Exploring

September 10, 2020

It is almost 4 years ago that I left the 'mothership' Rabobank, where by then, I had worked almost my entire adult life. I left after years of knowing that I wanted to do something else. My problem was that I had no idea what that something else was. Meanwhile I kept struggling with my energy levels and at one point I decided it was enough. It was time to take the plunge and give myself time to explore what I wanted to do next. And that is exactly what I did, I explored a lot! Actually I am still exploring, and I love every moment of it. And I feel it is time to share what happened since I left, how my journey has been, and how it is continuing.

A lot of you know that I have a big passion for cooking and that I wanted to expand my cooking activities. I did just that and enjoyed it for a while, until I came to the realisation that I prefer to work with people and not for people.

Meanwhile I was coaching a number of people, followed a coaching education and even though I enjoyed that as well, something was off for me. And I guess it was the same thing, I want to work with people, I do not want to sit in the back seat coaching them, it just felt too indirect.

Parellel to this I started working with smarterGerman, a small but very ambitious online German language school and became the part-time COO, actively helping to run the business.

Besides that I do other consultancy work where I work with companies on optimising their processes.

I connect people by organising dinners between "strangers" where we connect and talk about topics that really matter. These dinners create beautiful moments where we realise how much we have in common and how we all deal with the same challenges, albeit everybody does that in their own way. Unfortunately with Covid, these dinners are a bit more difficult to organise, but we have now switched to online conversations.

Together with Jay Mohnen, my dear friend and expert story builder, we are working on a method for people to develop an Internal Compass, which is a mix between

• purpose (where are you going)

• values (how do you get there)

• understanding who you are and where you are in your own personal story a.k.a. your own hero's journey (what is your starting point)

Stories are the backbone for this work. We ran a project for this 2 years ago and we decided to develop this process further with new insights. That is a journey in itself! We are now running a trial with a number of "guinea pigs" or more politically correct; test participants and we are still looking for some candidates. So if you read this and you are interested, feel free to contact me. It is a lovely and very intense process and so far people walk away with a renewed sense of purpose and awareness.

I also just started working on another exciting new project, which is about creating physical communities for conscious aging, together with the Hekate foundation. I will share more about this soon.

The past 4 years have been quite a journey, I needed this time to explore a lot of different paths. And lucky enough I could give myself the space to do so. And instead of deciding for one thing, I decided to continue to explore and experiment. I love the diversity and the creativity that comes with this.

I earn a lot less money than I used to, I also need a lot less. And I feel that finally after many many years of struggling with my energy level, my energy is better than it has been in a very long time. I experience space in my mind and in my life. A feeling of freedom. 

I can only recommend to explore different options, there is no failing, there is only learning.