17 questions for... Ewa Dąbrowska, Managing Director Corporate Business at Nationale-Nederlanden Polska

How do you feel? Okay, thank you for inviting me to the series 17 questions to… I will be happy to tell you about my lifestyle.

For me, work life balance is... maintaining harmony in life between yourself and your needs. From my experience, it is difficult for me to cut myself off from work at 5 p.m. I take great care to maintain good hygiene at work, to take breaks for myself and to be attentive to what I am doing and where I am. I try to switch off and concentrate on the activity I am doing at a given moment. I have been practicing mindfulness techniques for several years and it has shown me that mindfulness and being here and now make it easier for me to maintain work life balance.

My most important daily health habits are… oh, I have quite a lot of them. I used to not have them, I was just rushing and not thinking, but for several years I have been trying to stop. My morning rituals help me frame my day and life. When I wake up, I always affirm to myself that it will be a beautiful day and I will be able to experience it. Then I go for a walk with the dog, which lasts about 1.5 hours. I get up after 5 to have time for all this. When I come back from a walk, I drink water with lemon carefully, in peace and quiet. Finally, meditation, conscious breathing and yoga. This morning core allows me to stop, calm down and really prepare for the whole day. I started with small steps to get to the stage where I am now.

The sport I practice regularly is... yoga, which I found and it's wonderful for me. The combination of breath, body and mind in one is something wonderful. I used to do a lot of spinning and fast workouts, and yoga gave me pause. I practice every day.

I spend about 15 hours a week on physical activity .

My motivation for sport is... finding harmony and calming my head, which is the most important thing to me. Sport helps me maintain physical and mental health, I feel a better quality of life and I even have better test results.

I meditate because... it is an opportunity for me to stop in this fast-paced world, be mindful and discover myself, my body and my head.

My diet is… vegetarian. I also became interested in Ayurveda, so I eat a lot of groats, rice, lentils, legumes and soups, which turned out to be the perfect meal for me.

I end the day by... giving thanks for the day, analyzing what good things happened and planning what may happen the next day.

I spend… 6 hours sleeping and that's the minimum for me. I would like to sleep 7 hours, but this means reducing other activities during the day.

The thing I do only for myself is... yoga and the time just for me when I feel good.

My little sins are… sweets, chocolate with nuts and coffee.

Happiness for me is... joy in small things. I am an optimist and happiness is probably in my DNA. I cultivate optimism and see that the glass is always half full. I am always looking for solutions and opportunities to live happily. I learn this through mindfulness.

Luxury for me is... a lot of good and quality time spent. I like to feel that I'm living my life well, that I have time (which is a luxury for me) to travel and make my dreams come true, to do yoga or those 15 hours of physical activity a week.

My small daily steps in taking care of the planet are... sorting waste, moving away from plastic, e.g. by storing things in glass containers in the refrigerator and covering them with reusable cloths, not foil. I buy fewer things and don't throw away food.

The advice I would give myself if I were 20 again is... don't worry, don't stress out about everything and project your future towards happiness. If I were 20 years old again and had the knowledge I have now, I would experience much less stressful situations, and it would certainly be more qualitative for me and my family.

The book I recently read and recommend is... "Courage in leadership. Four competencies of an authentic leader" (Brene Brown). In business terms, I deepen the topic of empathetic leadership, especially now in times of anxiety and fear - I recommend it. The book is about a leader's sensitivity, but that doesn't mean that someone is soft and should suddenly start hugging everyone. It's about courage and attentiveness in action and listening to the needs of the other person.

Privately, I recommend the book by my friend Olga Kozierowska "Love is a verb". I read it in one sitting and I think it is well written, with a great sense of humor. It shows that in order to love and be happy in a relationship and family, you have to act. It made me realize our agency. Partnership in love is built through action and provoking this action.