THIS MIGHT GET PERSONal

Burned out from decades of hard-work, being scapegoated, pressure to over-achieve and negative inner-thoughts, I turned to therapy and travel. 2 years of therapy, a month by myself in Asia and regular brain check-ins was exactly what I needed to re-centre myself and focus on my relationship with my now-husband. I was harbouring a lot of trauma from my parents messy divorce and the home years that followed, so boundary-less communication and total transparency is something we have practised for 22 years now. It’s not always been easy, and in the mid 00s we even faced a separation for a year, but once the dust settled we found our ways back to one another. I did the inner work to re-wire my attachment style and the universe rewarded me with a best friend for a husband. Someone I can lay my soul bare to and have the same in return, something I never thought I’d have in the darker times of my adolescence. My relationship is my non-negotiable. It’s so easy to get lost in the rush of every day and say there’s no time to nurture it, but we create the time. It’s our fuel for everything else!

…and then came the hustle. I am no stranger to 60-80 hour work weeks and I worked my way up the ladder in politics, corporate (FMCG) and Europe’s startup/scaleup epicentre, built companies from scratch, and now run two businesses of my own. 

Just when I thought I already had it all… along came Benthe and Charlie, the two little lights of my life. Motherhood, parenthood in general, it changes you. It shows you flaws in yourself you were sure you had patched up. It pushes you to the edge of your mental capacity and fills you to your highest level of joy in the space of one afternoon. These little loves expanded my identity and have held up a mirror to the me I strive to be. They stripped away the masks, the show and the vanity and taught me who I NEED to be, for them. They teach me more about myself than any degree with honours could!

Scaling companies to success, being a Champion Athlete, running two businesses, raising children, maintaining a loving marriage, being a daughter, a sister, a friend, a coach, and anything else I have risen from in life, all of these things start and end with how I manage my energy. Thoughts and beliefs determine your view on the world and what’s happening to you, and when you’re able to sync your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy, you’ve hacked life. 

I’ve known hard-work since day one. Okay, technically since around day 1,460… From the age of 4 until I was around 18 if I wasn’t at school or at home, I was in the pool. I remember my parents telling me “You have a brother and sister, we can’t spend every weekend at the pool - if you want to pursue this, you’ve got to make it happen on your own.” I thought, ‘okay, no problem’ and suddenly, 6 year old me was cycling to and from practice multiple times a week. 
I’ve always been hyper independent!

By age 11 I had won around 60 state championships in a row and was receiving my second honours from the Mayor. I continued to get multiple wins for the Dutch national team and for years would train with the Olympians.

Those 5am wake ups on the coldest, darkest days taught me that talent wasn’t enough. You need grit, blind determination, a hunger that won’t sate until you’re doing your ‘thing’.

Back then there were no smartphones or social media. Instead of chasing likes or follows, my obsession was relentlessly working to shave 1/100th off my PB and being better than I was yesterday. It was thrilling! Don’t get me wrong. But it came with it’s burnouts.

When I was 15, I was in Belgium for a big swim meet. My family didn’t come as they had their own things to do, so I was focussing on my training and trying to maintain a good head space for the competition.

I understand the challenges that come with a complex tapestry of life because I’ve been there. The hardship and trauma as much as the success and medals, and how to navigate that in a way that feels energising, and never draining. 

One night, my coach knocks on my bedroom door and hands me a phone. What I excitedly answer thinking is a call of ‘good luck’ from my family, turned out to be the call that changed everything. My Mother was sobbing uncontrollably, pouring her heart out and saying things about my dad that completely blindsided me. I was in shock. She announced their divorce to me on that call, and my parents never spoke to each other again. My dad had left the house by the time I got home… and the call was unfortunately not about wishing me good luck.

What followed was a challenging decade marked by persistent difficulties and trials. It wasn’t long before I ‘had to stop’ swimming to stay at home and care for my brother and sister with a mother who was fighting her own internal battles, and the life I had laid out for myself had crumbled before my eyes.

I took stock of everything around me and decided I would not let this be my story. I was already on an accelerated path in school and put everything into my studies, I didn’t want this to become my life!

I managed to land a place studying Psychology at University where I was determined to graduate Cum Laude. I worked 4 campus jobs to cover my tuition, books, rent and sorority money. When you want something, you have to put in the work. And this is something that swimming has taught me. It was the BEST!

I had met my now-husband the summer before my Freshman year and somehow managed to keep that flame alive despite the crazy hours and unreasonable pressure I had committed myself to!

- CLAUDIA