stoked – to be completely enthusiastic, exhilirated, or excited about something

// What is this blog all about

Wake Up Stoked is the kite buddy that stands by your side no matter if you’re planning your next kitetrip, try a new trick on the water or are currently fighting the post-kiteholiday-blues and need some new inspiration. It is a platform where I share my kitesurfing adventures, experiences, spot guides, kitehacks and fun facts that make your kite life a little easier.

Wake Up Stoked intends to…

• inspire you to take the leap and progress to the next level in kitesurfing
• make your kite life easier and your progress faster
• advise and at the same time entertain you like a good kite buddy would do
• provide independent spot guides and travel inspiration
• share the stoke and passion for kitesurfing

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// My Mission

No matter if I meet people for the first time or my friends that I know since my childhood, I always hear the same thing: my eyes glow when I start talking about kitesurfing and the complete expression in my face and body changes. This is the passion I burn for and I want to share it with as many people as possible – this is the reason why I created this blog.

// To me Kitesurfing is not a sport – it’s a feeling, a way of life.

One that brings the biggest smile to my face, a feeling of constant happiness and natural high. It makes me the person I want to be. That’s why I decided to throw my whole life around. But let’s start at the beginning.

// How I came to love kitesurfing

I learned kitesurfing in 2011, shortly after I finished my studies as a Graphic Designer, during a holiday in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. I was completely hooked from the first time I went body dragging and I loved it so much, that I simply stayed in Cabarete for a year, just to kitesurf every day while working as a kite teacher.

It was paradise, the lifestyle I was living was beyond anything I had ever imagined. I would get up every morning and have to pinch myself to realize this life was for real. The only problem was that I was not earning enough money, so after a year my savings were gone and I thought it was time to go back to Munich to get a proper job.

// Why kitesurfing made me throw my whole life around

The classic career as a graphic designer in an agency

I was very lucky and found a really good job as a Graphic Designer in an agency right away, I had a super cool boss, a great team and I was back in Munich with all my friends and family. It was weird, I seemed to have it all, but there was always something lacking, I was unhappy. The only thing I was really looking forward to was my kite holidays, which I would plan always half a year in advance to have something to look forward to.

Changing my definition of career and success

So after a lot of contemplating and searching for what would fulfill me, I decided to set my priority to happiness. And, as you might already suspect, the one place where I feel the happiest, is on the water, kitesurfing. I figured, instead of wrapping my free time around my job, I would just do it the other way round, wrap my work life around my biggest passion. (If you want to read the whole story, check out this blogpost)

How I work today

So now I’m working location-independently as a freelance graphic designer anywhere the wind blows and wifi works. I’m on the water kitesurfing as much as possible and blog about my adventures on and off the board here. And before you ask – there is no return flight, I don’t intend on going back. For the first time in my life, I don’t have a Plan B. I will just make this Plan A work.