ABOUT THE FOUNDER
ABOUT GIVING IT BACK
Hi, i’m Elaine. Thanks for taking the time to read and find out about Giving It Back.
A few things on my work and life CV that keep me inspired, learning and dreaming big - Artistic Director of 4Motion Dance Theatre Company, Teacher, Choreographer, (once upon a time) Dancer, Yoga and SUPYoga Teacher, Dance Leadership Tutor, Creative Learning Facilitator, This Girl Can Ambassador, Clore Emerging Leader 2015 Graduate, Ladies Who L-EARN Mentor, Triathlete, Ironman (lady!), a happy camper, lover of all things creative, the great outdoors and epic adventures. Love Her Wild blogger and online author (@loveherwild - check them out, seriously cool team of kick-ass female advenuturers telling their inspiring stories)
The ethos of Giving It Back (GIB) is simple...
GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO A COMMUNITY FOR FREE
Volunteer, offer your skills or experience to someone or an organization. Teach a yoga class, run a workshop, offer support, tell your stories, listen to others – give something back how ever big or small.
GET CREATIVE Break the norm and do something different, get creative and have fun with how you can enjoy and embrace life! As Einstein said - “Creativity is intelligence having fun”- so lets get creative and have fun!
GET ADVENTUROUS Get outside, try something new, soak up the vitamin D sunrays (come wind, rain and sunshine, with sun cream on too!) and have fun exploring and learning about this beautiful world we live it.
MEET PEOPLE GIB is all about the people we meet along our creative adventures - people we meet when volunteering, the people who inspire us on our journey, and the people who become friends.
PASS IT ON Once you’ve given something back to a community, encourage them to pass it on. Create conversations and a buzz about adventures, and spread the GIB word – lets get more people creative, and adventuring, and embracing life, AND giving something back to communities. - think how much fun this will be?!!
WHERE DID GIB START?
Indonesia 2015 – I was volunteering for the wonderful Sjaki-Tari-Us charity (@SjakiTariUs – check them out, they are awesome!) for almost 2 months, and found myself journal doodling and dreaming big…….
A Wanderlust moment to adventure echoes in my mind - hold tight, press pause, does this mean a life without love?! The surge of wanting to escape to the unknown bubbles, to nurture my adventurous soul and excite the senses once more, but will this hinder my dreams to "be the change you want to see in the world", my inner Gandhi asks?! My equilibrium has been stirred to question what I thought I felt, I knew, could be, should be. My lessons learnt today – honesty with oneself and others can liberate the soul to make room for a life full of love, kindness and compassion. To really find time to explore your core life values, and
once you’ve unpacked, unraveled and understood these values, grab them with both hands, breathe deep and embrace them every single day. To do more, see more, explore more and simply be.....nothing more than just me.
(Journal doodling; 14th August 2015, Ubud Bali)
EUREKA!! “I WANT TO TRAVEL THE COAST OF ENGLAND! I WANT TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK!”
This was the moment Giving It Back was born; fast forward 1 years and here I am about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime.
SOME RANDOM FACTS!
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Chocolate raisins are my guilty pleasure!
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For my 30th birthday I set up ’30 things to do in my thirties’, pledging to do a charity event every month of 2012. Over £2500 was raised for Brain Research Charity.
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I’ve volunteered in Cambodia, Bali, Lebanon, Lombok, Bosnia and India running performance projects, art festivals, dance leadership courses and creative teacher training for charity staff.
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I’ve paid to get electrocuted more than 7 times! Completed 5 Tough Mudders, 2 Tough Guys, swam the Solent to Bestival Music Festival, ran London and Brighton marathon for charity, and given half a dozen or so of other muddy events a go!
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I love mountains but dislike hills, especially when running or cycling up them! I may need to get over this one!
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I’ve got the triathlon bug - 7 Olympic, 2 half ironman’s, and 1 ironman, but I’m not competitative, have some gear with little idea, and move at a slow and steady workhorse pace!
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Carrot sticks and celery are my favorite party and travel snack!
“If you can dream it, you CAN do it”
A life long motto that has kept me inspired, motivated and dreaming big! Dreaming big has got me to this stage of developing GIB and now making it a reality, so if you can do anything –
keep dreaming!