Sonja

Introduce yourself within a sentence.
I am all about inspiring and enabling people and did that successfully for 13 years in big corporations before stepping out of the hamster wheel late 2019 to “do my own thing”: live in a house by the sea with husband and cat, being myself more and helping others in doing so.

What is the most challenging part of your life in this time of crisis?
What I miss most is probably having dinner with friends, or just casually popping into a nice café, reading a book and watching the afternoon pass. Right now, even though these activities become possible again, they lack the relaxed and natural feel (at least for me) they had before.
Like many other people, I had to postpone a long-planned holiday that I had been looking forward to, as well as a birthday party.
What was probably most challenging in the crisis for me was moving house right when the situation in Europe started to escalate. My husband and I packed our things in a manic rush to “escape” from Switzerland kind of last-minute before the borders closed and drove to Germany. Then we were without a permanent home until May because our new house in Germany was not ready to move into yet due to renovation works. This sent us into a couple of weeks of limbo with temporary accommodation in a relatively confined space. As we have opposing needs when it comes to working (silence/ level of interaction), this called for all our negotiation and communication skills to make sure we find arrangements that work for both of us.

What is your guiding light every day that makes you smile?
On one of the doors of my office, I put sticky cards which display my purpose: my “why”, “how”, and “what” derived from the golden circle. This is my guidance and it helps me to focus on what really matters to me. I ask myself with every new request, offer or challenge that comes my way “does it fit to my purpose?” before deciding what to do. Also, having a clearly stated purpose helps to put things in perspective if life throws a curve-ball. There are so many ways in which my “why” can be fulfilled. I don’t define myself through a job title but through my positive impact in the world (inspiring and enabling others) – and that’s a big difference, at least for me. I would like to enable and support more people to come to this realization, follow their calling and find ways to give their life meaning.

If you can share a source of hope with someone in need, what would it be?
I would say first of all acknowledge what is and how the situation you find yourself in makes you feel. Be honest about what your needs are. Once you have taken stock of that, let people around you know how you feel and what you need. It’s surprising what can happen if you speak your truth. And even if the people who hear it cannot solve your problem, getting your needs out in the open will already have a cleansing effect.
Then become aware of the resources you have that can help you. These can be your strengths, your skills, experience of how you have overcome challenges before, people that you know, etc. – from there, it should be a lot easier to take a confident first step.