2022: A year to celebrate and honor life

I tested positive. For corona? (he asked). No, for pregnancy.

That was just the beginning of everything that this year was about to bring to my life. Back in March, when I turned 40 I decided that it was time to start a new chapter. I threw three parties in three cities (Bogotá, Amsterdam and Málaga), which represented home to me, and told to myself and the world: it is time for something new. Little I knew about what "new" meant back then. And as a lover of magic and surprises, I really enjoyed the uncertainty. I was ready but I didn't know where that internal force for change was taking me.

After a four year relationship with my Dutch ex-cofounder, I spent 1.5 years in Colombia during covid-19. Most people thought that I wasn't coming back to the Netherlands. It all felt like my roots were calling me to take a pausa, even longer than skipping Dutch winter as I usually do. Back in november 2019 I just took off with the idea of a brand new beginning that lasted until April 2021. I never went back to stay. I went back to see my last 10 years in the Netherlands from home, across the Atlantic and with the company of my family. The strict lockdown in Bogota felt like a blessing. I needed to go deeper and within, and life was simply giving me that experience.

So 2021 was there to welcome me to the new chapter of my life in the Netherlands. It was shocking to come back and feel the energy in Amsterdam while walking around the empty Dam square. I was fully recharged so I simply started dating again and meeting a lot of people in parks like locals did (always with a nice cup of coffee!).

My work never stopped. I had endless sources for inspiration to continue supporting my international community. Between 2019 and 2021, I created over 100 hours of content via our online events including the first two editions of Here2start Fest and the first edition of Here2work International Job Fair. Those years were the perfect time to stick together and to support each other during the rough times, plus what was cooking underneath while facing what the pandemic brought for each of us.

It was december 2021 when I decided to go back to Tilburg to celebrate my first New Year after celebrating the last time in Colombia. I took the train from Amsterdam and had a great time at my first Dutch home, where I landed back in 2011 to study my masters. But on the 1st of January 2022 I took the train to meet my brother in Terschelling to celebrate his birthday (January 3). I started this year across the Netherlands by train and ferry. It all made sense since I have been moving and traveling since I can remember. That was the exact moment when I matched with David on Bubble, the father of my future daughter.

I had no rush other than meeting somewhere in a park with some coffee later on in January. So we did on the 24th, and then work took me back to Colombia after our first two dates. Looking back I wasn't expecting anything apart from meeting him. After so many dates, I learned that it wasn't about a transaction. Think about it: how much can you tell after a coffee in the park? There's no need for any conclusions after first impressions. Covid-19 brought us to the park and my main need more than love and projections was to simply re-connect. We re-connect more for ourselves than for others. It was all about learning (once again) what made me resonate with everything that's was going on from within.

After Colombia we met to celebrate my birthday party in Amsterdam with over 30 friends, and right after Málaga we both got covid-19 for the first and only time for far. Time went fast and while working at the TNW 2022 as stage manager in mid-June, I realized that my period didn't come on time for the first time. Couple of days later I tested two times positive. I was pregnant. Just like that. Without even expecting it ever before.

Life is filled with surprises. Listening to my baby's heartbeat for the first time and learning that I was already five weeks pregnant was the reminder of the miracle of life. Life never stops. life is never under our control. Surrendering to the unexpected and the uncertain is the wiser way to go. Corona showed us this. My echography showed me that once again.

Now, from a Colombian perspective when you are 40 you are basically done as a woman. Nobody believed that I could even get pregnant. It was even shocking for some family members and friends. And therefore all the projections started again; endless W questions followed by potential things that could go wrong. Female entrepreneur away from home, pregnant with her first baby in her 40's after less than six months of dating someone new. Try to imagine the reactions!

My reaction: absolute peace of mind. Even after all the "worse case scenarios". I knew I was ready for change and that was exactly what life was giving to me. Of course I googled "having a baby in the Netherlands". Of course I talked to other international female entrepreneurs about motherhood and their experiences. It was all exciting and even scary. Scary good!

Now 32 weeks further and 8 weeks about to meet my daughter, I can only feel absolutely grateful. 2022 is my year to remember and thank life for sending me its biggest reminder. Change will only come to you when you are ready. Let go and receive with abundance. Trying to control what will happen to you in life, work, love or anything else will just bring you back to the endless circle of revisiting your old patterns from a place of fear and scarcity.

When people ask me what I am going to do about work, my answer is that I don't really know but that I am fully aware of what I have learnt and gave so far, after almost 12 years in the Netherlands. While expecting a baby your whole world shifts into building home and growing roots. That's all I care about in whatever shape or form. I have worked with my marketing agency since 2005, and built a community of international entrepreneurs and professionals since I moved to Amsterdam back in 2014 (it all started back in 2011 while arriving in Tilburg). I had the honor of meeting key players within the startup and entrepreneurial ecosystems of the Netherlands, Colombia, Estonia and Spain. Counting on a gigantic and relevant network will always bring me to places that I am definitely willing to explore over my next decade.

So 2023: Here I come! Full of life, joy, energy and my brand new family! My daughter and now partner David will join me in this journey of finding new roots and truly belonging to the Netherlands (and even further)! The world can be a small place filled with amazing people ready to make things happen. Here I am telling you: let's go to the park and grab some coffee.! I am curious about how we can join forces and walk together for a bigger purpose.

Happy new year everybody and special thanks for those amazing shinny lights who trusted me and gave exactly what I needed during this year: Sandra Rincon Katerina Petropoulou Urte Bakanovaite Katharina Anna Krasowski Valeria Riera Melanie van der Storm Karen Bermúdez Alberto Bermudez Willeke Mulder Madara Pērkone Alvaro de Salvo David Escandon Nicolas Bohorquez Karla Hernández Zaldívar Alejandro Rodriguez Claudia Canizares Franco Meagan Lum Nazly Santos