Nadia Rickmann: My Alchemical Solution—How I Change Risk into Adventure

Born in Madagascar and moving to Switzerland, Nadia had no knowledge of French. She forgot the Madagascan language—Malagasy—in 2 months!  

Everything appeared novel to her, and she lost her memories of Madagascar. She revisited Madagascar with her adoptive family at 15 years of age and she had little care for the poverty she faced personally and in her environment. At 24 this changed. She found that she became highly conscious of her poverty simultaneously with a passion to contribute to the lives of others. 

She appreciates life in Switzerland very much because it allowed her to create her business, “grow, learn and improve.” She has adopted a mindset of self-harmony, especially towards the development of patience which she cultivated through her motherhood with 3 of her own children. 

Many may ask how one maintains the determination required for success and Nadia shares her strategies—ground-breaking yet accessible strategies. 

Her personal experience has formed her opinion on the educational system. She shares why she perceives that the necessity of one’s individual survival is independence at its heart. Develop and intrigue yourself with this unique story of how individuality can be born from experience without allowing the stress of obstacles stop you short of your best life.  

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Having moved from Madagascar to Switzerland, how would you compare the two countries? 

When I arrived in Switzerland, I was five and a half years old. I couldn’t speak French. 3 months later I had to go to school. My adoptive parents told me that I forgot Malagasy (the language of Madagascar) in only 2 months.  

All things were new for me in Switzerland. It was like pushing myself into an ocean!  

I had no memory of Madagascar. Since the moment I arrived in Switzerland, Madagascar has totally faded from my memory. The first time as I went back to Madagascar with my adoptive Family, I was 15 years old. But I was a teenager and one who didn’t care much about poverty.  

We stayed in hotels and ate very well. So, it was still difficult for me as a teenager to compare these two countries. But the second time when I went back there again, I was 24 years old. And there I became really aware of poverty. This is a paradox because when I spent my first five years in Antananarivo, I was in a situation of extreme poverty.  

But it was all erased from my memory! This time I visited the place where I was born. And I really realized how lucky I was to have the right to live in Switzerland.  

I had a great desire to help people, to give love to all these children and I was thinking of solutions to try to eradicate this poverty. But the problem was: when you try to help people, most of the time they just want to receive money and they are not really motivated to do something.  

I agree with giving money but investing it in a job that will then allow them to generate income is better. It was very difficult for me to make them understand my point of view.  

Living in Switzerland has presented huge prospects for me. It was a great opportunity for me to study here. We have a strong economy, and things are well organized. There is no reason for me to complain about anything.  

Here, everything remains at hand for me to develop personally, to create my business, and many doors open for all who would like to grow, learn, and improve. 

To conclude I would say that if I had stayed in Madagascar, I would only “exist.” Whereas in Switzerland, I live. 

How do you handle stress and pressure, and what motivates you to stay determined to complete your goals? 

I have always been a very optimistic person with a lot of patience. And I still am! If you want to handle stress and pressure, you first have to be in harmony with yourself.  

This means eating healthy, sleeping well, exercising with some sporting activities, and having a good sense of humor amongst other things. With 3 Kids, I learned to be patient, more patient and I don’t like to stress them. I do not enjoy stressing them because they need to learn about stress; however, I teach them whatever happens, if there is a problem, a solution will always be found, and stress is useless.  

And they don’t like when I say that no one died, so they have to stay calm! I don’t face a lot of stress because I know that there is always a solution. If there were no solutions, there would be no problems and our lives would not be adventurous.  

I stay determined every day because I write down my goals and my daily successes. I have set goals for myself until 2047. I also made a vision-board which hangs next to my desk at home.  

If I write and see my goals everyday it makes my subconscious work. And it keeps me focused on my goals.  

Determination and “why” are for me the most important thing. It is good to have goals, but a vision without action is unfortunately only an illusion. I wrote down why I wanted to do all this. I found more than 33 reasons why I should achieve my goals. I stayed determined, focused, and positive! 

My motto: “You have to take a risk, or you will be stuck in the same routine for the rest of your life.” 

What have you learned from leaving high school which you believe people cannot learn from the educational system? 

People can learn from the educational system. But for me, everything is missing in the system to educate children for life in general.  

The problem is that the system does not teach us everything we need to live or survive as individuals. It teaches us how we need to feed the system so that there is no tangible change in outcomes. Children have to learn how to handle financial concerns, how to sell and how to promote themselves as humans with extensive qualities, how to handle stress and pressure, how to accept and help other people.  

School is there to make us grow intellectually but unfortunately it misses a big area. Schools overlook the development of our heart and body, like for example self-confidence or respect.  

School is like a cocoon where we forbid children to go out of their comfort zones. 

I didn’t miss school because I knew that when I left high school, it was not the end for me and my studies. I am very grateful to live in a place where I have the chance to continue studying and learning whenever I want.  

So, I wasn’t disappointed at all to leave high school. I was quite happy because finally I was going to be able to earn money on my own. 

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