Pedaling beyond myself
How a bike ride from Vienna to Bratislava became a journey of rediscovering myself after motherhood.
|2025.11.27
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Again, I tried returning to myself. But to which version of me? A version pieced together from who I once was, with new layers of motherhood added, a version still discovering how to be whole.
While I may miss the woman who could bike anywhere without a care, I wouldn't trade it for this new version of myself.
Donika Emini
Donika Emini is an expert in international relations, Western Balkan politics and regional cooperation. She is a member of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG), country analyst for Freedom House and the executive director of CiviKos Platform. She holds a PhD from the University of Westminster, a master’s in public policy from the University of Erfurt and a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Prishtina.
This story was originally written in Albanian.
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