About me

I spent years trying to follow the "standard" career path by looking left and right for directions. But I realized that I was not built at ease in a "box" and that a busy career life doesn't always mean a fulfilled one. 🧭

In a world that never stops shouting, it is so easy to lose our ground. We find ourselves in "auto-pilot" mode—successful on paper, but quietly overwhelmed and disconnected from our own North Star.

I’ve been there. I know the weight of that noise. 

In 2001, I even pushed myself into total overwhelm, not listening to the signs my body and my emotions were giving me. And I reached the exhaustion, burnout, depression.

Since I recovered, my heart is set on prevention, and create tools that could help others avoid this difficult path I went through.

That is why I created CONNECT Association in 2019, and now The Art of Being You.

My mission is simple: to help you recalibrate. To help you find that "calm place" and lead your life from a place of center rather than a place of reaction.

I am thrilled to share that the first step of this bigger vision is officially LIVE. 🚀

The Your Internal Compass Digital Library is now available. It’s a 6-pillar methodology designed to be your grounded toolkit in a noisy world. It’s the foundation for the upcoming app and my intensive 1:1 mentorship program, The Supported Path.

If you (or someone in your network) are ready to stop wandering and start navigating, I am at your service.

Explore the library and the journey : Link in the first comment below! 👇

(Or simply DM me "Compass" to see if we're a fit for 1:1 work!)

Special thanks to Alejandro and Lyla for the encouragement and support during this build!

Enjoy the good within and around you daily ! And live a life as unique as you are. 

Kindly, Karin

I used to be a big people pleaser... trying to avoid confrontation, trying to guess what other want without asking them and  adapt myself as good as I could so they would be “happy”.

Through teenagehood and as a young adult, I just wanted to be accepted and loved so badly that I would adapt, not listen to my own desires, not giving too much weight to my likes.

At 22, I wanted to travel, to see the world, to discover other places and to help people. I just didn’t know how and knew that I didn’t want to go by myself. I was too scared. 

A friend of mine had told me about her missionnary trip with Mercy Ships. It sounded great to help others while travelling at the same time. It was in a team, an organization with lot’s of experience and good values, safe and interesting.

So I applied and in December 1996, I travelled to Pensacola, Florida, USA to join the Carebbean Mercy Ship (picture) and started a 5 months adventure that changed my life forever.

At the time, I had only very basic English school knowledge and no practice. 

Life on board the ship, the training / books to read and to make reports on... were in English... My skills to adapt were very useful ! ;-)

It was not an easy time, lots of questioning myself, my decisions in life,   my values... and one of the most difficult for me at that time.... my own likes.

I was so used to avoid “listening” to myself and adjust, that I felt completely lost.

One of the first weekends on board, a few people from the students and crew, asked me if I wanted to join their outing to a roller-blade disco place. I had never been and my reflex was to look to my side (as if one of my friends from home would be there), to ask if “we should go”... but of course, none of my friends from home were there. 

I answered: “I don’t know.”

I felt so lost. I didn’t know what to decide.... It started stressing me out... I didn’t know this little team very well, I was in this big city, could I trust, would I like it, would I be embarassed, would it be safer to stay on board the ship, what if..... So many questions in less than a second. I still remember the feelings I had, the fear, the stress, the uncomfort...

They kindly told me to come and discover by myself if I would enjoy the activity. So I did and it was a lot of fun. :-) And it helped me develop nice friendships for the five month ahead.

Such a big learning started that day.

If I don’t try, I will never know if I like something of not.

I don’t need to ask if one of my friends likes something to go / like something.

It’s nice to try new things even if scary and uncomfortable at the beginning. 

Getting to know myself, accept and love myself, will help me take decisions and feel good about them.

If others can accept myself and love myself as I am, I can do that for myself too.

I’m unique and I can be me. Others will be able to appreciate me as I am.

Have you ever experienced something similar, or lived moments in which you didn’t know what to decide ?

What helps YOU take decisions when you feel lost?

How do you get to know yourself better ?

Make your life as unique as you are and enjoy the good within and around you daily. Karin

For a long time, I thought a "full" schedule was the same thing as a meaningful life.

​I was looking left and right for directions, following the "standard" rules of success, while quietly feeling disconnected from what actually mattered to me.

​I was busy, but I wasn't present.

Real navigation isn't about moving faster; it's about moving in the direction that fits your life.

​I’ve spent years turning my recovery from burnout into a grounded framework.

​It’s been PhD-verified to ensure it’s a reliable safety net for you, but it’s led by heart to ensure it’s actually useful for your daily life.

You don't need another clinical lecture or a "to-do" list.

You need the tools to clear the noise and hear your own voice again.

​The Digital Boutique is officially open.

I had gotten so skilled at not listening to my deeper needs, ignoring my tiredness, constantly overstepping my own boundaries, and burying deep hurts within me as an abuse survivor.

To give you an idea of why I hit burnout, here is a quick look at my life between 1994 and 2001. Behind these dates and facts were years of lived experiences, unexpressed emotions, and constant motion—even though I genuinely enjoyed most of what I was doing:

• 1994: Finished my apprenticeship in Vevey, followed by 3 months working in Lausanne.

• 1995–1996: Worked almost 2 years in Dornach (near Basel).

• 1996–1997: 5 months on a mission school and trip to Florida and Guatemala.

• 1997–1998: Worked across Flamatt, Montreux, and Vevey, followed by a mission trip to Northern Ireland.

• 1999–2000: Worked and traveled for Estorel, opening new drugstores, building new teams across Zofingen, Davos, Weinfelden, St. Gallen, Biel, and Zermatt, and handling translations at the Rotkreuz headquarters.

• Late 2000: Leadership school in Denver, followed by 2 months working in Montreux and Vevey.

• 2001: Counseling school in Châtel-sur-Rolle.

Looking back, it is no wonder I crashed. But in August 2001, standing at the Zürich airport, I told myself: “Just 3 more months and then I will rest. I can hold on. I’m not weak, and this is for a good purpose.” I was about to board a plane to South Africa for the practical phase of my biblical counseling school.

My nervous system was completely on edge. When my sister held me tightly to say goodbye, I started sobbing. Now I understand that my body was so desperate for safety that her touch almost released my overfilled emotional vase. I had bottled up deep emotions like sadness, loneliness, and anger to avoid dealing with them, and combined with profound exhaustion, they were consuming me from within.

I took a few deep breaths, calmed myself down the only way I knew how, and told my family I was fine. I boarded the plane.

But life had a different plan. Arriving in Durban, our van was broken into and almost everything was stolen—including my backpack with my wallet, passport, and plane ticket. When the van was found, it was entirely empty except for a small miracle on the back seat: the robbers had emptied my small backpack and left it behind, leaving my passport, ticket, and a roll of Kodak film aside it. The next day, a generous stranger from Australia or New Zealand sent us money for basic necessities.

When we went to a local doctor for a check-up, he told me I seemed a little stressed and prescribed something to relax my muscles and calm my nerves. He thought it was just due to the stolen belongings; he had no idea how much I was truly holding back.

That medicine was the catalyst. It forced my body to finally relax, and the side effect was that I couldn’t "hold" the wall up any longer. I felt like a soda bottle that had been shaken for years, and the cap was suddenly taken off. A complete emotional volcano overflowed.

I experienced a total burnout breakdown.

My team leader, Pearl, gave me the grace I couldn't give myself: the permission to just rest. My dad was ready to fly to South Africa to pick me up, but I knew that if I went back to Switzerland immediately, I would just push myself back into the box of productivity. So I stayed.

I spent the first full month doing nothing but sleeping and eating. By the second month, I finally had the energy to take walks and process my emotions. Pietermaritzburg became the best place for my recovery. By the third month, we were able to travel to Cape Town for a convention, helping the community and reconnecting with friends.

That breakdown changed my life. It stopped me from living on autopilot and helped me begin the long process of healing from the wounds of the abuse I lived through in my teenage years. It took about three years of navigating depression after that breakdown to truly start building the foundation for the woman I am today.

It takes immense courage to stop pushing past your limits before your body forces you to. My mission now is proactive prevention—giving you the tools and the supportive safety net to find your own way forward before the whispers of fatigue become a scream.

Have you ever experienced something similar, or found yourself pushing too far? 

Don't push yourself too hard, take time to heal the wounds from your past, and live a life as unique as you are.

Kindly,

Karin