have tried to make me swallow anti-depressants to make me feel better, but my body and mind have always rejected them. The solution was elsewhere.
I am Zebre
It must be said that since my early childhood, my parents had a verdict concerning me: I was " zebra ". Yes "zebra", this sweet name given to people who are also called "gifted", "HQI", "HP". These individuals IQ out of the ordinary but the sensitivity unparalleled. Inordinate ideals as well as immense affectivity. These men and women, whose brain has been shown to work differently, function differently , thus conditioning a thought system and a way of seeing life with immense lucidity and often deep pain. Being a zebra is as wonderful as it is complicated. As taboo as necessary to reveal. As beneficial to society as subtle and delicate to manage for the entourage. What I was going through in this phase of deep searching (employment but not only), was not really a depression but a painful phase of research.
Then the running ...
That's when I started running. Run more and more regularly, while I hated this "sport" deeply . However, as the weeks went by, each outing became a little easier, a little nicer. The rhythm and sensations offered by running gave me back the structure and support that we sometimes miss so much in this world. I regained taste, I progressed, I went, I relived.
Hotsteppers blog
One summer morning in 2012, at the heart of the London Olympics , I woke up with the idea of creating a blog . An intuition, a desire, an obvious, a flash as I had no competence in the world of the web and social networks. I wanted to create a place to write and share all that running was good and rewarding for everyone in their quest for balance. I locked myself in for several days to understand the wordpress, OVH, and everything related to domain name reservation and customization of a CMS. I pulled my hair but I did not let go.
Hotsteppers was born.
Historically designed as a running blog , Hotsteppers has gradually turned to a growing array of sports . My desire to write for me has slowly turned into a desire to write for us. More and more of you have been following me and waiting for my articles over months, years. My desire for sharing was echoed by you. The brands then became interested in my "support", PR agencies with. I was still looking for a job but I was busy almost full time between writing articles, discovering social networks, product tests and my workouts. And then, my phone rang, announcing an interest for my profile (and my blog). A few weeks later I started anew job in a web agency in Lille . I only stayed 6 months (CDD) but I felt that I was relaunched. Back in Paris I knew that this period should not last too long and I swore to maximize the opportunities for meetings and exchanges to find a job.
A few days later I receive a press invitation to launch a new running brand . I'm not excited but the event takes place in Yvelines, 3km from my parents who welcome me again temporarily. I do not have the right not to go, I made a promise, I hold it. I go to the event without conviction and there I discover a young team, Franco-American, ultra dynamic and "entrepreneurial". I tell them about my blog and my job search without ulterior motives. My words do not fall on deaf ears and some phone calls and interviews later, I find myself at an office in the marketing department of the group, as a new social media manager! It's been 3 years since I moved to this position and I found my balance!
The injury: new test
In 2014, however, a disc herniation marked by the pain and the need to stop any sporting activity came once again put me to the test. I could not run, pedal, swim anymore. I woke up in the middle of the night because of inflammatory flare-ups, and I arrived blown up at work, in front of colleagues sometimes highly intolerant, complaining of my lack of dynamism. I should have stopped but I did not do it. I had to choose again: to reinvent myself or to sink. Despite almost a year of physical and mental pain, I gradually reinvented my daily sports and my vision of the effort. Much more experience-oriented, without excluding the performance but no longer granting it his sometimes oppressive hegemony, it is an even more open, more eclectic vision of the sport that I developed and let through Hotsteppers .
Hotsteppers Experience
The underwater hockey : the trigger ...
During all these years I also met a wonderful person who contributed to my new vision of the sport. Player in France underwater hockey team : this sport little known and absent at the Olympics which brings together athletes with impressive physical condition. Good swimmers, good freedivers, endowed with tactical qualities, the "sub" hockey players train with running, muscu, crossfit and swimming to maintain their performances. I discovered not only a new sport, new people, a whole different mentality than in the running but especially, a place of convergence of multiple sports disciplines .
My mind sparkled: why put barriers when we can build bridges?
The Hotsteppers Experience concept
If my herniated disc is in the advanced phase of healing, I will not be the same sports I was before. Even if I found my cardios and muscular qualities , I changed, resolutely changed. Running is not really the sport that is most recommended to me. I can very well run to maintain my shape as I am advised to swim, pedal, dance ... but I can not do without doubt and no longer want to focus my practice on the running. By natural evolution and respect for my body. I want more than ever to meet sports , disciplines, efforts. Listen to my feelings and train smartly. Renew discoveries and surprises.
Hotsteppers Experience embodies precisely this new impetus and will offer you throughout the year atypical , different, new sports introductions . In a niche of 1h30 to 2h, you will have the opportunity to meet and passionate about their sport. In small groups, the Hotsteppers Experience are now there to offer you a different moment, a real opportunity to let you surprise or even seduce, a wonderful opportunity to open your mind and your sport without setting limits.
If you want to get started, do not hesitate to follow the events posted on the Hotsteppers Facebook page . To those who often think that I have "too much luck", you will find that it has not always been the case and that happiness is never received without a deep and powerful will to reach it, just as it does not is never acquired and cultivated. To you who have read this particular and intimate article to the end, welcome to my world and thank you for being here.