How I Changed My Career To Do What I Love
It takes courage to follow your dreams...
But it’s so worth it.
Feeling stuck and uninspired in your job?
I’ve been there.
I often get asked about how I came to live in Amsterdam and teach yoga… so I want to share my story with you today!
The truth is, I’ve always made bold choices in my life - but in the last 5 years I’ve changed my career in a major way. It was a challenging process that took a long time as I didn’t have much clarity on what I wanted in the beginning...
In my previous career I was working as a digital designer and art director for over 12 years.
Back in the days I worked in an advertising agency in Vienna for a few years. Around the same time I found yoga... or yoga found me.
I was ambitious and wanted to work with more interesting clients and do more innovative projects so I decided to move to London in 2010. I landed myself a job in a leading digital agency and was excited, but it also turned out to be a very fast-paced and stressful environment.
I remember how my yoga practice was a huge relief in this time as I was getting used to this busy city and fast lifestyle. I started practicing a lot and exploring all the amazing yoga studios in London.
After over a year I got a burning desire to travel to India.
But I knew I wanted to spend enough time to really explore this country – not just a two week holiday. Following this intuition I made the decision to leave my job and start freelancing instead. It felt pretty scary at that time to leave the safety of my regular salary... but I knew I had to do it.
And it turned out the best decision as I not only earned much better, I also got much more freedom. I was able to take one or two months off to go travelling if I wanted - without needing to ask for approval at work. I loved my new freedom!
So I went for the first time to India for 6 weeks – it was a profound experience where I learned so much and went deeper on my spiritual path. And as I love travelling I started going every year in the winter to Asia and did retreats in Thailand, India and Bali.
Back in London I became more and more passionate about yoga and meditation, practiced several times a week and followed workshops with inspiring international teachers.
I never thought about teaching myself - but then a friend convinced me that it would be great for me to do the teacher training. And it was truly a life-changing experience. Soon I started teaching on the side and really enjoyed it.
But the deeper I went into my spiritual practice the harder it became to continue in my 9-5 job.
I became more sensitive to energy and felt drained from being in the office all day. Even though I enjoyed design, spending the whole day in front of the computer wasn’t making me happy. I felt exhausted on Friday evenings and needed the weekend to recover.
After an inspiring trip to Los Angeles I decided to start my own business as a way to change my career. Combining my design background and my passion for yoga I launched Moon Tribe – an ethical fashion brand. I used sustainable materials and created designs with sacred geometry and the moon.
I loved the creativity and excitement of being an entrepreneur.
Growing the brand our first collection was stocked in many studios in the UK and I presented it at events and festivals.
Meanwhile I still needed to freelance in design contracts to earn money while growing the business. But it was becoming more and more of a struggle. I loved the freedom to work how and when I wanted and was feeling much more creative and inspired to work on my own business.
The corporate world felt like trying to fit into a box that just wasn’t fitting.
I also started feeling more and more different from my colleagues as I went deeper in my spiritual journey. At work I felt like I had to wear a mask and couldn’t be fully myself. But I was worried and not sure how to pay my bills so I kept going like this for two years…
Beginning of 2019 I joined an amazing retreat and business mastermind in Bali and I realised that I needed to make a change. My life in London wasn’t right for me any more in many ways. And I got the inspiration to move to Amsterdam, which is much calmer and has a thriving spiritual community.
So I did. It was a bold move and a big change.
But I was listening to my intuition and my guidance.
Leap, and the net will appear.
I didn’t have a clear plan when I arrived. But as you might know I work with manifesting so I kept envisioning and following my desires.
And everything opened up…! Two months after I had arrived I was invited to start teaching in my favourite yoga studios in Amsterdam! I connected to an amazing community and am so happy and grateful about my new life.
And I am now living full-time doing what I love…
… teaching yoga and coaching.
Both feel so fulfilling as I love working with people and seeing the big transformations!
I feel truly blessed and that I’m following my higher purpose now.
Watch this video to hear more about my story:
My own story and challenges have now inspired me to start guiding others through this big transformation.
I know that some of you are where I used to be… feeling stuck in a job that is unfulfilling.
Looking back, changing my career in the last years has been a slow and challenging process... because I didn’t have much clarity on what I wanted and no guidance. I wish I had known about coaching back then... it could have supported me in a major way and saved me a lot of struggle!
That’s why I have now created my new coaching program Live Your Passion & Purpose for women who are in this situation and are longing to do what they are passionate about…
If this resonates with you, find out more here and please get in touch to chat more!
Much love,
Simona
Raise your energy & come back into the flow with this powerful meditation… whenever you need.