A powerful journey
Monica Alfing has travelled a lot in her life, but it’s the internal journey that she believes is the most important.
Monica Alfing has travelled a lot in her life, but it’s the internal journey that she believes is the most important.
A public speaker and coach for women, Monica is out to change the world, one woman at a time.
Originally from the Netherlands, Monica and her husband moved to Phillip Island six years ago, where she runs Her Amazonian Health, offering both business and holistic health coaching, as well as nutrition and fitness advice.
“Every woman has this inner strength, I call it her inner Amazonian strength,” Monica explains.
“I motivate women to find their voice, to find the person they were meant to be.”
She believes when a woman finds her inner strength, there’s a ripple effect.
“When you make yourself better, you make things better for everyone around you.”
Whether a woman is working, running a business, in politics, at home raising a family – or a combination of these – Monica is passionate about helping women find more in life.
“It’s about that fire inside, and empowerment. It’s okay for women to be nurturing, sweet and strong. We can have it all,” she said.
Raising up women is not about men “being less” she stressed.
“It is a balance, a yin and yang. If we empower women and raise our daughters to be amazing women, there will be more equality in everything.
“For years in so many cultures women are suppressed, beaten, discriminated against. Every woman knows or has had a situation where they weren’t feeling comfortable – someone made them feel less, or touched them a certain way,” she said.
“Not every man can say that. Because of those experiences, women get stronger. We get to know ourselves more and we can use that.”
Empowerment
As part of her belief in women’s empowerment, Monica has contributed a chapter to a new book – “A Woman’s Journey to Empowerment”.
The women in the book share their stories of overcoming life’s obstacles and how they used that to fuel their strength and create a powerful and fulfilling future.
Compiled by Tammie Pike, the book is designed to help, encourage and motivate other women to fuel their inner fire.
The two women connected through Monica’s work as a public speaker and when Tammie put out a call for contributions for the book, Monica knew she wanted to be part of it.
“The book has been written by a team of amazing women. They all have businesses but they’re from different cultures, different backgrounds,” she explained.
“They’ve all been through a lot of things and empowered themselves by their stories.”
Monica’s chapter, titled “Her Amazonian Strength”, covers the loss of her father when she was 10 years old and the resulting trauma for her family.
“I loved him, he was a really good dad. After he died, our family pretty much broke. It was a really rough childhood.”
The traumatic loss made young Monica determined to live life to the full – “I didn’t know when I would die”.
“I did everything. I went travelling, worked in bars and clubs. Life for a very long time was travelling, partying and having fun,” she said.
“I had a big fire inside of me. I was mindful about my life, to do good things and get everything out of life.”
She said the chapters contributed by other women have helped inspire her.
“Some of the women are very different from me and I’ve learned from them,” she said.
“They are so strong in their will and what they are fighting for.”
She’s hoping the book will help lift up others.
“I would love people to get out of the book that there is always a way out. There’s always a different life you can create by saying something else to yourself.
“Hopefully people get motivated to make changes, if that is what they need.
“In the book, there are women who survived abusive relationships, or lost a child, but every one of them came out because they made changes.
“It is not always easy, but it is worth it.”
She’s hoping to spread the message of women’s empowerment in the local community.
“There’s a big like-minded community here with a connection to nature. I do feel with the women I’ve worked with on the island, everyone has something beautiful inside of them.
“Finding that magic and fire inside is so important to make all our lives better.”
The book is currently on sale via Monica’s website, as well as the Corner Dispensary and Turn the Page bookshop in Cowes.
Monica is hoping to host some local events to celebrate the book’s release and is currently talking with the Island Story Gatherers about a stand-alone literary event.
She’s also looking at organising an event around Mother’s Day, a women’s festival, and promoting the book through her own women’s network gatherings.
And she has a word of encouragement for all women.
“Be proud of what you’re doing.
“It’s not so much ‘look at me and what I’ve done’, it’s being proud of what you’re good at and what you’ve achieved.
“You only have one life, so why not be proud of it.”
