19 things I don’t think you knew about me

I’m an extroverted introvert, which to me means I love people, I often love to be with people, but I also slowly drain myself when I’m around people. I need time to be alone. A lot.

I regularly (like twice a year at least) learn new things about self awareness and personal leadership even after having been dedicated to these things for over 20 years. I’m a Seeker if ever I knew one. I teach what I learn, and I learn what I teach.

As a girl, I used to chair the meetings of my dolls. I was pretty hard core and old school. You could say Sovereign Leadership is an acquired skill for me.

I was part of the first Dutch Solar Car team who won the World Solar Challenge in 2001. We drove 3,000km through the Australian dessert on solar power only. We set several world records and started a legacy that is still going strong today.

I want my life to have meaning ànd I want my life to be fun. This may not sound contradictory, but it often is. The ‘meaning thing’ is focused on the world (which I want to make a better place). The ‘fun thing’ is focused on leaning into enjoying myself with the things I find pleasure in. That doesn’t always add up, so it requires some advanced balancing skills. Which I’m in process of developing.

I’ve been together with my husband Eiso for over 25 years. No, I’m not that old. We met when I was 16 and we’ve been together ever since (I’m not saying we didn’t go through a fare share of ‘hiccups’). I often say I’ve had at least 3 long-term relationships in my life, every time with the same man. We married in Venice, Italy almost 14 years ago, and we are now the super proud parents of two wonderful people.

In 2017, Eiso bought me a ticket to Burning Man and because no one could come with me, I went all by myself. It was great. Kind of. It was also super intense, at times pretty scary, and it almost killed me from dehydration. So I’m not expecting to return any time soon.

I recently found out that Leadership is actually written in the stars for me. From my astrological birth chart done by Maaike Pieters I’ve learned that my fascination with leadership and my drive to bring in the new leadership paradigm are an essential part of soul’s mission here. Makes sense…

Eiso and I bought a piece of (is)land that we can only reach by rowing boat. We’re creating a beautiful and edible garden and we currently have a yurt set up, which will make space for a small house in time. Turns out it's a hell of job to create Paradise.

Honestly, I’ve been the worst at having difficult conversations for at least 75% of my life. This only changed a few years ago when I learned the things I’ve recently shared in my book The Mindful Guide to Conflict Resolution (2019).

I’m a Projector in Human design, which basically means I’m an empath-to-the-max. I sense often what others experience and spend many, MANY years learning to discern between what’s mine and what’s theirs. Now that I’ve figured this out, it’s actually a pretty cool skill (especially in one -on-one work) as I can use my feelings in the moment as an indicator of what is going on for the other person. Super helpful.

I believe that, as a coach, you can only take your clients as deep as you’ve gone yourself. And I can go unusually deep.

I do my best work when I allow the divine to flow through me.

Many of my clients go through a spiritual awakening while they’re working with me. I love that about them, but if doesn’t happen that’s all good.

I often hear that I have a rare combination of professionalism and warmth. People quickly feel at home with me, even though they sometimes tell me they felt a little intimidated when they first met me. This makes me kind of sad, but it doesn’t mean I want to dim my light or my presence. That’s 10 points to the recovering pleaser in me!

Water is my happy place. The river. The ocean. The bath tub. All good.

I’m a certified leadership coach, which means I can ask great questions and support you in empowering yourself to become your best. I’m also a transformational presence coach which means I can support you in connecting to your intuitive mind and learn how to access your inner wisdom. And I’m also a Thetahealer, which means I can go into a theta state and rearrange the things that need rearranging in your life. I guess my skills are pretty diverse.

What I think you do know, but it would be weird not to mention here, is that I’m an avid meditator and yogi (mainly kundalini), and I can’t stop myself from spreading the love.

Even though I would like to wrap this list up nicely at 20 items now that I’ve come this far, this is where I’ll stop because I can’t sincerely find another good one to tell you. But this last one is great, because this is so me.