life happens when you least expect it
A peek into my story
It was overcoming various unexpected life challenges that taught me some of the most valuable lessons firsthand—and allow me to truly relate to many of the challenges you might be going through.
Looking back, the last two decades feel like one transition after another—but it was two major, difficult transitions that taught me the most.
And while they felt almost impossible to get through at the time, they turned into powerful opportunities to do some serious inner work, learn the lessons I needed to learn, and grow—both as a person and as a coach.
The combination of the break up with my “we-will-retire-together” partner, my expatriation from Vienna to Brussels shortly afterward, coupled with the challenges of adjusting to a brand-new life in an unfamiliar culture, heralded my first identity crisis.
It was then that I started to work with a therapist to uncover and resolve baggage accumulated over the past decades.
Despite my initial strong resistance to therapy, I soon realized that this is one of the most rewarding steps one can take towards its own happiness and inner peace.
The chapter that changed everything
Fast-forward to a few years later, I had just returned from a four-month sabbatical when I had a most unpleasant encounter on the streets of Brussels.
Still ‘high’ and euphoric from the incredible experiences of my trip—and feeling like all the pieces of my life had finally come together—one ordinary evening, out of nowhere, on a quiet street, I was attacked at gunpoint.
My immediate response was to freeze, which I later learned is a natural survival reaction of the body. But the impact of that freeze-response showed up months and years later as a mix of PTSD, severe anxiety, and depressive states.
Although I did get away safely (in a physical sense—they stole my car and let me be), the event caused my life to suddenly and quite frighteningly spin out of control. One area after another started to collapse like a row of dominoes over the following years.
First, frequent, unforeseen panic attacks and the inability to handle tasks I would normally manage with ease at work (even something as simple as a challenging phone call) turned into debilitating anxiety.
My body would send me into panic attacks when I least expected it, never knowing when the next one would hit. I would collapse and burst into tears out of nowhere, and visits to the doctor became more and more frequent.
I was forced to take more than a year off work for medical reasons, and despite trying to avoid it, I had to accept going on anti-anxiety medication.
This completely bulldozed my ego and made me question my identity, my abilities, my skills. I lost the brave and bold parts of myself—my confidence, my self-belief.
It literally crushed me.
Letting go and Rebuilding
Despite actively engaging in various forms of therapy and attempting to return to work several times, the severe anxiety never subsided. It was a powerful coaching session that helped me to finally swallow my pride and accept that my life as I knew it – with that job I loved and lived for at the center of it – was no longer possible. It was time to let go.
All in all, it took me two years of persistent searching to find the right combination of trauma release techniques—and the right experts—to help me understand what I was going through.
Hours of in-depth work with therapists, psychologists, coaches, somatic practitioners, and alternative approaches like EFT and Bach flowers supported my recovery from complex PTSD and severe burnout.
Another year was needed to work through the deeper layers—coming fully to terms with letting go of the job that had defined me, and everything I had lost: financially, my confidence, my social status, my identity—my entire life as I knew it.
And yet I made it and this is where it led me...
Looking back today, I can say I’m genuinely grateful for it all.
I know—it sounds like a full-on cliché. But it’s true.
Yep, it was brutal.
Yep, the price I paid—with my health and finances—was high.
But without it, I would have never become who I am today. I would have never built a life I didn’t even know was possible. And I wouldn’t be doing the work I do—the way I do it.
Today, I bring all of it together—the knowledge and experience I’ve gained across various chapters of my life.
From my corporate leadership background and international career to extensive coaching training and years of working with clients. From years of yoga and meditation practice to the deep inner work and healing I had to go through myself.
Through multiple life and career transitions, reinvention, and rebuilding. As well as years of living across borders, being exposed to different cultures—and ultimately designing a life on my own terms.
TODAY, I bring it all together – the knowledge and experience I’ve gained across various chapters of my life.
And my life? I kind of designed it on my terms.
I live a flexible, location-independent lifestyle—with the freedom to create a sense of home wherever I choose. Recently, that’s been a small island in the middle of the Atlantic. Not a bad place to land, or?
And no—it’s not just fun and freedom all day. I work. A lot. I’m deeply committed to the work I do with my clients. But I’ve built a life where ambition and freedom get to coexist.
So when I’m not on Zoom with my clients, you’ll find me in the ocean, on a motorbike, or somewhere outdoors—cycling, hiking, walking.
I still have a soft spot for a really good (and very specific) latte and dark chocolate.
And if there’s one thing that hasn’t changed?
I still believe in the power of a bucket list. I make it a point to tick off at least one item every year!
Because who wants to look back in 30 or 40 years and regret the things they didn’t do?
I definitely don’t.
