Gina Tenner

Spring in Berlin ☀️🐝🌷☕️🪩

About a few days in Belgium, cozy coffee shop hangs, wild dancing, a taste of spring, and people so cute that saying goodbye was pretty damn hard and coming back is a non-negotiable. See u soon Ghent ! 💜

As a business owner, you’re always playing it cool. Not unbothered, but very calm, collected, and professional.

But I’m also not embarrassed to admit: When I received the call last year that I would serve my food with .bln at Stone Techno Festival, I dropped my shopping bags in the middle of the street and started crying happy tears.

Before even hitting the road, it was already not only a huge milestone but also one of my absolute highlights of 2025.

And even though the weekend in Essen came with a ton of work, some hiccups, and way too little dancing - as well as sleep - looking back at it, I’m tearing up all over again.

Because it was filled with so many unbelievable things.

From being sold out faster than I could’ve ever imagined and buying all the sweet potato the city had to offer.

As well as receving incredibly positive feedback from people, being crowned “the queen of broccoli salad” and even taking fan pics.

Over having the most fun time with the hottest and most fantastic crew ever.

To crying on the dance floor because after 10 years of dreaming, I finally got to dance my heart out to a set of .

So this is to doing what you love, being brave, celebrating milestones, dancing wildly - on the floor and in the trailer, dreams coming true as well as the absolute gift of friends who love to see you win.

And to a weekend that became so much more of a highlight than I could’ve ever imagined.

Thank you .chahin for being part of it! 💗

Usually I love taking extra time to reflect, meditate, journal, and goal set on NYE.

That’s why, a few weeks back, I chose with excitement to spend the change of years by myself and focus on exactly that.

I mean, it definitely fit the whole self-care month theme pretty well, right?!

As December progressed, I realized that reflecting deeply and honestly about those past months and sitting with my thoughts and feelings was going to be a bit more intense and challenging than expected.

Today, on NYE, I haven’t even processed more than half of it.

Somehow, I still felt the need to catch up on it today — so I can finish the old year with a closed chapter and start the new one with a blank page.

And with the rising number of 2025 recap posts on here, I started to feel growing pressure to share mine too.

Even though my body clearly was showing me it needed nothing more than rest today.

To be honest, not „performing“ as planned this past month and today is something that made me feel insanely uncomfortable — especially over the course of the last 24 hours.

Until I realized that all that pressure is actually coming from nobody else but myself.

And here’s the thing:
you can’t fix something with the same strategy that broke it.

Because the truth is, being hard on myself and pushing for perfection is exactly what brought me here in the first place.

So now, two hours before the clock strikes midnight, I‘m choosing to be okay with not ending 2025 as planned.

With not having it all figured out.
With not having worked through the stuff and let it go.
With not feeling ease and clarity by the end of today.

2025 was fkn intense.
Packed with hard work, tough lessons.
It broke and burned me — and still was insanely worth living.

So much so that I need more time to process it all.
And that’s okay.

So here’s me giving myself grace for not living up to the expectations I put on myself — and ending this year without the recap I was planning for.

Maybe that’s exactly the recap I needed.

About my favorite season, 37 degrees, ice cream, iced coffee, cute fits, and off-days in the sun. Is it too early to be ready for summer again? ☀️

I love traveling and experiencing the vibe, nature, or culture of other cities and countries. And still it’s the first thing I sacrifice when time or money is tight. This year I realized, I’m very good in telling myself all the reasons why I just can’t make that trip right now - even while knowing how much I‘d enjoy or maybe even need. it.

So, even tho I’ve been to the city before, my trip to Milan in June definitely was one of this year‘s highlights for me. Not only because a few days packed with 35 degrees and 12 hours of sun, a million gelatos and cheap but great coffee is the ultimate recipe for me having a good time, but also because I got to reunited with my friend . 💜

For the future, I decided to not remove traveling and time outside of Berlin from my possibilities anymore. Make it a priority even. For the change of scenery, the connection, the sun, the ocean, the rest, the learning, the inspiration, and the anticipation of coming back home that feels a bit sweeter every time. ✨

I made a ton of super cute new connections this year. So in case you’re new here: Hi, I’m Gina and I’m using Insta all wrong. Because usually I write a lot of f*ckin long a$$ captions to my posts here.

My feed is a bit like my public journal. I reflect on experiences, process stuff I’m thinking about, celebrate wins, share epiphanies that just hit me, or elaborate on perspectives that might inspire.

So me not posting since June this year is a pretty accurate reflection on how these past months have been for me. There was so much happening and I was so insanely caught up in my work with .bln , that there was no room left for me to digest any of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and enjoyed growing with my own business a lot. But there was not much balance to it.

What I was left with after the high season ended, was complete overwhelm, unprocessed emotion, maximum exhaustion, zero resilience, major self-doubt, and heavy listlessness. It felt like life kinda passed me by those past months - just as it did my insta feed.

With a little push of my amazing friend I decided to take some time off in winter and make December my self-care month to bring back that balance: by taking care of my physical and mental wellbeing, spending time with the people I love, facing myself in therapy, doing more things that make my soul sparkle - AND catching up on all those experiences, wins, learnings, feelings.

So consider this my gentle re-entry. I’ll be showing up here again — with all the thoughts and memories from those past months that never made it here. The depth. The honesty. And the long-a$$ captions you all signed up for (or not).

Feels good to be back ! 💜

life lately. 🌞

no deep caption. Just my fit from last night. 🖤

A while back someone shamed me for going out a lot. According to that person, I was often doing it for the wrong reasons. Back then, that comment hurt me a lot, I felt harshly judged for something that is such a huge part of my life - and tbh, it unsettled me a bit.

Was that true? Did I have an unhealthy relationship with raving?

What I already kinda knew back then—but can say with absolute certainty now—is that I don’t.

Sure, we all know those days when our night in the club is an escape & desperate attempt to compensate. I had one or two of those in my life. And if you have too, you know: those never end well.

But what I learned those past two years is, that raving was one of the most beneficial things for my mental wellbeing.

Not only because music & dancing is my happy place, and in general has many positive effects on our health by activating the lymphatic system, boosting endorphins release and reducing stress.

But also because, raving often allowed me to process my emotions in the first place.

Sometimes, we know we need to take an honest look at or heal something—but we’re just not ready to face it yet. Sometimes, it takes a proper rave to let go of the resistance & allow ourselves to feel what needs to be felt.

And here’s why:
Trauma is often stored in the body, particularly in the nervous system, muscles, and fascia. Expressive movement like dance, can help release stuck trauma because it engages both the body & mind, activating pathways that facilitate emotional processing and healing.

Let me tell you, on more than one occasion, I’ve had nights where a rave was followed by an intense meltdown. And while it might’ve looked like I made the wrong choice going out, it was exactly what I needed to process, release, and move forward.

Raving is my therapy. I don’t do it for the wrong reasons. I do it for all the right ones.

On that note: happy weekend peeps, may your next rave help you let go and feel wholeheartedly! 💜