There was a time my life looked exactly the way it’s supposed to.
I had the degree, a job in fashion, a loving relationship, a fancy social life and a beautiful city apartment in The Hague.
It was everything I once wanted. A life that, on paper, made sense.
But actually living it — inside, I felt empty.
Restless.
Disconnected.
Bored.
The days blurred into each other under fluorescent lights.
The same routines. The same conversations. And a quiet but persistent thought: Is this really it?
I felt resistance, unease and sadness.
A constant urge to escape. Not for adventure — but to breathe.
My soul felt bored. And it wasn’t a lack of ambition.
It was my body whispering: this is not the life you want to live.
A plane ticket became my symbol for freedom.
Not giving in to the 9–5 rhythm became my first act of following my desire.
In 2021, together with my partner, I stepped into the unknown:
traveling without an end date, without a plan, without certainty.
And in that not-knowing, something shifted.
Traveling didn’t teach me who I wanted to become,
but who I already was — once I stopped adapting.
The moment everything changed
Well, there wasn’t one single moment. It all unfolded slowly.
Puerto Escondido in Mexico has a special place in my heart. As this was an environment where I connected back into my body.
There was this yoga class, that I’ll never forget.
I was lying there on the ground, surrounded by women who seemed fully at home in their bodies. And when the class ended, I started crying.
Not from pain. But from something opening. That moment showed me something simple, yet profound: my body is the key back to my emotions.
Even deeper realizations came while watching sunsets melt into the ocean.
Living out of a backpack. Owning very little and needing not so much.
Life became quieter. Smaller. More basic.
And somehow, it became richer.
I began to feel a warmth, a vibrancy, a sense of aliveness that had nothing to do with what I owned, achieved or proved.
Nothing external could create it — and nothing external could take it away.
I realized that the feeling I had been searching for all along was something I carried within me.
That happiness isn’t something to chase. It’s something to remember.
For the first time in a long while, I felt deeply connected to myself — to my body, to my emotions, to my own inner source of joy.
This photo was made in 2022 in Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Coming Back ‘‘Home’’ to The Netherlands
When I eventually returned, something had shifted. I had changed.
Living inside a collective energy that never slows down felt off.
I noticed how many people live in constant tension. Bodies sending signals that go unheard. Headaches numbed with painkillers. Being praised for being busy. Restlessness explained away.
This society is always “on.” Always pushing. And it isn’t normal.
It’s a state of collective over-stimulation.
Not because people are doing something wrong —
but because most of us were never taught another way.
I recognized it immediately. Because I had lived there too
and because I’d distanted myself from it for a while,
I was able to see it so clearly.
Once you’ve felt another rhythm,
it’s impossible to go back to this rushed one.
This photo was made in 2023 in Chiang Mai, Thailand
In Thailand, that truth settled even deeper into my system.
The pace was slower. The energy softer. In that environment, my nervous system learned what calm actually feels like.
I was surrounded by a culture that didn’t rush life — where simplicity was valued and where presence mattered more than productivity.
My time at Pa Pae Meditation Retreat, shifted a lot for me. Living with the monks, practicing my meditation, the Tteachings of the monks resonated deeply with me. Not as concepts, but as lived experience:
Less is more.
Simple is best.
small is beautiful.
There, I understood something different from Mexico.
Not the joy of aliveness — but the safety of groundedness.
That calm isn’t something to achieve.
It isn’t something to force or earn.
It’s something to return to.
And it was there that I realized: this way of being — slow, present, regulated — is where I feel most at home.
How I choose to live now.
These days, I move at my own pace.
I listen more.
I push less.
I believe the body holds intelligence far beyond thought.
That emotions are not problems to solve, but movements to allow.
That clarity comes not from thinking harder, but from softening.
I don’t believe there is one right way to live.
I don’t believe everyone should slow down or change their life.
I do believe that each of us has a natural rhythm —
and that life becomes gentler when we honour it.
I’m still learning.
Still changing.
Still shedding layers.
And I’ve learned to trust that this, too, is part of the process.
I welcome you.
For a long time, I thought I had to teach what had helped me.
Until I realized something softer — and truer:
My gift isn’t what I’ve done.
My gift is how I show up.
I’m drawn to practices that bring me out of my head and into my body.
To simplicity.
To slowness.
To ways of being that create safety rather than pressure.
The Facial Massages are my way of bringing this to your life.
Offering you a place where you too, can come home to yourself.