I have a dream…

For a long time, I have struggled to find what my dream career would be like. I knew that I enjoyed working, that I had build up a career for myself, learned a lot throughout my studies but mostly beyond that, and that I did not see myself staying at home full time with my children, even though I love them from the bottom of my heart. In the past 12 years, I’ve worked in journalism, communications and politics. I’ve had different opportunities that I’m really proud of, like co-organising the media relations for a state visit, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos as part of the delegation of a head of state, interviewing one of my favorite authors Marc Levy on a park bench outside of my former high school, analysing countless political documents and preparing briefs on them, working as a foreign correspondent for a national radio station… But when I look back at my career so far, I struggle to find a place where I see myself fit in for the next 2, 5, 8, 10 years.

I am aware that you never know what will happen in life and that opportunities could present themselves at any moment, so it doesn’t make sense to have a too rigid career plan. However, I often felt restless in the jobs I had, searching for something more that I couldn’t really pinpoint. Once I started my training as a life coach, setting up my own business became a more present topic. Just as I started my training, I signed up to work with a life coach myself - as part of the training but also because I was curious as to the impact that it could have. I worked with a coach for 6 sessions, discussing topics like imposter syndrome, lack of confidence and my way forward. The sessions were productive and I really enjoyed our time together.

However, one thing that I find interesting about coaching is that it’s not always within that hour that you have with a coach that the “magic happens”. You might feel that the session was interesting and brought you some new ideas. You might feel stuck and unsure what to do next. Which is way the time inbetween the sessions is also part of the journey. This is when you can reflect on what you have discussed and find different ways to move forward. Maybe an experience after a coaching session unblocks something and you see clearly what goals you want to achieve, where you want yourself to be in 2, 5 or 10 years.

For me, the magic happened in a short guided visualisation that my coach had sent me inbetween our sessions. It was about where I see myself in a few years. What came up for me was a modern house, a terrasse with a hamac, a garden leading to the ocean. I saw myself on the balcony with two little kids, a boy and a girl (at that point, my youngest son was not born yet). When I reflected on my daily life and my work, I saw myself being flexible, working around my children’s schedule at school, feeling free to organise myself in a way that suited my needs and those of my family, and at the same time doing a job I loved.

It was a visualisation amongst many that I’d made and I can’t really explain why this one was different, but this is the one that stuck. It’s the image that has come back to me ever since whenever I do a similar exercise. Upon reflecting on it further, I noticed that this is what makes the most sense for me in my life. It helped me resolve other issues that I felt stuck on for years, like never feeling 100% settled here in Switzerland. I spent a lot of time thinking of moving abroad, back to Luxembourg or Singapore, maybe even somewhere completely different. Yet it never really felt right. But once I had reflected on this visualisation, all the pieces started falling into place. Setting up my own business in a field that I was passionate about, would offer me the freedom and flexibility to work according to my own and my family’s needs, especially once both my children start school. I would be able to work from anywhere, as long as I had my laptop with me. During school holidays, I would be able to take the kids to my parents’ house, where they would be taken care of for a couple of hours and I could still continue working. I could choose to spend longer periods of time in Singapore if I wanted to, teaching my boys about their heritage and spending time with my family and friends over there. Which ultimately meant that I could spend more time with my children and my family and friends abroad, all the while being able to pursue my career in a way that benefitted us all.

The vision is clear to me, and it’s slowly falling into place. We’ve got two happy and healthy sons, and we will be soon living in a house that ressembles the one that I see in my imagination - though it is unfortunately not by the beach. But that will be a goal for a future date :). My next step is to really be able to focus on my coaching business, working with 1:1 clients as well as developing a programme supporting mothers who are returning to work after having a child. At times, I feel like there is so much work to do and I’m not sure where to start. These are the moments where I need to remind myself that every journey begins with the first steps, and that I am lucky to have the opportunity to put this vision of mine, this dream career, into reality.