The story of Katrin, told by herself at a meetup in Zurich
We are Who we choose to be
When I was a kid I wanted to be on stage and connect with the audience through the magic of tales and stories. That dream was killed very quickly when I did not get selected at the casting of our local theater. As a teenager I wanted to become a stage & fashion designer. I wanted to do something creative where I could take people on a visual journey. I was armed with a portfolio of 20 designs to enter art school.
But then my parents decided that this was not a proper job. So I ended up studying International Business. I wanted to go on my own journey and I was destined to go to Australia, where I worked as Marketing Manager for the most preeminent retail precinct in Sydney. I was in the scene of high end fashion and commercial real estate. There was little creative freedom (that was done by Armani in Italy), not a lot of deep connection but I was the initiator of many successful campaigns and I had freedom, although … you know how it feels when there is just something missing?
When I was 33 I stopped my career when I gave birth to my 2 beautiful children, by then we had moved to Italy. I was happy to have a break from work and wanted to use the baby time to rethink my future. I had new hopes that I would do something where I get up every day inspired. But then reality hit me and the transition from the corporate world to nappies was quite a shock with little time to think about anything, followed by tantrums time and homework battles that would never end.
It was the day when my son, who was 9 years old by then and we had been living in Switzerland for 6 years, said to me: „Mummy I never see you laugh. “ Why was I not happy? Why did I still not know what to do? I had several part time marketing jobs here in Zürich that were administrative and did not fulfill me at all. Why did others succeed and I didn’t?
There was only one reason. But let me tell you first what the reasons weren’t.
It was NOT because I did not have people around me to support me. No, on the contrary. I was surrounded by lots of opinions of friends, family, educators and colleagues, who were not able to put themselves in my shoes. I was confused by them.
It was also NOT because I was not qualified enough. I was always the one who „had it all“ but never felt it was enough…further studies in digital marketing, graphic design, online texting, fluent in three languages…
And it was NOT because I was not open to new things. I felt guilty, lost and I was looking for answers in self-development books and meditation. But my inner voice just would not speak to me.
All of that were not the reasons for me being unhappy.
The only reason why I was not happy was because I never learned to truly listen to my own needs. It was considered to be selfish and egoistic. So, my life was oriented towards the needs of others.
Since university I had been so busy with studies, work, international moves, kids, always with a focus on WHAT comes next and never on WHY. Why I wanted to do this?
It was to the day that I met someone who changed my perspective. Someone who was able to dig deeper and access things inside myself which I had been hiding for far too long. Like an old photo album that had been sitting in the cellar for 30 years. That had its spark once and now it is sitting in a box with dust on it.
This someone was my great mentor Lenka who is specialized in, well, finding your inner spark.
Lenka was able to light up that spark in me, help me to realize that I needed to accomplish creative things where I can connect to others. I realized that I needed freedom, yet security; I needed to inspire people, yet in a space to let me live my perfection. I also realized how much I loved my work, whereas in all these years I was convincing myself to be happy in my role as a full-time mum, suppressing this desire…
I had hope again to work on my mission, which is to change people’s life through my passion for design and stories. I started to work at the Impact Hub, I created my own brand called „Simpolino“, inspiring parents to navigate with humor and visuals through the chaos of daily family life. I also started my own company „Kreativ Connections“, where I want to help corporate clients to develop their visual and digital story for their brands.
A all of a sudden I was able to change my story. I started to CHOOSE to be the person who I really am.
I have seen many coaches… and the connection was not right, I felt more guilty than before, and I lost a lot of money. So I gave up my hope that coaching would help me. Instead with Lenka it was different. Lenka always had this true, deep, genuine interest in me, which no other coach ever had before.
It was like with my kids teachers – there were some who where brilliant, who will probably have an impact on my children’s future; and some should have never entered the doorstep of school. They all called themselves “teachers”. Just that you cannot pick the “teachers”, luckily with coaches you CAN.
With Lenka I felt truly understood and never judged. With her structured approach she was able to dig deeper to find out what is underneath all the noise in my life. With these new insights , I am able to better savor moments in various areas of my life: in my career, my marriage, my relationship with my children… I feel lighter now because there is less distraction and I can be more present. I was able to let go of all these distractions that kept me from living the life I always wanted to live.
…I can’t thank Lenka enough for supporting me and enabling me that.
And you? Are you the person who YOU chose to be?
In case you’re not, Lenka might be able to light your spark as well.
