‘Life in multitude is courage!’
In August 2015, I handed in my resignation as partner at PwC and stood down as CPA. How time flies. Every now and then I run into former colleagues who ask me where I ended up. The answer is simple: close to myself. The journey was not always easy, but it was for sure well worth it.
While I shook the last hands, returned my laptop and walked out the door, I had no clear picture of what I was going to do. I had promised myself one thing and that was to spend more time outside in nature. A few months before leaving the firm I had walked from my birth town Bramsche in Germany to my home in Amsterdam. Ten days on the road with only myself as company. Outside, in the woods, through the fields and crossing villages and towns. I walked over three hundred kilometres step by step. Enjoying everything around me. What I realised on this journey is that I already have everything I need. Including everything to become happy in what I do in order to live my full potential.
With that realisation I started exploring possibilities and trying new things. Wonderful adventures, sometimes on my own but above all together with others. After the Master Consulting and Coaching for Change at INSEAD, I started a boutique firm FNX Company together with my then partner, Femke Kruiderink, for team coaching and leadership development. Together we were able to guide great projects. For example, in Dubai we guided 100 Arab women through reflection and grounding exercises, in Italy we facilitated a retreat for 70 creative people, and closer to home we went into the forest with a top team of lawyers. Full of passion and power. With confidence in experiential learning. By trial and error and always staying close to ourselves.
‘Rediscover yourself, empower others’.
Soon after, the horses came on my path. For someone who had seen these animals mostly along the highway, there was work to be done. At a beautiful boarding and training stable near Amsterdam, I became a 40+ years old trainee, got up before dawn and helped out with the horses. I stood among the mares with foals, the youngsters and anxious stallions and learned to know the different types of horses and all the basic skills needed. I quickly felt at home and owning my own horse became inevitable. In no time, Zidane and Froucke walked into my life and these beautiful black Frisian horses have completely stolen my heart. In the meantime, I completed the training “Systemic and Shamanistic coaching with horses” and for a season further harnessed my skills by working as a trainer.
Nowadays I offer tailor made executive coaching programs and systemic equine coaching to individuals, families, professionals and teams together with co-coach Iris Garnier and of course with the horses.
The art of listening and acting on your heart’s voice.
I describe the past few years as mainly characterised by the courage to make choices. Trying out new things, sometimes with considerable trepidation. Observing with much care to what gives me energy. Learning to distinguish between what I do using strength and what flows naturally. Trying, reflecting, making choices, discovering further and going deeper, over and over again. Sometimes I got a few dents in my ego and on other occasions tears from laughter and relief. Making choices based on the combination of head, heart and gut. And one step further every time. And always doing it myself, but certainly not alone.
“Life in multitude is courage”, a translation of the quote ‘Leven is meervoud van lef’, from the Dutch poster-activist movement, Loesje, has always stayed with me. Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you. Courage comes from ‘cor’, the Latin word for heart. In other words, the art of “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” The art of listening and acting on your heart’s voice.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the past few years. Step-by-step. Listening to my heart and making choices. Saying goodbye to how I’ve always done things. Choosing things that do not always seem to fit the familiar pattern or the expectations of others. As a result, I do the things that make me happy.
It now all comes together in the combination of observation, nature and horses in my coaching practice. The verDIEPing (the DEEPening) journey, coaching through connection and the confidence that every person already has everything in them to live their life to the full. With an experience-oriented personal course in which head, heart and soul work together. So that you can be successful in your career and stay true to yourself.
I ended up close to myself. And that while spending much time outside in nature. I can’t imagine a nicer place to be. I am alive and I am a professional and outdoors-person. Who are you?
Do you want to rediscover yourself? Feel free to contact me to help you in your journey of rediscovery.
Go deeper with both feet on the ground. Lovingly confrontational and in connection with nature.
