My coaching journey began at the height of my intense and deeply troubling burnout, anxiety and depression in 2018. I was having difficulties at my job where I trying to survive a toxic office culture and dysfunction. I felt like I was being slowly suffocated. After much suffering and as my depression worsened, I woke up one day and my body and mind said “enough!” and I dragged myself to my doctor to ask for help. That day, I completely broke down in his office. He looked at me compassionately and said, “Du bist nicht auf die Welt gekommen zum arbeiten, sondern zum leben”, meaning, “it is not working that you were born for, it’s living”, and gave me a few weeks off with sick leave from work.

Thanks to the German healthcare system and German labour laws, for the first time in life I was able to take a break from the endless capitalist hamster wheel trajectory of school, university and work and really think about my life and existence (a huge privilege, of course).

Up until this point I’d bounced around different subjects in university. I first went to art school to learn painting and graphic design, but dropped out when I found that world too narrow and navel gazing (and that school too expensive). I then went on to study history, then eventually landed in the political science department at the University of California, Berkeley. I knew I wanted to make a difference in the world in some way, and I felt that political science might open the doors to achieving that, whether through politics, the non-profit sector, the UN or other organisations.

After concluding my Bachelor’s degree, I moved to Berlin, Germany to follow love, escape rising rents and living costs in San Francisco, dance to techno, and get a change of scenery. I had no career or life plan at that point, just a desire to “get out” and see what happened. After a short and unfulfilling stint in the Berlin startup scene, I got a prestigious job with a fairly large and well-known NGO. I felt this was finally the trajectory I was meant to get on after UC Berkeley and that perhaps now I would create positive change in the world.

Unfortunately, the reality was much less rosy. The organisation was deeply troubled and toxic. On top of this, the work itself became tedious. Everything came to a head in the summer of 2018, when I went on an extended burnout sick leave.

As my anxiety, depression and burnout slowly started to heal during my time off, I decided to attend a workshop called “How to identify your career potential”. Participants were paired up with one another and interviewed each other. The person I’d been paired with that day told me that they could see me as a life coach, but at the time I had no idea that was even an option. I left excited and began to search for schools. Not much later, I stumbled upon an ad for Animas discovery day event in Berlin and I knew I had to go.

From the moment I arrived I felt like I’d found a way forward that made sense. I was surrounded by like-minded, vibrant and wonderful people who were all genuinely interested in making a difference. I immediately felt the call to sign up. Perhaps this was the way I could help others and have a positive impact in the world.

I know that coaching is what I’m here to do. I am excited to be on this journey and I am so grateful that everything has happened the way it did, even the negative things, because it has helped me grow immensely as a person, coach and healer, finding my true path in life.