Ellen Nijssen

Bonjour!

I am Ellen, 57 years old, married to Theo and mother of Julie, Wouter and Daan. In 2006 we, as a family, moved to Domaine de Montsalvy in France, which I thought was quite a challenge and not an easy thing to do. I left behind everyone and everything I knew to start a whole new life in a country I did not really know with people who did not know me. Why do it then? Maybe because I was looking to broaden my horizon, to see what was out there and to prove to myself that I could step out of the comfortable life I had had so far and sort of start again. And that's how it felt: being born again. 

It also opened up lots of possibilities that I would not have considered if I had stayed in my job in The Netherlands. At the domain, in the middle of nature, we further developed the tourist business, but most of all and more importantly, started with themeweeks, based on honest food, nature, respect, wellness, life coaching etc. Thanks to this we have met so many wonderful people, shared so many insights and learned so much more about life in all its aspects. Leaving my comfort zone has most certainly enriched my life and broadened (literally and figuratively) my views.

My life motto: Respect and Open-mindedness. Respect for yourself, people, animals, nature, our planet and open-mindedness towards others.

Education:

Grammar School; Translator English, Spanish, Dutch; Alliance Française; Goethe Institut; Life Coach

Reason for participating in LevensLot: “Help people to feel better by listening to them and giving them attention thus enabling them to come to new insights or get rid of existing doubts”

Focus LevensLot: Life Strategy & Coaching

Theo Drummen

Hi, I am Theo, 64 years old, married to Ellen and father of Julie, Wouter and Daan. After my study Mechanical Engineering in Aachen, Germany, I worked for 10 years in Industry and another 15 years in Consultancy. During this time I focused mainly on my career, with corner stones as salary, image and status. More and more I realized that these things were all related to 'having' and with time, I started to long for more 'being', such as creativity, authenticity, personal freedom, respect. Together with Ellen I defined the life drivers that were our top priority and based on them we looked for a place to live that would meet these requirements. As a result we made the decision to move to Domaine de Montsalvy in France. This move has enabled me to combine my skills, such as DIY, tennis, photography, wine making, cooking, painting. I'm conviced that it is really important to ask yourself what your true personal skills and talents are. Once you have discovered them, ideally you should try to use them to the benefit of the needs of our society.

Education:

Mechanical Engineering Technical University Aachen, Germany; Tennis Coach; Life Coach

Life’s philosophy: “One of life's most important personal goals is to find out what your unique talents are. The passion and the apparent coincidence you experience during this search are your life-compass.”

Reason for participating in LevensLot: Developing and promoting a vision that can help people make important decisions and choices, thus contributing to a revitalisation of society.

Focus LevensLot: Life Strategy & Coaching