When I need a bit of inspiration, I head straight to Instagram. I’m always inspired by others and Instagram is a place where people can share photography, music, life tips and everything in-between.
Somebody I find extremely inspiring is Janine Jahnke, or you may know her on Instagram as JolieJanine. Janine is a fashion and travel blogger who is currently doing it all.
Janine is someone who could easily just post online in a way that would make thousands jealous as she travels the world, but yet she uses her platforms to inspire, influence and constantly spread positive messages.
I recently asked a Janine a few questions and you can see what she had to say below.
Hey Janine, first of all tell us a little about yourself.
Hi there! I am 21 years old and I am from Munich in Germany. I am passionate about traveling, writing, photography, healthy living, sports and spirituality. With my dad being a pilot and my mom a stewardess, I basically grew up travelling. When I was young we always visited a lot of different places and as a teenager I even lived in a small country in Asia for three years. When I finished high school I knew I didn’t want to start university or work- I wanted to see more of the world. Thus I packed my backpack and started travelling. I saw some beautiful places such as Hawaii, China, Cape Town, Thailand, Indonesia, just to mention a few. Whilst exploring I commenced my Instagram channel, which then quickly lead to my blog and YouTube. Currently I work as a full time blogger, whilst travelling as much as I can.
Looking through your Instagram page it’s easy to see you enjoy travelling. What is it about travelling you love so much?
Travelling is my main source of inspiration and it always helps me to put things into perspective. When you see how much this world has to offer, you feel like you are missing out on so much beauty by staying in one place. Also you start to realize how many cities, people, opportunities are really out there and once you think about how small you truly are in this system, your worries and problems become meaningless. When you travel you meet people who are so unlike those in your home town and you dive into new cultures, this really helps expand your mind set and offers so many new fresh ideas. In my opinion travelling is the best therapy.
Do you have a favourite destination you’ve visited?
My favourite destinations I have ever been to are Cape Town, Bali, The Maldives and Sweden.
In one of your recent YouTube videos you go cliff jumping, what’s the craziest thing you’ve done while travelling?
When I travelled to Cape Town for the first time with my mom, we were supposed to fly back home to Germany after two weeks. Once those weeks had passed, I told her: I am going to stay. This was pretty crazy regarding the fact that I had no where to stay, no job and no idea what I was going to do in the next 2 months in South Africa. I ended up moving in with people I had never met before, befriended strangers and pretty much and the best time of my life. My decision to stay made absolutely no logical sense, but I followed my heart. Looking back this was the best crazy decision I ever made.
For someone who travels so often, do you still have a large bucket list?
I actually do! I think the more you travel, the more you come to realize how much there is still left to see. There is nothing more amazing than visiting a place that you have never been to before. I am dying to go to South America, Portugal, Morocco, New Zealand, Fiji and so many more places.
I love your blog post on Living vs Surviving. What advice do you have for someone who is unhappy in their life?
The first step is to realize that this is your life and you can not blame anyone else for your unhappiness. Oftentimes we blame our parents, the opportunities we have been given or outside scenarios for the situation that we find ourselves in. However, in the end we are truly the makers of our own destiny. We need to become aware of this so that we can make a positive change.
Then we need to look into what is truly making us unhappy. Are we just complaining about our boss, or is it actually our whole job that is not fulfilling us? Is it really the breakup that is making us depressed, or is it the fact that for the first time we are forced to be alone again and to confront ourselves with our inner problems? Is it really the bad weather that is ruining your day or is it simply your negative attitude that we have had since the morning?
Moreover, a huge step towards happiness is placing a greater focus onto the things you love. Surround yourself with people you love and spend more time doing the things you love. Happiness really is a choice.
What/Who inspires you?
There are many amazing, creative people on the internet that inspire me with their videos, their photography and their story telling. Overall, the Canadian Youtuber and Blogger Sonya Esman is one of my biggest blogging inspirations. She perfectly combines her unique approach to fashion with outstanding story telling in her videos, whilst at the same time always confronting her followers with deep and meaningful topics. She speaks to people on so many levels beyond the superficial blogging world.
For someone already doing so great, do you have any goals you’d love to achieve over the next few years?
For sure! I would love to have something that goes beyond social media, something that people can actually engage with or have with them when they are offline, exploring and enjoying the moment. My biggest goals is to write a book (fingers crossed that might happen some day) and I am also playing with the ideal of starting my own clothing brand.
You blog, YouTube, influence on Instagram, you’re basically doing it all. Do you find it hard juggling your time?
Having 3 platforms is great, because you are able to offer a lot of different content and appeal to different users, however it can be hard to manage sometimes. I wish that I could upload on YouTube or my Blog more consistently, but when you are doing everything by yourself and you are working with different platforms this is super hard. In the end I am totally ok with this though, because I would rather upload good quality upon different platforms, than force out new content every day.
Do you have a favourite platform for sharing?
I have actually thought about this question a lot recently. The fun thing about having different platforms is that how I feel about each of them changes as my mood changes. On some weeks I am so into filming videos, talking to the camera and engaging with my YouTube community, whereas on other days I really can’t find any motivation to do so. Then, I oftentimes enjoy writing and editing pictures for my blog so much more. I think this is great, because that way I am able to engage in something else once I loose motivation in one thing. Each platform challenges me in different ways and has thought me so many new things.
Overall I am still a huge fan of Instagram. Even though it does not have as much depth as the other platforms, it is super quick, reaches lots of people and creating high quality content is easier.
Making a really good 3 minute for YouTube takes lots of time and effort, whereby posting a good picture on Instagram is a lot easier and oftentimes reaches even more people.
What advice do you have for someone hoping to get into YouTube, blogging etc.?
There are so many talented people out there that you really have to focus on what makes you unique. Is it your picture style? Do you have special niche? Do you have a certain way of bringing across stories? Whatever it may be, be aware of that and use it for your advantage. Also, you have to truly love whatever it is that you are going to blog about. This is not like school or work, where someone else constantly tells you what to do and when to do it. You have to be very self disciplined, thus enjoying what you do is a must.
And finally what do you have planned for the rest of this year?
Usually I only make plans for the next few weeks, so I never really know what I am going to be up to. Next week I have a one-way ticket to Cape Town and I don’t yet know when I am going to be back in Europe. In December I am planning to go snowboarding and explore the mountains. Winter is not my favourite season, so I have to make the most out of it by enjoying its perks, such as winter sports. But yeah, none of these plans are set in stone, so oftentimes I am surprised with what I really end up doing.
Thanks Janine for taking the time to speak to TravelFoodFilm.
Make sure you follow Janine on all channels
All photos in this post are property of JolieJanine.
4 comments
omg I love her!!!!!
ReplyDeleteReally cool interview. She said on instagram she liked the questions and i agree theyre really cool
ReplyDeleteshe's so beautiful
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