WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, KEEP ON WALKING ’TIL YOU FIND THE WINDOW

I shoved that voice aside. Head down, eyes on the prize. I kept doing the daily grind. There were days when I absolutely hated it — the pressure, the performance, and especially the algorithms. But giving up? Not an option. I reminded myself: Success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes grit. You’ve got this.

I poured in my time, without earning a single cent back. I spent money on courses — how to build online programs, how to grow a professional Instagram presence, how to make the algorithm love you. But despite all that effort, something always felt off. Forced. Unaligned. Like I was playing someone else’s game, with someone else’s rules. Because deep down, I knew — this wasn’t me.

Obstacles Are Detours in the Right Direction
By fall, the cracks started showing. The tech tools that were supposed to help me grow began turning into major energy drains. Glitches, bugs, settings that mysteriously reset — they chipped away at my patience day by day. And truth be told, not seeing follower growth didn’t help my motivation either.

Then, just before Christmas, things took a nosedive. I unknowingly clicked on a phishing email. A few tiny charges popped up on my credit card, but I didn’t think much of them. That’s how green I still was. Thankfully, my credit card company caught on before things got worse. I cancelled the card and got a new one, dodging any serious damage. Sometimes, even clueless greenhorns get lucky.

But the energy it took to deal with the mess? Endless hours on support chats and emails with Meta support — and let’s just say, not the helpful kind of support one would expect form a paid service (I had a verified account). Issues didn’t get resolved, but new ones popped up. I watched myself becoming more irritable, more aggressive. I didn’t like the person this was turning me into.

Then came the real kicker. By mid-February — with the help of one of my trusted mentors — we uncovered the full scope of what happened: I had not only been hacked but the hacker had comfortably taken a seat in my Meta Ads Manager account and couldn’t be removed. Not unless I hired a lawyer and waded through an expensive legal mess.

That realization hit like a gut punch.

Almost a full year of work. Countless hours. Thousands of dollars invested. Gone. Technically, sure, I’d learned a lot. But emotionally, it felt like failure — until I looked deeper. Because what I really discovered was something I’d never known about myself: I didn’t give up.The old me? She was impatient. She didn’t have time for the messy middle. But here I was — knee-deep in the chaos — still standing.

And then came the moment everything shifted.

It was a Sunday in mid-February when I reached out to a friend and poured my heart out. I told her that at was lost and didn’t know what to do now. And during that conversation — while I was still standing in the rubble — my new path appeared. Out of nowhere. Crystal clear. No doubt, no hesitation.

It was aligned. It was me.

Sure, questions came. So did overwhelm. But that moment? That clarity? That was the window I had been walking toward all along.

If the mountain will not come to Barbara, Barbara will go to the mountain
Those who know me, know this: I’m happiest when I’m on the move. Traveling, exploring new cultures, tasting local food, connecting with people — that’s when I’m most alive. I swear the travel bug bit me at the age of one, when my parents brought me back to Switzerland after being born in Canada.

So when this new path revealed itself so suddenly and clearly, it made perfect sense: I’ll take my work into the world. Literally.

I’m an Empowerment and Self-Love Coach, a certified yoga teacher, and an energy worker (more about that in the Notes). And what I realized in that mid-February moment of clarity is that this is what I was always meant to do: bring my work to people in direct, soul-to-soul connection. Share my wisdom, my tools, my life experiences — in real-time, real space, with real humans.

And just like that, I felt peace. My heart leapt with joy. No more filters. No more fighting tech demons. Just presence.