I’m late to the party. Every notable blogger and business owner I know has published their yearly reflection on December 31st – at the latest. But what can I say? 2024 has been an eventful year – and looking back I can say that as far as years go, it was a good one!
This is my first annual review as a mommy mentor. I’m in my fifth year of living with diagnosed PMDD, and in previous years, I did not have enough energy to write. In 2024 my energy levels have consistently increased, which gave me the opportunity for new experiences and a fresh start.
My goals for 2024
I’m not the type of goal setter that tracks their goals minutely in spreadsheets. However, I start off every year with a new intention and with more or less concrete goals.
My word of the year in 2024 was “Activate”. I use a word of the year, instead of traditional New Year’s resolutions. This helps me to reflect and move forward when I get stuck. As it turns out, “Activate” was a very good pick.
In addition to this general intention, I had specific goals in four areas: health, PMDD, being a multilingual family, and a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
I am healthy and my hormones are balanced
Being healthy has been on top of my goal list for a very long time. In 2024 for me this meant, consistently executing my health basics:
- 30 minutes of exercise per week
- Taking a short walk daily
I definitely succeeded in that area! I feel fit and healthy (unfortunately, the scale did not reflect the feeling in kilograms).
Additionally, achieving hormone balance meant establishing good communication with my doctors. While I don’t find it easy to talk to doctors, I have taken big steps this year and openly communicated whenever something wasn’t working for me.
Looking back, my health has never been better since I have been diagnosed with PMDD.
I make an impact for mothers, for women with PMDD, and for women’s healthcare issues
In 2024 I have continued to make an impact on the PMDD community. Especially, in the Netherlands, where I am the peer support coordinator for the Dutch PMDD Foundation.
Under my care, the amount of support groups we offer monthly has grown from 2 to 4. And there are two more monthly support groups in the pipeline for 2025!
I want to make an impact as a volunteer as well as in my daily work. Not having been active as mommy mentor in 2023 and most of 2024, I at least wanted to start up my blog, to be able to support more moms with PMDD.
Unfortunately, I didn’t write a blog article per month as planned, but I have made a start. And most importantly, I have found joy in writing again through building daily habits. In October I started spending 15 minutes on my blog daily. This regular small effort effort turned into great results.
We are a multilingual family with German as a strong family language
As a German living in the Netherlands, who speaks mostly English with her husband, it’s important to me to pass on my mother tongue to my son. I do this with the help of the wonderful Dr. Bettina Gruber, who is an expert in supporting multilingual families, and the sole reason I haven’t given up yet.
Walking the Camino Santiago again
I walked the Camino Santiago from Pamplona to Santiago in October 2010. It’s always been my intention to return, but I have never actually made plans. This year, I wanted to start saving up for the trip and make concrete plans. Well… that didn’t happen. I’ll take this with me into 2025.
Themes & highlights of 2024
Starting the year in PMDD hell
Unfortunately the year didn’t start off very well. I was trialing a progesterone treatment and I didn’t notice how it made me depressed. The days felt grey and dull, as if someone had covered my brain with a veil. Which of course, if you’d say this to anyone with PMDD, they might recognize as tell-tale signs.
I felt very little desire for DOING anything and I had very low energy levels. So, I started the year looking for help. This is how I got into contact with a social worker from the municipality, a couple’s counselor, and a therapist. When I was in the middle of this, I felt like I was drowning and desperately clawing at straws to keep up with my responsibilities as a mum and wife.
Looking back on it now, I can see how my focus word “Activate” came into play. I was setting myself up for a better future. Even in the middle of a long PMDD-period, I was setting things in motion that would help me be better once I got to the other side of it.
Do you have a therapist?
“Do you have a therapist on your medical team?” That one question on a peer support group set things in motion for me.
While I was in control of the actual medical treatment of my PMDD, I had neglected the psychological side. I needed to grieve about what PMDD has taken from me, move through anxiety (Will it return?), and find some acceptance (this range of emotion is my new normal).
I found an amazing therapist, who listened to my request for help and was able to provide the best tools and insights into living with PMDD. She also helped me to apply many of the things that I already know as a coach, but had a hard time practicing on my own.
Finding stability
This year, my long journey with PMDD seems to have finally resulted in some stability. And therefore I have more energy to pursue my goals.
In the past, the injection that puts me in chemical menopause would wear off every nine weeks or so. I would have a week-long bout of depression and other PMDD symptoms. Since this summer, for the first time, we have managed to extend the symptom-free period to almost four months, which I am very grateful for.
In the beginning, I didn’t trust the stability. I wondered how long it would last, and was waiting for an onset of symptoms. However, I can confidently say that since September 2024 I am almost back to my old energy levels. Now I feel well enough to pick up my business and start again.
Coaching again
When my PMDD hell was over, I finally had the headspace to broaden my horizons again. At that point, I didn’t even think about coaching again as I didn’t trust my treatment success yet. However, on a whim, I decided to follow a two-day coaching seminar.
In those two days our trainer, also an experienced life and business coach, led us through a series of coaching techniques, striking a perfect balance between applicability and theory. As we got to practice those techniques, I could see again and again that I was gaining so much energy from leading a coachee through an exercise. I remembered that I enjoy asking the deep, important questions… and that I’m actually quite good at it.
In short: my dormant desire to be a coach was woken up with an urgency, and before long I was looking for new ways to start coaching again. Which leads me almost directly to writing this blog as a mommy mentor. Hello activation! 😉
Looking back on Magical holidays
Disneyland Paris
In March, we had the trip of a lifetime: my wonderful mom treated us to a long weekend in Disneyland Paris to celebrate her birthday. We spent five magical days in the land of Mickey Mouse and Princesses with our every need being taken care of.
What made this trip so special was that I did not have to worry about a thing. All arrangements were taken care of, Disney staff provides amazing hospitality and it was fun to explore the parks. But most importantly, I didn’t worry about PMDD mood swings and I wasn’t feeling frustrated or overwhelmed. For once, I could simply enjoy.
Summer vacation
In July we spent a week at Kenner’s Landlust, an Eco Lodge in Germany – our first “unplugged” holiday as a family. I was very nervous about this holiday, because we are a very digital family and I wasn’t sure how well we would do without a good internet connection and our devices.
To my great surprise our son loved the provided child care, where he got to spend time in the forest, learn about wolves and build cool stuff. On top of that he got to practice his German, which made me a very proud mommy! With our kid happily squared away, us parents got to spend some quality time together exploring the nearby small towns.
After that we got to spend an amazing holiday week in an ecologic in Germany where we learned about the return of the Wolves to Germany and even got to Trek some of them for stop I was apprehensive about this holiday in the first place because the hotel described itself as unplugged and we are a rather digital family but our kid enjoyed the entertainment that was offered for kids so that we as parents could spend some quality time together exploring the nearby small towns.
PMDD volunteer meetup and national PMDD-day
I’ve been dealing with PMDD in one way or another since 2018. First with my own diagnosis and later by becoming a volunteer for the Dutch PMDD foundation in 2020. This year in October, we met up with all the volunteers in the middle of the Netherlands for a shared High Tea.
It was very touching to meet people in person that I’ve only seen online for 4 years! And I was in awe that the day felt like a meeting of old friends, even though as a group we don’t know each other that well.
In November, the foundation organized a national meetup for women with PMDD. Not only was the program outstanding, with both scientists and PMDD sufferers taking the stage, but sharing a room with 100 women who all have PMDD, who all share the same pain, who all hope for the same thing, was humbling.
It was a very intense day where more than one tear was shed. It was also a day where new connections were made. Looking back on 2024 as a volunteer for the Dutch PMDD foundation, I have definitely made a mark. My word of the year even came into play, as I found new volunteers to lead support groups. “Activating” plans for 2024.
Looking back on 2024 Q&A
What am I most proud of?
I am most proud of living true to my word and taking little (and some big) steps towards my goals. I’m a bit of an overthinker and I can get stuck in my brain, so consistently taking action is a big achievement for me!
I also feel very proud about my work as a coach and how I have helped people. When one of my colleagues told me that I made the workplace a safer space for her to face her anxiety issues, I almost cried with joy. And when a fellow PMDD-warrior texted me “Your advice is better than that of the coach I paid for”, I jumped off the couch and yelled at my husband “See, this is what I am meant to do!”
What was a “first”?
Looking back on 2024, I couldn’t come up with many things that I did for the first time, but here a few.
- I, well we, went to couple’s counseling for the first time ever.
- I started a conversation with ChatGPT and found it useful.
- I had an unplugged vacation and loved it.
- I bought a new tabletop game that I had played for the first time this year: Cascadia.
What am I most thankful for when looking back on 2024?
I’m thankful that I am still here, that I have not given up, and that my inner compass tells me that I am moving in the right direction.
I am utterly grateful to my mom, who is generous and supportive. I’m so glad that she loves to travel, so that she comes to visit us, and occasionally invites us on magical trips to Paris 😉
I found a weekly Zumba-class right in front of my doorstep. When I started doing small work-outs again, I was looking for ways to work out more. I am not a fan of gyms and if I have to travel for a class after dinner, chances are, I will not go. I’m thankful that Nathalie decided to give classes in my neighbourhood.
I’m thankful that I found not one, but two new business coaches. Sofie won me over with “Great action is needed for success.” Yes, action, activate. This is what I was all about this year, right? She inspires me every day to take action to get closer to where I want to be.
And Katja is all about DOING things, which is very much what I need. Plus, she’s from Berlin (my hometown), so by definition she’s cool!
I’m thankful for my son and my husband. This year they earned my eternal gratitude, when they cleared out a corner of the living room and put up the Christmas tree without me having to say a word about it! They know I love Christmas and that little act of service was just melting my heart.
What did my year look like in numbers?
Looking back on 2024 in numbers is not very interesting for my business. Not having been active on social media, means very little following. So I put up some statistics that could actually be fun.
- Facebook-Followers (on January 3rd): 67
- Instagram-Followers (on January 3rd): 494
- Instagram posts written in 2024: 9
- Blogs written: 5 (including this one)
- Here’s one from when I was still in PMDD hell: Do you feel alone, too?
- A big foundation article on what PMDD actually is and how you as a mom can recognize it: Could the mood swings from your period be PMDD?
- Part of my PMDD story: “I’m leaving!” Words from an overwhelmed mom
- Successful consultations with my healthcare provider: 8
- Participants in PMDD support groups: 41
Looking ahead
My goals for 2025
This year I want to fully focus on working as a mommy mentor. By becoming more visible again, I can help mothers with PMDD thrive and survive their bad weeks, while maintaining a connection with themselves and their kids.
Giving this venture my all will hopefully improve my finances. I hate to admit it, but looking at my bank balance scares me (even though there is no reason to be scared). I’ve decided that I am done being scared by numbers and that I will develop a healthier relationship with my bank account and money in general.
Lastly, I want to improve the quality of my free time. Recently, a colleague challenged our team to practice our hobbies more often for a whole month, instead of sitting on the couch binge-watching Netflix. It was a really fulfilling month, in which I found my current Zumba class and connected more with my husband over jigsaw puzzles. I want more of that in 2025.
Adventures in 2025
For our family I’m looking forward to the May vacation. We have a traveling science festival in the Netherlands, which we’ve been visiting for 2 years in a row. This year will be a new city to explore and more experiments to do.
To my great pleasure, I get to visit a fellow PMDD-warrior in the French Alps.
Also in May, I’ll be in Berlin for a 2-day seminar with Katja Porsch. A whiff of hometown air combined with a business-boost has me extremely excited 🙂
How you can work with me in 2025
With my full focus being on mentoring in 2025, you can work together with me in a one-on-one setting. The mom-life-balance mentoring is for you if your period mood swings impact your family. Are you a totally different mom for 2 weeks of your cycle? Irritable and angry or depressed and withdrawn? Learn to reconnect with your needs and get actionable tools for easier days with your children.
You know that the above description is you, but a commitment to mentoring feels like a step too far? Create your own self-care plan in just minutes and get a comprehensive overview of what helps you to take care of yourself.
Maybe you are not sure that you are a mom with PMDD. Or that your cycle is what is causing mood swings and other emotional symptoms. Maybe you would just like to get to know me first. No worries, sign up for my newsletter here, and you will get an e-mail every other week and you can stay up-to-date with all new offers in 2025.
Word of 2025
As it turns out “Activate” was the perfect pick for 2024. Throughout the year, but especially in the home stretch since November, I have taken many small and big actions that will set me up for success in 2025.
My word for 2025 is “Receive”. I hope that it will help me to reap what I sowed and to gracefully accept opportunities and gifts that life has in store for me.
Because words have power, let me end this reflection with a wish for you. As a mom who is struggling with PMDD, I wish you rest, so that you can find some respite from the emotional rollercoaster that is PMDD, and I wish you support throughout the year, so that you can continue to show up for your kids.
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