Instagram story viewer> @sometimes.helen> Posts

Elena S.

@sometimes.helen

1.9K

followers

399

following

Judo Black Belt 🥋
Law graduate 👩🏼‍🎓
Polyglot
NYC - London📍

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

by @sometimes.helen

135

26

9 months ago

I grew up on the tatami🥋

Started judo at 4.
Started competing at 6.
And until I was around 10 I fought only boys because there were barely any girls competing back then :)

More than 10 years later -

🏆Black Belt in Judo
🏆Master of Sport in Universal Combat ( in Ukraine it’s an intense sport that starts with an obstacle course and then go straight into multiple combat rounds.
Probably deserves its own post one day).

But the funny thing is…
the very first thing you learn in judo is not how to fight.

It’s how to fall.

How to land without fear.
How to get back up calmly, over and over again.

And then come the parts no one sees.

The broken ribs, the broken nose - all the little souvenirs of an elegant childhood ;)

The nights before weigh-ins, when I would put on every warm layer I had and run up and down the stairs for hours just to lose the last half kilo by morning.

The freezing early mornings. The tears after losses that felt like the end of the world.

The tiny car of our coach somehow fitting the entire team inside. And yes… so tiny that I definitely rode in the trunk a couple of times on the way to competitions😜

Looking back now, I realize that judo taught me much more than how to fight.

It taught me calmness under pressure.
Discipline. Endurance.
And the ability to keep going long after my body had already given up.

Maybe that’s why I’ve never been too afraid of starting over.
New countries, bold decisions, new lives built from scratch.

Because somewhere deep inside, I still remember that little girl who could cry after losing, wipe her face, step back onto the mat, and do it all over again.

Again and again. taken in Odessa, Ukraine by @sometimes.helen

260

10

7 years ago

by @sometimes.helen

113

8

a year ago

Finally, gentlemen who know how to dress for dinner🐧 🎩Dubai dating scene just got a lot better😜 by @sometimes.helen

69

6

7 days ago

Living in a scene I’d replay forever🎥 by @sometimes.helen

88

6

6 months ago

Trip that filled me with love for the year ahead…
Most grateful for the people who made every moment feel like magic🪐✨ taken in Verbier, Switzerland by @sometimes.helen

92

8

7 months ago

taken in Courchevel, Rhone-Alpes, France by @sometimes.helen

85

7

7 months ago

taken in Verbier, Switzerland by @sometimes.helen

65

2

7 months ago

Normal skiing felt too boring that day 🤪🥵 taken in Courchevel 1850 by @sometimes.helen

163

23

7 months ago

Nature, co-creation, and the kind of people who remind you how special life can feel💛🥰 taken in Tulum, México by @sometimes.helen

121

12

6 months ago

Vintage voyage 🪐🪐🪐❤️❤️❤️ taken in Verbier, Switzerland by @sometimes.helen

61

1

7 months ago

My whole world feels expanded.
The right people, the right energy, the right timing – all at once.

Feeling full, loved and happy in the most beautiful way🥰❤️ taken in Miami Beach, Florida by @sometimes.helen

81

7

8 months ago