I was 18 when I left my birth village to study at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. My family did not understood why. It felt like betraying a script I never wrote.
Just a few months later, I was told to move back home and start working because the costs of my education and living in the big city were too much for my parents. I almost did. Almost…
Instead, I decided to rebel, to figure it out on my own - not moving back, just looking forward. I had no idea how, I just know I wanted this. I found a job. Studied and worked, days and nights have blurred together. Me and my stubbornness…
I was 20 when I started to learn English. I felt behind and embarrassed, but very, very determined.
I was 25 when I received my MSc in Computer Science. No one in my family had a frame for it, I did not even go to my own graduation ceremony. No celebration. It was just another day to live, to work, to move forward.
I was 28 when Microsoft awarded me a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the first time. I cried alone in my kitchen because I’d run out of words to say aloud.
I was 28 when I gave my first presentation in English at a major conference in Washington, DC.
I was 34 when I founded my consulting company. I had job offers from many, but I wanted to do it my own way.
I was 42 when I moved to The Netherlands with my family. New country, new language, new experiences, new identity puzzle.
I was 43 when I began coaching high-achieving professionals who were “successful” on paper and exhausted in real life - people like the younger me who needed more than a new plan. They needed a new truth.
I was 44 when I decided to divorce. Ending can be an act of love, too. You don’t owe anyone your unhappiness.
I was many ages when I learned to say no without a 12-paragraph justification.
I was many ages when I remembered that the body keeps score long after the calendar forgets.
I was many ages when “balance” stopped being a goal and slowly became a practice.
Visiting and working in 30+ countries later. Countless conferences and workshops all around the globe. 18 MVP awards and many others. And still, the moments I return to are tiny: a bike ride after a big talk, a forest path where I finally exhaled, a client’s first unshakeable yes to their own life.
Here’s what I can tell you:
You are not late. You are arriving.
You don’t have to be understood to be true.
The most important projects don’t fit in a résumé line.
Balance is not found. It’s built - daily, gently, imperfectly.
If you’re somewhere between who you were told to be and who you’re becoming, you’re in the real work. Take three slow breaths. Then take one honest step. You are not alone.
PS: If this lands, tell me how old you were when something changed. I would like to know your story.
29,36,40 :)