January 28, 2025 • 49 mins
What’s on your mind, unicorn? 🦄 Send me a text!
What if listening to your inner voice could be the one bold move that changes everything? Maya Lombarts knows firsthand how powerful intuition can be.Â
After struggling with chronic illness for years and finding no lasting relief from conventional medicine, she decided to take control of her health. Through functional medicine, deep self-exploration, and a leap of faith, she not only healed but also transformed her entire life.
Her journey led her from Belgium to Cusco, Peru, where she embraced a vibrant, spontaneous way of living that contrasted sharply with the structured, fast-paced lifestyle she left behind. Now, she blends her analytical expertise with creative passion, working as a "left-brain sidekick" for creative entrepreneurs—helping them streamline their businesses while maintaining artistic freedom.
In this episode, we explore how trusting your gut can unlock new possibilities in both health and career. You’ll learn:
- How Maya overcame chronic illness by addressing root causes through functional medicine and holistic healing
- The impact of environment on well-being—comparing structured Western lifestyles with the rich, community-driven culture of Cusco, Peru
- How she built a fulfilling, location-independent career that merges strategic thinking with creativity
- The rewards and challenges of moving abroad and embracing a completely new way of life
- Why prioritizing joy, presence, and intuition leads to greater health, success, and abundance
As the co-owner of Crew Volunteer, Maya balances online work with meaningful in-person experiences, combining purpose with flexibility. From salsa dancing to connecting with a tight-knit expat and local community, she shares how her move to Peru sparked a profound shift in her personal and professional life.
Whether you’re seeking better health, a career change, or the courage to embrace the unknown, this conversation will inspire you to trust your inner voice and step into what’s truly possible.
Tune in now to hear Maya's incredible journey and discover what listening to your intuition could unlock for you.
MEET MAYA
Hey there! My name's Maya, I’m from Belgium, and I’ve been living in Cusco, Peru for the past seven years while building my business online.
I struggled with chronic disease in Belgium when I was only 15 (CFS and Fibromyalgia). Doctors told me: "You just have a small energy bucket and you need to learn how to live with it." I refused to accept this and started looking for my own solutions, which I found in the Peruvian Lifestyle and Functional Medicine.
Using my Belgian structured side and my Peruvian flexible side, I'm a Left-Brained Sidekick for Creative Entrepreneurs. Together, we can find a way to maintain your creative flow while managing the operational aspects of your business
🔥 Ready to step into your next level? Join us at Island Awakening in Saint Martin from June 4-8, 2025! Let’s rise together. 🌴✨
đź’« Claim your spot now: jenliss.com/retreat
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Music created and produced by Matt Bollenbach
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I am welcome to Untethered with Jen Liss, the
podcast that's here to help youbreak free, be you and unleash
your inner brilliance.
I'm your host, jen, and in thisepisode we're going to talk
about how listening to yourinner voice will show you what
is possible.
Let's dive in.
Hey there, unicorn, it's Jen.
(00:31):
Welcome back to the podcast.
This is an episode for allthose with wanderlust, the
travelers in the room, thepeople who have ever dreamed of
living somewhere other than theplace where you were born, and
for the person who could listento their inner voice a little
bit more deeply, or maybe theperson who has been listening to
(00:53):
your inner voice.
Maybe you just need somebody tosupport you in remembering that
it is worth it to trust it,even if the path does not feel
easy.
On today's podcast, we have MayaLombards.
She lives in Cusco, peru, butshe was born and raised in
Belgium, and she struggled witha chronic disease that,
(01:14):
basically, her doctors had toldher you're just going to have to
walk with a cane for the restof your life.
You're just going to have tomanage your energy, you're just
going to have to live this way.
And Maya didn't believe thatthat was true.
She had a different voice inher head that said something
different.
She has completely structured anew life around herself and
(01:35):
what is possible for her she iswhat she calls a left brain
sidekick for creativeentrepreneurs.
She helps people to maintaintheir creative flow in their
business while managing theiroperational aspects of their
business.
So she has a strong creativeside and also a lot of that get
it done mentality that is sosupportive to entrepreneurs, and
(01:57):
we talk about all of that inthis conversation.
So, without further ado,welcoming to the podcast Maya
Lombards.
Hi Maya, hey Jen, so happy tobe here, genuinely thrilled to
have you on the podcast, becausethis podcast and what I'm
fascinated with and what so manyof my listeners are fascinated
(02:18):
with is this idea of living alife that is fully true to us.
And when I saw that you're fromBelgium but you're living in
Peru, first of all I've been toPeru and holy baloney, so
freaking magical.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It is the energies are strong here, yeah.
It's hard not to follow yourintuition here.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I could totally, after having been there, I can
totally see it, because myhusband and I are always talking
about we need to find a way togo back to Peru.
All that aside, but not aside,I think that we look at somebody
like you and say how did she dothat?
How is she living that lifethat she is living?
So really excited to have youhere to talk about that today.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, and I guess you found a reason to come back to
Peru.
I'm riding Cusco, right whenthe Machu Picchu is.
You probably saw the MachuPicchu when you came here, right
?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yes, we spent a couple of days in Cusco as well,
nice.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah.
So that's where I'm living,really close to the city center,
and if you spend a couple ofdays here, you must have felt
just the energy, and justwalking around the city center
calms you down.
I can be working really hardthe whole day on my computer,
but then I go outside and I'm inthe mountains and I feel the
sun and it just relaxes me.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Just seeing rogue alpacas out there walking around
.
Living their life.
It's amazing what a magicallife here in Oregon.
I go to the alpaca farm to goand see the alpacas.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
They're not just out there roaming around.
Yeah, also in Europe it'sbecome a thing.
You know, people going to thealpaca farms.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
They're so sweet, they're just the cutest.
They don't really care about us, but we care about them.
It's like I just want to likesqueeze their little faces.
They're so cute.
Well, how is it that you endedup where you are?
Because your story from what Iknow about your story and what
you can hopefully share herewith the audience is that nobody
would have expected you to beventuring out that far from home
(04:20):
and really crafting the lifethat you are and being an
entrepreneur, which is always achallenging journey, Like what
got you to where you are today.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, like you said, no one really expected because I
did struggle with chronicdisease ever since I was 15.
So they told me I had chronicfatigue syndrome and
fibromyalgia.
So mainly I was super exhaustedall the time.
I would sleep for 12 hours andthen still feel like I had gone
partying the whole night.
(04:51):
So my energy levels did notincrease after resting, it was
just always depleted.
I had random muscle aches.
I was walking with a cane, Iwas going to school part-time.
So from my 15 to my 19, I don'tfeel like I had a normal
teenage life.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Did it start in your teen years, or did it start
earlier than that in your teenyears.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, it did.
When I was 15, it started 16,17,.
They said, oh, you know, it's achronic disease, there's
nothing you can do about it, youjust have to learn how to live
with it.
And you just have a smallerenergy bucket than other people
and that's that.
And I said there's got to bemore than that.
I don't know, it was just somevoice inside of me saying no,
(05:35):
just feeling really stubbornlike no, this can be it.
There must be a solution.
There must be.
I don't know if healthcare isadvanced enough yet or what's
happening, but I feel thatsomething's happening in my body
and there must be an answer,right?
So I think then I alreadystarted not conforming to what
(05:56):
doctors or specialists weretelling me, because in the
beginning you think, oh, this isa doctor, this is a person who
knows they're going to tell meexactly what's going on in my
body.
There's going to be a simplemagic pill that will make this
all go away, and that will bethe truth.
But at that moment, so manypeople were asking me what's
(06:17):
happening, what's wrong in yourbody?
Why are you walking with a cane?
Why can't you go upstairs?
And so I got so tired fromexplaining all all these things
to people, that I startedwriting a blog back then.
That was in Dutch and I wouldjust write it all out and that
was my way of processing andpeople started reading it,
understanding better.
(06:37):
If anyone was like, so what'shappening?
I'm like, just just read thefirst blog post that explains it
all, like I don't feel likegoing into that again, right.
And then the seo did its thingall of a sudden.
Um, people found my blog bygoogling fibromyalgia in dutch.
Then, so pretty niche.
(06:57):
And I had all these reactionsfrom people saying, oh, I have
the same diagnosis, but, um, I'mgetting hormones that I need to
take, or I'm on a magnesium IVevery now and then, or I'm
taking antibiotics a year longbecause they believe it's a
bacteria that needs to be killed.
So I saw all these andantidepressants and I said
(07:19):
they're all.
They have the same, let's say,disease, but they get all these
different treatments.
And I really felt like peoplewere just experimenting on them.
You know, like doctors werejust, oh, let's try this, or oh,
I think it's that they all hadtheir own truth.
But like, oh, we have the bigtruth now of where fibromyalgia
comes from, right, and so that'swhen I already started doubting
(07:43):
and questioning the system andsaid you know what?
I know my body, I know thatmore is going on.
I'm going to reject, I don'twant to use any medications and
I'm just going to find a naturalway.
So I started reading aboutmindfulness, meditation, healthy
lifestyle, all of it.
You know, I was 15, 16 with mynose in those books
(08:08):
self-development, health, allthis that was my hobby.
But it was also a thing ofsurvival, right?
Just finding all the thingsthat would make me feel better.
So I had a really strictschedule.
I had I was always going tosleep like.
I was really strict with thethings I read in books, so very
self-disciplined, because I justhad to.
(08:28):
I had to find a solution and sothings did get a little bit
better.
I was able to go full-time touniversity, but still not
actually full-time.
I divided my three years overfour years so I made it a bit
lighter on myself.
I took the elevator, I had anelectric bike so I could go to
bars with friends from now andthen, and it seems like you
(08:52):
never gave in to it at all.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Even at that point, you're still finding like, okay,
what's the solution that'sgoing to help me have the best
time in this lifetime?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, very solution focused, and I think I had my
mom has been a great supportalways, and even when I was like
, no, I'm tired, I need to rest,she'd be like you're young, go
out.
You know, even if it's just foran hour, just go have fun.
I'm like no, people are gonnaquestion they're gonna give me
those weird faces tomorrow.
(09:20):
They see that I just go toschool part time and then they
see me in a bar the night before, right.
So there's also a lot ofjudgment from people and I was
like no, I better not go.
And she was like go, you know,like live.
So even then, just alwaysfinding solutions and walking
with that cane and an electricbike and scheduling a lot of
scheduling and that's when I gotreally good at scheduling empty
(09:43):
spaces first right In mycalendar.
That's why I help people withthat too On my Healthy High
Achievers podcast.
That's what it's about right,it's scheduling those empty
spaces and listening to yourbody.
I had to become really goodfriends with a body that was
really acting out Like it didn'tfeel like a friend at first.
(10:05):
It felt like an enemy, becausemy mind wanted to do all these
things and I also wanted tostart dating boys.
Or I also wanted to experimentwith makeup, right, but I
couldn't.
I had to.
My mind was filled with how canI walk without feeling pain?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah.
So what happened at this point?
You're at that in college andyou've gone through all of this
and you've been so focused onself-development and you've been
making your way through, usingsome of the techniques that
you've found, creating space foryourself.
What really instigated evenmore change?
(10:44):
Did you actually have change inyour physical health, or is
this something that you're stillmoving through even today, at
this point?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The big change happened when I moved to Cusco,
so I had always wanted to go toSouth America.
When I was 14, I told my mommom, I'm going to move to South
America when I'm older.
I was studying Spanish.
That was my hobby ever since Iwas 14, I told my mom mom, I'm
going to move to South Americawhen I'm older.
I was studying Spanish.
That was my hobby ever since Iwas 14.
My favorite movie was DirtyDancing 2, and they're dancing
(11:14):
salsa in Cuba.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I just went salsa dancing for the first time the
other night.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Oh, nice, I love salsa.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Took my first lesson.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, I've been dancing salsa now for the past
seven years and it's such agreat relief and a communication
, it's a language with anotherbody, you know just nonverbal
Love it.
So I said I want to go to SouthAmerica.
And then I thought maybe I cando an exchange like a year
abroad.
But then this thing with myhealth.
(11:40):
I was like, hmm, maybe I shouldaim lower, maybe I could do an
internship there just threemonths.
And then the moment came whereat university the last year, we
could do an internship either inBelgium or abroad.
So I was like, okay, what'sthere in South America?
And I saw this collaborationwith an NGO here, a non-profit,
(12:04):
by a Belgian guy.
My boss was Belgian, so he hadthe collaboration with my
university in Belgium and I sawthat it was a project where they
would teach single mothers herein Peru to become Spanish
teachers and teach Spanish totourists, so in order to give
(12:26):
them a job opportunity.
And then there would be adaycare with volunteers to take
care of those moms' kids andthis whole system to be able to
give single moms a job.
And I would work there as anoffice manager and I'm like, all
right, this sounds like areally great job experience and
having an impact while managingthe place you know.
(12:47):
But then I was scared.
I said what, if like, will mybody be able to?
Also, cusco, you know, is at avery high altitude, I know.
In meters it's like 3,400meters In feet, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I was training for a marathon when we were there and
I attempted to run six miles onemorning and it was.
I ended up walking most of it.
It's high altitude.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
It is very high altitude and I was like what,
how is my body going to react tothat, you know?
And then it was my mom who saidyou know what?
Just go, just go, and if itdoesn't work out, you come back.
It's as simple as that.
You can do a differentinternship in Belgium than the
next year and finish yourstudies.
That's that.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
What an amazing support for you that she was
there to say that.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Absolutely In the end .
It's that simple.
You just go, feel into it, seehow your body reacts.
Doesn't work, you come backPeriod.
And so I did, and I wassupposed to stay for three
months, and now I've been herefor eight years, so ever since
Because after three months, theamazing thing that happened is I
(13:52):
arrived here after my firstweek of working.
First of all, I never thoughtI'd be able to work full time
again.
I said, you know, that's justnot for me with my chronic
fatigue.
Probably part time I wasworking full time.
After working full time, Iwould go to the salsa school and
stay there for hours and hours.
There was like a fixed monthlyprice, and so I took all the
(14:14):
classes they had for that monthfor the same price, right.
So I just spent every day afterwork dancing salsa.
I could run up the stairs here.
I mean, everyone's out ofbreath, right, when they're
walking up in Cusco.
So I didn't really stand out.
Everyone's like waiting amoment, taking a break before
they continue.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You had some relief of judgment.
Nobody's judging, becauseeverybody's feeling the same.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely,absolutely.
Because everyone's a bit moreexhausted here, right.
And then, I don't know, thepain just went away.
I didn't have any pains anymorein my muscles and I said what's
happening?
Why do I feel so much betterhere, right?
And I looked for years for thoseanswers.
(14:59):
That's how I bumped intofunctional medicine online and I
heard an interview aboutfibromyalgia saying you know,
it's just a name for a group ofsymptoms.
It literally just means pain inyour muscles, but it doesn't
say anything about where it'scoming from.
Why are your muscles hurting orwhy are you extremely fatigued?
Where is that energy goinginstead in your body, right?
(15:21):
What's your body trying to healor where is it wasting its
energy on?
That makes you feel soexhausted.
And so I said, wait a minute,no one's ever searched for my
root cause.
They did a sleep exam because Iwas extremely tired, right.
They did a heart exam becausemy heart was pounding.
I was so exhausted all the time.
They didn't find anything.
(15:43):
They did a muscle exam and mymuscles looked perfect.
They did a scan of my bowels,but my bowels looked perfect,
even though I had a pain attackevery week of just, yeah, these
belly aches.
And so I said no one everreally investigated how my
body's working or functioningyou know, how is my digestion,
(16:03):
how is my liver doing my hormonebalance, like the body systems.
No one's ever tested that, somaybe there's something there.
So after three years in Peru, Ithought, okay, probably I'm
feeling better because of thehealth.
Well, the dry climate, becausein dry climate you have less
bacteria and stuff travelingthrough the air, so it's more.
(16:24):
The air is more thin, let's say, and pure.
So I said probably the altitudeis doing something good.
Here I'm mainly eating foodsfrom the market.
I'm not even going to thesupermarket here, so there must
be something in the food.
My life is super spontaneoushere because people don't have a
schedule Apart from their workschedule.
(16:44):
They don't have a free timeschedule because they're like,
why would you schedule your freetime?
you know, so social life isobsessed with scheduling our
free time here in the us rightand your hobbies and your oh, I
can go to a restaurant in threeweeks on a Friday right, whereas
in Peru that sounds absurd.
(17:05):
People just, you know, work.
And then after work they'relike, hmm, do I feel like seeing
people or do I feel likehanging on the couch?
Hmm, I think I want to stay intoday.
And then, even if they madeplans, they will flake.
They will just not show upmaybe or tell people, hey, let's
do it another day.
(17:26):
And that was very.
I think it gave me thatpermission to fully, extremely
listen to my body and be in mybody and live in the present
moment without chasing thatschedule and thinking, oh no, I
promised this friend, like threeweeks ago, that we would meet
today, so I can't cancel this.
You know, everyone's cancelingall the time.
Sometimes you're double bookedand then none of those two plans
(17:49):
actually happen.
They both get canceled.
And then a third thing pops upthat's completely spontaneous
and that's the thing you'redoing that night yeah, so is
that not normal in Europe either, and where you grew?
up.
No, belgians are very, veryscheduled.
Everything is planned out.
If you want to have a sociallife.
(18:10):
It's literally asking peopletoday hey, do you want to go to
a restaurant in three to fourweeks?
And then people put in theircalendar and that's what's going
to.
And then they feel bad forcanceling, right, because they
feel that pressure of, oh, we'vebeen trying to see each other,
we've been trying to schedulesomething for so long, I
shouldn't cancel now.
And so it's a lot of living intheir schedules and not really
(18:34):
in their bodies, you know,because sometimes they're
exhausted but they go anyway.
Just push through.
(18:58):
We just push through.
Like you said, that highachiever mode especially, I
think it's stress.
But I was a really optimisticand pretty chill person.
It's not, it's not aconsequence of burnout, it's not
because I pushed too much, it'snot because I was depressed or
very negative in life, not atall.
So that's why it didn't makesense to me.
(19:19):
That's why I said what'shappening, because this is not.
When they said, oh, it's all inyour head, I'm like no, my head
, we all have things to work on.
But I was like my head's pretty, pretty fine.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Like I'm physically feeling it in my body, so it's
not all in my head.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Exactly exactly, and so stress can be a part of that.
Of course, many people, whenthey start pushing too much and
you see a lot of burnout, right,and that is really a physical
manifestation of just the mentalpushing, pushing, pushing.
But that wasn't my root cause.
But after three years in peru Iwas like, okay, let me go to
belgium and go to a functionalmedicine practitioner and see,
(19:59):
maybe they can find something.
See what, what has beenhappening, yeah, and what they
found at first it's like thelayers of an onion.
So they found the outer layerfirst, and so they saw some
imbalance in my digestive system.
Then I had some reactions tosome certain foods, but that's
not really a root cause, that'smore a consequence of deeper
(20:22):
causes.
So you go layer by layer, yougo layer by layer, you go deeper
and deeper and in the end whatthey found is one of my main
root causes was my liver wasfilled with plastic, rubber and
gasoline.
So my river, my, my liver justexploded and I didn't have the
right enzymes to detoxifybecause those enzymes were
(20:44):
depleted, because I'm prettysure mold had to do with that as
well.
I had some mold in my bedroomin Belgium at that age, and so
mold and toxins were what causedall of these symptoms, but no
one ever thought of that, or nodoctor was like oh, let's see if
it's mold, let's see if it'syour liver, because when you
(21:07):
have muscle aches and extremefatigue, no one's going to think
it's your liver causing muscleaches, right?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
each part is separate from the other parts, and what
we're all coming to realize now,and what you realize, that it
sounds like in your body andwhat you do in your work now, is
looking at the holistic,because it's not like your liver
is separate from everythingelse.
Exactly, maybe it's a piece,but all of these things are
working together all the time.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, and I did change my diet a lot like left
out sugar and all the chemicalstuff, like go as natural as I
can.
And then you know just thedaily habits and working on
yourself and, um, while livingat this high altitude, like
that's why this altitude andthis dry air is so good for me,
because mold barely grows hereso it wasn't feeding the problem
(22:04):
.
Yeah, if I go to a more humidplace right now, like two years
ago, I went to Gran Canaria, theCanary Islands, and that's
pretty humid, and I was thereand I immediately felt those
pains in my muscles again in mylegs, and I felt so extremely
tired and I was like whoa, thisis like fibromyalgia all over
(22:26):
again and I realized, well, it'sjust too moldy and humid here
for me.
I need to go to dry places.
And it was a confirmation thatmy body's just instantly
reacting to that.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Wow.
So where has this journey takenyou since then?
You made it to Belgium and theyidentified all of this and you
got healthy and made somechanges to your diet.
It sounds like that perhapstransformed your health.
You ended up back in Peru.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah, yeah, I was.
I wanted to stay in Belgium.
My idea was oh, I had my threeyears in Peru, I had my fun, but
now I'll start the serious lifein Belgium and life is better
in Europe and Peru is a thirdworld country.
So I had all the mental,rational reasons, right?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
A lot of what I would call tethers that are like
pulling on you, like, oh no,this makes sense.
It does not make sense for youto do that.
It makes sense for you to dothis do this Exactly so.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I was doing what I thought I should do, so very
centered to my culture and toprobably what my parents were
also expecting of me.
My mom kept saying have yourfun in Peru, but come back you
know A little bit of anultimatum there.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
A little bit of an ultimatum there.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, so I did.
I did go back, but then I wouldsee someone on the street that
I barely recognized but somehowdid, maybe from primary school
or whatever and my reactionwould be like, hey, you know, I
recognize you, let's hug and sayhi, because that's very much
Peruvian culture, just, they'realways happy to see each other.
(24:06):
And another person would lookat me like what I barely know
this girl.
Why is she saying hi to me?
You know, just leave me alone.
So my Peruvian enthusiasm, thatdid not find its place in
Belgium at all.
So I was a bit disappointed bysocial life.
I worked at a very Belgiancompany, not a lot of diversity,
(24:27):
and I was so used to beingaround people from all around
the world here in Cusco, becauseit's very touristic, but also a
lot of foreigners living here.
I have my Peruvian friends andthen I also love surrounding
myself with just people from allaround the world.
So it got a little bit betterwhen I moved to Brussels,
because Brussels is also veryinternational.
(24:48):
So I did have friends from allover.
But still, the climate though,it's like six months a year of
gray, really gray, and I waslike, oh, I need the mountains,
I need the sun the whole yearthrough.
I need the dry air because Ialso felt like I had less energy
there.
I need the lifestyle and thespontaneity and people being so
(25:13):
curious about meeting new people.
They're like, oh, you know,they're genuinely interested in
Wow, here's a new person, I'mcurious.
You know what, what they do,how they think, how they are.
You know new friends and theyget really happy about that.
But in Belgium, everyone hastheir own little circle of
friends that they've had sinceforever and that's where they
(25:34):
stay and it's really hard toenter a new circle, you know.
So I was like you know what?
Maybe I can move back to Cusco,but maybe I can build my online
business so I can have enoughof an income.
So I can move back to Cusco,but maybe I can build my online
business so I can have enough ofan income so I can still see my
family every year, because witha Peruvian salary, it's
impossible to travel back toEurope every year.
(25:56):
So I had a local salary here,used my savings to see my family
twice in those three years andthat was that.
You know, savings gone.
So once I found the answers inBelgium, I did start studying at
the Functional MedicineCoaching Academy because I was
so passionate about what I hadjust discovered and look at this
(26:17):
, more people need to know this.
You know I can help people whoalso have fibromyalgia.
And so I went in it a wholeyear, just studied everything
that I had been studyingnaturally already for the past
10 years, but now officially,you know, with a certification.
I was like, look at all thesepositive psychology things and
stuff.
You know it's the things I'vebeen reading for 10 years.
(26:39):
Yeah, you're able to turnaround and help people with it.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
That's I am.
One of my mentors yesterdayshared something on Instagram
that said something to theeffect of if you're wondering
what your purpose is in life,heal yourself and then turn
around and use what you've doneto heal yourself to teach others
how to do it for themselves too.
Yeah, too, and you are theepitome of that that.
(27:03):
This entire story is that Iknew that there was something.
You listened to your intuition.
You knew that there wassomething different than what
you had been told, so you werelistening to yourself.
You went down that journey andnow you're able to finance your
dreams, this life that you wantto live, by doing this job.
That is helping people with thesame thing.
It's so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, and I was coaching for a while and then I
started incorporating mymanagement background just some
online entrepreneurs who neededhelp with their online business.
I'm like, yeah, when you'rebuilding your online business,
you help people with podcasts aswell, because you have the
experience and it's fun to helpothers with that.
So I started doing the samewith business as well.
I'm have the experience andit's fun to help others with
(27:44):
that, so I started doing thesame with business as well.
I'm like you know, I built mywebsite and I did all the
business coaching courses andlearned everything there was to
learn to build my presence,right.
And I'm like, okay, let me helpothers and I'm pretty tech
savvy, so I would just help themwith all the things that were
too techie for them.
And then I was like what am Idoing the things that were too
techie for them?
And then I was like, what am Idoing?
You know I'm coaching, healthcoaching, but then I'm also sort
(28:08):
of a virtual assistant, butalso not like what am I?
What title do I put on all thelovely things I'm doing for
people?
And then I came to theconclusion that you know what
I'm going to call myself thecreative entrepreneur's sidekick
Because my coaching clientsstarted asking for websites.
(28:29):
And then my VA clients.
They started asking forcoaching because they needed
more balance in their life.
You know, I have HolisticImagine this.
Extremely holistic, right, soit was like whoa 360.
What do I call myself now?
Extremely holistic, right, soit was like whoa 360.
What do I call myself now?
And I was like you know what?
(28:50):
I'm just helping them.
You know, if I'm helping thembalance their life and structure
their business and I'm just I'mtheir sidekick, you know.
So now it does mostly lean intothe business side of things.
But then I have business clientswho one of my clients has ADHD
and early Parkinson's and soshe's really struggling with her
body's new limits and how toadjust, adapt her online
(29:12):
business to that diagnosis andthe pain she sometimes feels in
her hands.
And and I'm like, well, this ismy jam, you know, this is just
me reminding her to be gentle toherself, telling her we can
shape this online business anyway you want that fills your
soul but also respects what yourbody needs.
(29:33):
Right now, we deleted all ofthe extremely structured things
that her previous assistants hadcreated.
Just a simple example like inher Google Drive, there were
like folders within folderswithin folders, like sub, sub,
sub, sub, sub folders, right,and in the end she couldn't find
anything.
It was too much clicking andsearching and creative minds
(29:58):
cannot do those extremely linearthings, right.
So I'm like let's delete allthose folders, you know, and
let's just make it more visualor with more colors or more
present or, you know, just let'sadapt it to you.
So yeah, using my coachingexperience and my own health
experience and my managementbackground to just really tailor
(30:19):
it to the person, their bodies,the way their minds work and
just what works for them.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Yeah, I think what's so cool about your story that I
would just love to underline foreverybody who's listening is
(30:46):
that all of these skills allmight be true, but maybe it's
not what other skills do youalready have that you could be
applying or how can itsupplement?
We often don't.
We treat all things in lifebecause that's the systems and
the structures that we've beenraised in to look at the liver
as just the liver and this skillas just this skill.
(31:07):
And you're a beautiful exampleof somebody who's seeing that
full picture scope of what youcan bring to a client.
When they come to you Likeyou're their perfect sidekick
because you've got all of thisand I have to believe I don't
know how spiritual you are, butyour clients, the right clients,
are coming to you.
That client came to you becauseyou have exactly what can
support them and help themthrough whatever it is that
(31:27):
they're needing.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah, and I'd say it's those experiences that then
feel drawn to you, or peoplethat feel drawn to you, and then
maybe in the beginning youdon't realize that, oh, this is
for me, because you know youhaven't analyzed that thing.
But that comes after, because inthe beginning I did have
creative minds who were clientsand I had also nonprofit and
more and more like more seriousI wanted to say serious
(31:51):
businesses.
Every business is serious, butyou know more the linear things
around, like I don't, and Ifound it so boring.
I was like, okay there.
Then there comes a moment whenyou declutter, when you're like,
okay, what feels super aligned,what feels really good to me,
what do these things have incommon and how can I fine-tune
it even more.
(32:11):
So there did.
There was a moment where Istopped working with certain
clients because I said let mereally focus on just the
creative people, because I feellike that's my jam, but it's,
it's a trial and error, it'sit's experiences and then seeing
what's for you, what's notalways coming back to that of
decluttering, and I think, yeah,that self-analysis or
(32:33):
self-observation was just okaywhat feels good and what's
working here and how can I domore of that?
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah.
So what's feeling really goodto you right now?
What's working?
What do you want to do more of?
I'm just curious.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I love the techie stuff.
It's strange, but it's true.
But in terms of, I want to honein on the kind of things I do
for people and I'm just when I'mlearning a new software or
setting it up for people ortheir website tweaks or their
CRM, I get into this space whereI forget about time.
(33:08):
So even someone's QuickBooks,someone's accountancy, somehow
it's like a meditation for me toplay with their expenses and
their invoices, and I've beenlike that since I was a kid, you
know.
And it sounds so strange tomany of my creative clients.
They're like, oh my God, that'swhat drains me, you know.
I'm like, okay, let's matchthat up, because that's
(33:30):
something.
The thing is, I don't seemyself doing the same thing the
whole day through.
I need variety.
That's why I love the fact thatI'm doing a million different
things.
But if I can kind of categorizeand hone in a bit more and have
more of those, let's say,techie stuff, I feel like those
are the kinds of things I can do, even when I feel sick.
(33:51):
So even when I'm in on thecouch or I'm in bed and I'm
feeling sick, I can still dosomeone's expenses.
Yeah, because I love it.
So that feels aligned right now.
And also, I became the co-ownernow of crew volunteer, which is
an organization that bringstourists, people, here, and
(34:14):
instead of only visiting MachuPicchu, you're also volunteering
, you know, in projects withkids or with dogs, and you're
also taking some Spanish classes.
So those are the people, thetourists, who stay for a couple
of months mostly, and I used towork there before I moved back
to Belgium.
Right, that was my firstofficial job as a volunteer
(34:35):
coordinator, so I was the onepicking them up from the airport
, bringing them to their project, you know, organizing
everything from the moment theyarrive in Peru.
And now, seven years later, itcame full circle where the owner
was like hey, maya, you knowI'm so tired after the pandemic
and after this politicalsituation in Peru and I had to
(34:57):
send everyone home and refundeveryone and I've lost the
energy and he's also havinghealth issues.
So he's like I don't have theenergy right now.
He said do you want to step in?
So he's like I don't have theenergy right now.
He said do you want to step in?
And I said, well, it soundslike a nice variety again with
(35:18):
my online work and then havingan in-person project and giving
back to the community here,right, so that feels very
aligned too to have most of myclients online.
But then in the evening I go toa pub quiz with my volunteers
and we have a lot of fun and Ihave that in-person contact.
So that feels very aligned too.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah, congratulations , that's really exciting and
you're doing a really great jobof selling Peru.
I just got to say you're doingyour job right here on the
podcast of getting peoplewanting to go to Peru and go
visit and not just have theexpected tourist experience but
also go and do the other things.
I remember Joey and I that's myhusband we went and had dinner
(35:55):
with a family.
We sat down with a family andthere was a translator, because
we don't speak Spanish, but wehad a translator who was there
and they cooked us dinner andjust everything that you're
saying about the people there sofriendly, so warm and inviting
and genuinely this is what stuckwith me.
They cared what we had to sayand I could see it and I could
feel it.
What you said about curious, thecuriosity, and they were
(36:19):
delighted to hear what we had tosay.
I'm like nobody has ever caredso much about what I had to say
at this dinner and it wasn'tlike they didn't care about what
I said about the food.
They weren't like looking formy compliments.
They wanted to know about us.
Is that reflected in theculture?
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I'm so curious, absolutely, it's so genuine.
I guess it's such a groupculture, you know, because we
come from very individualcultures, you know, and it's the
focus is on me, I, we're all.
When I go to Belgium, I feellike I'm locked up in my own
home, because life in Peru ismore outside, it's coming
(36:54):
together, it's joining eachother.
In a bar.
People never, ever, talk aboutwork.
When they join, when they go toa bar, you know they're like
let's leave work at work andlet's just, you know, talk about
our lives.
So with a Peruvian person,within five minutes you're
talking about life, you knowabout the meaning of life, even
and deeper things, and withinfive minutes you're going to
(37:16):
hear someone say, ah, that'slife, you know.
So it's an honest, genuine,true conversation, because
people love connecting with eachother.
People love it's weird here tobe by yourself.
So sometimes I do need to go tomy own cocoon and just withdraw
and be with myself, right, butfor Peruvians that's not very
(37:38):
normal.
For Peruvians, the normal isbeing together and it's true
that there's a genuine curiosity.
So in Belgium I've always felt abit out of place, even as a kid
, even as a teenager.
I would always think, you know,do people not care about who I
am?
Like there's no curiosity.
(37:59):
I'm such a curious person tomeet new people and to know what
drives them or the way theythink and feel.
I love discovering that.
But then, when I didn't seethat reflecting in other people
towards me, I was like am I, amI not interesting?
Like as a person, or people donot see me.
I felt, yeah, I felt likepeople didn't see me in Belgium,
(38:22):
even as a kid, and thensomething inside of me said
there must be a place for me outthere.
I always had had that thoughtand I'm guessing that's Cusco
now.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Thank you for quite a few things in this conversation
, but one of them is reallyconfirming what's possible for
us Not listening to what we'rehearing on the outside.
That doesn't feel true to us.
Such a powerful thing that youreally listened to yourself and
you pursued that and you madeyour own dream possible and
(38:56):
you're making it happen, andyou're actively making it happen
right now.
And also that permission tountether because even though
your mom wanted you to staythere and she wanted you to live
there and there's probablyparts of you that wanted to stay
there and wanted to be withyour mother was so supportive
and just like your family andyour friends, and you want to be
(39:19):
there and you know that there'ssomething else for you.
And the way in which you areserving people now in this space
because you stepped out of that.
You are serving people now inthis space because you stepped
out of that.
It's really powerful.
Is there anything else aboutyour story that we haven't
covered that you're like.
I just really want.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I feel like people need to know this.
Yeah, there's something that Ido felt like highlighting is
that one don't think that it'seasy.
It's not an easy thing.
I do miss my family like crazy,but it's just that when there's
that voice inside, sometimesthe mind does protest and like,
hey, do we really want to do?
We really want to change thiswhole thing?
(39:55):
Or we were just comfortable,right, do we really?
But when that voice inside isstrong enough, you, just when
you listen to that, it does feelmore freeing.
And when everyone was saying, ohso you're moving back to Peru,
is your, are you gonna staythere forever?
You know, is this definite?
Like that's your, that's whereyou're gonna live, and I was
(40:16):
like, what is what is forever?
Any?
I mean, I don't know, I don't.
I'm turning 30 in a couplemonths.
I'm like I don't know what I'mgonna feel, what I want to do
when I'm 35, when I'm 40, 45, 50.
Every phase in your life youjust need something different.
And I just gave myselfpermission as well to change my
(40:39):
mind, to realize, okay, Ithought I wanted to move back to
Belgium, but it was just for areason I had to learn something,
I had to go there forfunctional medicine and for my
health and to come back to Cuscostronger.
Now I'm in Cusco.
I don't know if the intentionor the purpose or the meaning is
that I stay here forever.
(40:59):
Maybe I changed my mind in fiveyears and it's just like my mom
said back then right, just goand you can come back whenever.
So even now I'm still like if Imiss Belgium too much, I can go
there for six months, for ayear, whatever, and feel into it
.
Maybe I need more time there,maybe I miss Cusco and I come
back.
I can change flights, even if Ihave a plan of I'll go for a
(41:23):
year.
I can change flights and comeback after six months, you know,
and come back after six months,you know.
So just that permission ofgoing with those faces in your
life, making those big changesthat, in the end, are they that
big, though?
It's just a different country,you know.
I have a comfortable couch heretoo and I'm just hanging on it
like watching series.
Sometimes I mean, I'm doing thesame thing, the same things I
(41:46):
might be doing in Belgium, right?
So is it that different though?
Speaker 1 (41:59):
You can always change when you feel it and change
your mind, change it back ifit's not for you anymore.
Things are permanent forsecurity.
It makes us feel secure if weknow.
We really want to know as humanbeings.
The truth is that we don't know.
Anything could happen.
An asteroid could hit thisplanet tomorrow.
I hate to tell y'all, it's thetruth.
We don't know, and givingyourself permission to change is
(42:21):
really shaking up that tether alittle bit.
And yeah, you're going to keepgrappling.
We're always grappling forsafety.
We're always trying to findways to feel safe, for we're
always grappling for safety,we're always trying to find ways
to feel safe.
But that is one of those, oneof those tethers that I think
really holds us in places thatyou know, in a fear of shame if
we do change.
I am, I felt that shake up whenI also moved, when I moved away
(42:41):
from home.
It's like, oh, it's actuallynot shameful to go back home, or
if I wanted to move away fromhere.
But we think, oh, thatdecision's got to be permanent.
My goodness, if you're going tomove that far away, it better
be permanent.
Is that true?
Is that true?
We can question that.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Yeah, we can, and it's not about making very
sudden decisions and being verywishy-washy.
But you can sit with it, feelinto it and then just do what
really inside feels right, andthen it's okay to change your
mind.
Yeah, I mean any friendship,any relationship, any country
where you're living, any job.
(43:22):
It's not like we have to changeevery month, but just knowing
that they're all here for acertain period of time.
You never know how long inadvance.
You never know.
Maybe some of them are going tobe permanent, maybe a certain
country or a certain business,or they could be permanent.
But you also have permission toclose your business and start
(43:44):
something else or go back to acorporate job or even if you
felt years ago that startingyour own business was the thing,
right, I know people who goback to corporate and then are
happy and that's totally fineand it's all good.
You have permission to do that.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
You have such a beautiful grounded energy that
I'm certain has supported youthrough your years and all of
these changes and just thatlistening that you have done to
yourself so powerful.
Thank you for coming andsharing that gift with us.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Absolutely.
Even that last little thingwhere I've been giving myself
permission to let it go, wasthat big thing that I thought
would be my big purpose nowbecause it comes from my health,
and that was health coaching,right.
So I said, said this is mypurpose because it comes from my
own healing and I'm I investedin this certification right in
functional medicine, and I wantto help people.
(44:37):
And then when I started feelinga shift, when I was really
enjoying the business side ofthings, like helping the
creative entrepreneurs in theirbusiness but it always involves
some coaching because we'readapting the business to them,
right but I was like, oh no, Idon't like health coaching
anymore.
What do I do now?
You know, I built this businessand I invested in the
(44:59):
certification and this was mything.
I need to help people withfibromyalgia, right?
Or chronic disease, and I justhad to be like you know what, or
chronic disease, and I just hadto be like you know what.
Maybe it was just for my ownjourney, maybe it has served its
purpose and even that it's okayto let that go now, to let go
of one of those offerings thatyou thought was your big purpose
(45:19):
, right.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
And it's still serving people because you have
that client who you're able tosupport with.
So we just never know Way tofollow the nudges and way to
encourage every listener andmyself to follow our own nudges
as well.
I have one last question foryou, Maya, that I ask everybody
who comes on the podcast when doyou see the magic in the world?
Speaker 2 (45:38):
I see the magic in the world in our senses.
So I'm a Taurus, very connectedto my senses, and I'm a
musician, a singer, and I justlove.
For me, the magic is in goingto a bar and enjoying live music
and that's just a simple thing.
But I did ayahuasca last Friday.
(45:59):
Actually it's for people whodon't know, it's quite a strong
plant medicine from here, fromPeru, and I was like ayahuasca
was my purpose, you know, tellme.
Tell me plant medicine, allknowing, yeah, and she was like
just this, you know, just listento the music, hear what you can
(46:20):
hear, touch what you can touch.
I had a soft blanket.
I was like, ah, you know, andjust taste, see the beautiful
things.
I think it's the beauty in themoment and in nature and when
you go on walks, and in the end,our purpose is just that, just
to be and be here now, andthat's where the magic is.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Absolutely gorgeous.
Thank you so much for sharingthat and for all you shared
today.
Where can people connect withyou?
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Oh, they can follow me on Instagram If you want to
see some of Peru.
Sometimes I just film where I'mwalking and people always love
that.
These little streets in Cusco.
It's at Maya Lombards.
I'm sure you'll put that in theshow notes, but it's
M-A-Y-A-L-O-M-B-A-R-T-S, and mywebsite is the same thing it's
(47:06):
mayalombardscom.
So there you can find out moreabout me too.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah, and a lot of creative entrepreneurs listen to
this podcast, so might evenlook into Maya and being
somebody who can help you withall those files like I have.
I'm looking at my desktop goingoh my gosh, I could use Maya.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
The magic is also in decluttering.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
So true, but not in the doing it for me, for having
somebody else do it, which iswhy you have such a beautiful
gift.
Thank you so much for coming onthe podcast, Maya.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Thank you, this was so lovely.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
I just know you probably fell in love with Maya
as much as I did.
I was like you're one of thosepeople who I genuinely want to
be best friends with and I wantto go to Cusco and I want to go
hang out with you for two weeksor two months and be friends and
have you show me all the ropes.
If you don't want to go to Peruafter this conversation, then I
don't know.
I don't even know.
(48:00):
She makes it sound so wonderful.
So thank you so much forlistening to this episode.
I hope you pulled out somethingreally powerful for yourself,
whether in terms of listening toyour own intuition and really
listening to that voice, sayingyes to it, giving yourself
permission to change.
In Thursday's episode, I'm goingto pull a little thread out of
(48:20):
this episode and go a little bitdeeper, so stay tuned for that.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode.
It means the world to me thatyou would listen.
If you enjoyed it, if you gotsomething out of it for yourself
.
I encourage you to share itwith a friend who might need to
hear it too.
Maybe they need to beencouraged to follow their voice
or to follow the path, even ifit doesn't feel like the path
(48:41):
that's outlined for them.
You can also share it with allof your friends by taking a
screenshot of the episode.
Put it on social media, put iton Instagram, tag me, tag Maya.
Our links are in the show notes.
I'm untethered, jen, onInstagram.
Thanks again for listening.
You just keep shining yourmagical unicorn light out there
for all to see.
I'll see you next time.
Bye.
I am welcome to Untethered with Jen Liss, the
podcast that's here to help youbreak free, be you and unleash
your inner brilliance.
I'm your host, jen, and in thisepisode we're going to talk
about how listening to yourinner voice will show you what
is possible.
Let's dive in.
Hey there, unicorn, it's Jen.
(00:31):
Welcome back to the podcast.
This is an episode for allthose with wanderlust, the
travelers in the room, thepeople who have ever dreamed of
living somewhere other than theplace where you were born, and
for the person who could listento their inner voice a little
bit more deeply, or maybe theperson who has been listening to
(00:53):
your inner voice.
Maybe you just need somebody tosupport you in remembering that
it is worth it to trust it,even if the path does not feel
easy.
On today's podcast, we have MayaLombards.
She lives in Cusco, peru, butshe was born and raised in
Belgium, and she struggled witha chronic disease that,
(01:14):
basically, her doctors had toldher you're just going to have to
walk with a cane for the restof your life.
You're just going to have tomanage your energy, you're just
going to have to live this way.
And Maya didn't believe thatthat was true.
She had a different voice inher head that said something
different.
She has completely structured anew life around herself and
(01:35):
what is possible for her she iswhat she calls a left brain
sidekick for creativeentrepreneurs.
She helps people to maintaintheir creative flow in their
business while managing theiroperational aspects of their
business.
So she has a strong creativeside and also a lot of that get
it done mentality that is sosupportive to entrepreneurs, and
(01:57):
we talk about all of that inthis conversation.
So, without further ado,welcoming to the podcast Maya
Lombards.
Hi Maya, hey Jen, so happy tobe here, genuinely thrilled to
have you on the podcast, becausethis podcast and what I'm
fascinated with and what so manyof my listeners are fascinated
(02:18):
with is this idea of living alife that is fully true to us.
And when I saw that you're fromBelgium but you're living in
Peru, first of all I've been toPeru and holy baloney, so
freaking magical.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It is the energies are strong here, yeah.
It's hard not to follow yourintuition here.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I could totally, after having been there, I can
totally see it, because myhusband and I are always talking
about we need to find a way togo back to Peru.
All that aside, but not aside,I think that we look at somebody
like you and say how did she dothat?
How is she living that lifethat she is living?
So really excited to have youhere to talk about that today.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, and I guess you found a reason to come back to
Peru.
I'm riding Cusco, right whenthe Machu Picchu is.
You probably saw the MachuPicchu when you came here, right
?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yes, we spent a couple of days in Cusco as well,
nice.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah.
So that's where I'm living,really close to the city center,
and if you spend a couple ofdays here, you must have felt
just the energy, and justwalking around the city center
calms you down.
I can be working really hardthe whole day on my computer,
but then I go outside and I'm inthe mountains and I feel the
sun and it just relaxes me.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Just seeing rogue alpacas out there walking around
.
Living their life.
It's amazing what a magicallife here in Oregon.
I go to the alpaca farm to goand see the alpacas.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
They're not just out there roaming around.
Yeah, also in Europe it'sbecome a thing.
You know, people going to thealpaca farms.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
They're so sweet, they're just the cutest.
They don't really care about us, but we care about them.
It's like I just want to likesqueeze their little faces.
They're so cute.
Well, how is it that you endedup where you are?
Because your story from what Iknow about your story and what
you can hopefully share herewith the audience is that nobody
would have expected you to beventuring out that far from home
(04:20):
and really crafting the lifethat you are and being an
entrepreneur, which is always achallenging journey, Like what
got you to where you are today.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, like you said, no one really expected because I
did struggle with chronicdisease ever since I was 15.
So they told me I had chronicfatigue syndrome and
fibromyalgia.
So mainly I was super exhaustedall the time.
I would sleep for 12 hours andthen still feel like I had gone
partying the whole night.
(04:51):
So my energy levels did notincrease after resting, it was
just always depleted.
I had random muscle aches.
I was walking with a cane, Iwas going to school part-time.
So from my 15 to my 19, I don'tfeel like I had a normal
teenage life.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Did it start in your teen years, or did it start
earlier than that in your teenyears.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, it did.
When I was 15, it started 16,17,.
They said, oh, you know, it's achronic disease, there's
nothing you can do about it, youjust have to learn how to live
with it.
And you just have a smallerenergy bucket than other people
and that's that.
And I said there's got to bemore than that.
I don't know, it was just somevoice inside of me saying no,
(05:35):
just feeling really stubbornlike no, this can be it.
There must be a solution.
There must be.
I don't know if healthcare isadvanced enough yet or what's
happening, but I feel thatsomething's happening in my body
and there must be an answer,right?
So I think then I alreadystarted not conforming to what
(05:56):
doctors or specialists weretelling me, because in the
beginning you think, oh, this isa doctor, this is a person who
knows they're going to tell meexactly what's going on in my
body.
There's going to be a simplemagic pill that will make this
all go away, and that will bethe truth.
But at that moment, so manypeople were asking me what's
(06:17):
happening, what's wrong in yourbody?
Why are you walking with a cane?
Why can't you go upstairs?
And so I got so tired fromexplaining all all these things
to people, that I startedwriting a blog back then.
That was in Dutch and I wouldjust write it all out and that
was my way of processing andpeople started reading it,
understanding better.
(06:37):
If anyone was like, so what'shappening?
I'm like, just just read thefirst blog post that explains it
all, like I don't feel likegoing into that again, right.
And then the seo did its thingall of a sudden.
Um, people found my blog bygoogling fibromyalgia in dutch.
Then, so pretty niche.
(06:57):
And I had all these reactionsfrom people saying, oh, I have
the same diagnosis, but, um, I'mgetting hormones that I need to
take, or I'm on a magnesium IVevery now and then, or I'm
taking antibiotics a year longbecause they believe it's a
bacteria that needs to be killed.
So I saw all these andantidepressants and I said
(07:19):
they're all.
They have the same, let's say,disease, but they get all these
different treatments.
And I really felt like peoplewere just experimenting on them.
You know, like doctors werejust, oh, let's try this, or oh,
I think it's that they all hadtheir own truth.
But like, oh, we have the bigtruth now of where fibromyalgia
comes from, right, and so that'swhen I already started doubting
(07:43):
and questioning the system andsaid you know what?
I know my body, I know thatmore is going on.
I'm going to reject, I don'twant to use any medications and
I'm just going to find a naturalway.
So I started reading aboutmindfulness, meditation, healthy
lifestyle, all of it.
You know, I was 15, 16 with mynose in those books
(08:08):
self-development, health, allthis that was my hobby.
But it was also a thing ofsurvival, right?
Just finding all the thingsthat would make me feel better.
So I had a really strictschedule.
I had I was always going tosleep like.
I was really strict with thethings I read in books, so very
self-disciplined, because I justhad to.
(08:28):
I had to find a solution and sothings did get a little bit
better.
I was able to go full-time touniversity, but still not
actually full-time.
I divided my three years overfour years so I made it a bit
lighter on myself.
I took the elevator, I had anelectric bike so I could go to
bars with friends from now andthen, and it seems like you
(08:52):
never gave in to it at all.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Even at that point, you're still finding like, okay,
what's the solution that'sgoing to help me have the best
time in this lifetime?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, very solution focused, and I think I had my
mom has been a great supportalways, and even when I was like
, no, I'm tired, I need to rest,she'd be like you're young, go
out.
You know, even if it's just foran hour, just go have fun.
I'm like no, people are gonnaquestion they're gonna give me
those weird faces tomorrow.
(09:20):
They see that I just go toschool part time and then they
see me in a bar the night before, right.
So there's also a lot ofjudgment from people and I was
like no, I better not go.
And she was like go, you know,like live.
So even then, just alwaysfinding solutions and walking
with that cane and an electricbike and scheduling a lot of
scheduling and that's when I gotreally good at scheduling empty
(09:43):
spaces first right In mycalendar.
That's why I help people withthat too On my Healthy High
Achievers podcast.
That's what it's about right,it's scheduling those empty
spaces and listening to yourbody.
I had to become really goodfriends with a body that was
really acting out Like it didn'tfeel like a friend at first.
(10:05):
It felt like an enemy, becausemy mind wanted to do all these
things and I also wanted tostart dating boys.
Or I also wanted to experimentwith makeup, right, but I
couldn't.
I had to.
My mind was filled with how canI walk without feeling pain?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah.
So what happened at this point?
You're at that in college andyou've gone through all of this
and you've been so focused onself-development and you've been
making your way through, usingsome of the techniques that
you've found, creating space foryourself.
What really instigated evenmore change?
(10:44):
Did you actually have change inyour physical health, or is
this something that you're stillmoving through even today, at
this point?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The big change happened when I moved to Cusco,
so I had always wanted to go toSouth America.
When I was 14, I told my mommom, I'm going to move to South
America when I'm older.
I was studying Spanish.
That was my hobby ever since Iwas 14, I told my mom mom, I'm
going to move to South Americawhen I'm older.
I was studying Spanish.
That was my hobby ever since Iwas 14.
My favorite movie was DirtyDancing 2, and they're dancing
(11:14):
salsa in Cuba.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I just went salsa dancing for the first time the
other night.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Oh, nice, I love salsa.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Took my first lesson.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, I've been dancing salsa now for the past
seven years and it's such agreat relief and a communication
, it's a language with anotherbody, you know just nonverbal
Love it.
So I said I want to go to SouthAmerica.
And then I thought maybe I cando an exchange like a year
abroad.
But then this thing with myhealth.
(11:40):
I was like, hmm, maybe I shouldaim lower, maybe I could do an
internship there just threemonths.
And then the moment came whereat university the last year, we
could do an internship either inBelgium or abroad.
So I was like, okay, what'sthere in South America?
And I saw this collaborationwith an NGO here, a non-profit,
(12:04):
by a Belgian guy.
My boss was Belgian, so he hadthe collaboration with my
university in Belgium and I sawthat it was a project where they
would teach single mothers herein Peru to become Spanish
teachers and teach Spanish totourists, so in order to give
(12:26):
them a job opportunity.
And then there would be adaycare with volunteers to take
care of those moms' kids andthis whole system to be able to
give single moms a job.
And I would work there as anoffice manager and I'm like, all
right, this sounds like areally great job experience and
having an impact while managingthe place you know.
(12:47):
But then I was scared.
I said what, if like, will mybody be able to?
Also, cusco, you know, is at avery high altitude, I know.
In meters it's like 3,400meters In feet, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I was training for a marathon when we were there and
I attempted to run six miles onemorning and it was.
I ended up walking most of it.
It's high altitude.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
It is very high altitude and I was like what,
how is my body going to react tothat, you know?
And then it was my mom who saidyou know what?
Just go, just go, and if itdoesn't work out, you come back.
It's as simple as that.
You can do a differentinternship in Belgium than the
next year and finish yourstudies.
That's that.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
What an amazing support for you that she was
there to say that.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Absolutely In the end .
It's that simple.
You just go, feel into it, seehow your body reacts.
Doesn't work, you come backPeriod.
And so I did, and I wassupposed to stay for three
months, and now I've been herefor eight years, so ever since
Because after three months, theamazing thing that happened is I
(13:52):
arrived here after my firstweek of working.
First of all, I never thoughtI'd be able to work full time
again.
I said, you know, that's justnot for me with my chronic
fatigue.
Probably part time I wasworking full time.
After working full time, Iwould go to the salsa school and
stay there for hours and hours.
There was like a fixed monthlyprice, and so I took all the
(14:14):
classes they had for that monthfor the same price, right.
So I just spent every day afterwork dancing salsa.
I could run up the stairs here.
I mean, everyone's out ofbreath, right, when they're
walking up in Cusco.
So I didn't really stand out.
Everyone's like waiting amoment, taking a break before
they continue.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You had some relief of judgment.
Nobody's judging, becauseeverybody's feeling the same.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely,absolutely.
Because everyone's a bit moreexhausted here, right.
And then, I don't know, thepain just went away.
I didn't have any pains anymorein my muscles and I said what's
happening?
Why do I feel so much betterhere, right?
And I looked for years for thoseanswers.
(14:59):
That's how I bumped intofunctional medicine online and I
heard an interview aboutfibromyalgia saying you know,
it's just a name for a group ofsymptoms.
It literally just means pain inyour muscles, but it doesn't
say anything about where it'scoming from.
Why are your muscles hurting orwhy are you extremely fatigued?
Where is that energy goinginstead in your body, right?
(15:21):
What's your body trying to healor where is it wasting its
energy on?
That makes you feel soexhausted.
And so I said, wait a minute,no one's ever searched for my
root cause.
They did a sleep exam because Iwas extremely tired, right.
They did a heart exam becausemy heart was pounding.
I was so exhausted all the time.
They didn't find anything.
(15:43):
They did a muscle exam and mymuscles looked perfect.
They did a scan of my bowels,but my bowels looked perfect,
even though I had a pain attackevery week of just, yeah, these
belly aches.
And so I said no one everreally investigated how my
body's working or functioningyou know, how is my digestion,
(16:03):
how is my liver doing my hormonebalance, like the body systems.
No one's ever tested that, somaybe there's something there.
So after three years in Peru, Ithought, okay, probably I'm
feeling better because of thehealth.
Well, the dry climate, becausein dry climate you have less
bacteria and stuff travelingthrough the air, so it's more.
(16:24):
The air is more thin, let's say, and pure.
So I said probably the altitudeis doing something good.
Here I'm mainly eating foodsfrom the market.
I'm not even going to thesupermarket here, so there must
be something in the food.
My life is super spontaneoushere because people don't have a
schedule Apart from their workschedule.
(16:44):
They don't have a free timeschedule because they're like,
why would you schedule your freetime?
you know, so social life isobsessed with scheduling our
free time here in the us rightand your hobbies and your oh, I
can go to a restaurant in threeweeks on a Friday right, whereas
in Peru that sounds absurd.
(17:05):
People just, you know, work.
And then after work they'relike, hmm, do I feel like seeing
people or do I feel likehanging on the couch?
Hmm, I think I want to stay intoday.
And then, even if they madeplans, they will flake.
They will just not show upmaybe or tell people, hey, let's
do it another day.
(17:26):
And that was very.
I think it gave me thatpermission to fully, extremely
listen to my body and be in mybody and live in the present
moment without chasing thatschedule and thinking, oh no, I
promised this friend, like threeweeks ago, that we would meet
today, so I can't cancel this.
You know, everyone's cancelingall the time.
Sometimes you're double bookedand then none of those two plans
(17:49):
actually happen.
They both get canceled.
And then a third thing pops upthat's completely spontaneous
and that's the thing you'redoing that night yeah, so is
that not normal in Europe either, and where you grew?
up.
No, belgians are very, veryscheduled.
Everything is planned out.
If you want to have a sociallife.
(18:10):
It's literally asking peopletoday hey, do you want to go to
a restaurant in three to fourweeks?
And then people put in theircalendar and that's what's going
to.
And then they feel bad forcanceling, right, because they
feel that pressure of, oh, we'vebeen trying to see each other,
we've been trying to schedulesomething for so long, I
shouldn't cancel now.
And so it's a lot of living intheir schedules and not really
(18:34):
in their bodies, you know,because sometimes they're
exhausted but they go anyway.
Just push through.
(18:58):
We just push through.
Like you said, that highachiever mode especially, I
think it's stress.
But I was a really optimisticand pretty chill person.
It's not, it's not aconsequence of burnout, it's not
because I pushed too much, it'snot because I was depressed or
very negative in life, not atall.
So that's why it didn't makesense to me.
(19:19):
That's why I said what'shappening, because this is not.
When they said, oh, it's all inyour head, I'm like no, my head
, we all have things to work on.
But I was like my head's pretty, pretty fine.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Like I'm physically feeling it in my body, so it's
not all in my head.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Exactly exactly, and so stress can be a part of that.
Of course, many people, whenthey start pushing too much and
you see a lot of burnout, right,and that is really a physical
manifestation of just the mentalpushing, pushing, pushing.
But that wasn't my root cause.
But after three years in peru Iwas like, okay, let me go to
belgium and go to a functionalmedicine practitioner and see,
(19:59):
maybe they can find something.
See what, what has beenhappening, yeah, and what they
found at first it's like thelayers of an onion.
So they found the outer layerfirst, and so they saw some
imbalance in my digestive system.
Then I had some reactions tosome certain foods, but that's
not really a root cause, that'smore a consequence of deeper
(20:22):
causes.
So you go layer by layer, yougo layer by layer, you go deeper
and deeper and in the end whatthey found is one of my main
root causes was my liver wasfilled with plastic, rubber and
gasoline.
So my river, my, my liver justexploded and I didn't have the
right enzymes to detoxifybecause those enzymes were
(20:44):
depleted, because I'm prettysure mold had to do with that as
well.
I had some mold in my bedroomin Belgium at that age, and so
mold and toxins were what causedall of these symptoms, but no
one ever thought of that, or nodoctor was like oh, let's see if
it's mold, let's see if it'syour liver, because when you
(21:07):
have muscle aches and extremefatigue, no one's going to think
it's your liver causing muscleaches, right?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
each part is separate from the other parts, and what
we're all coming to realize now,and what you realize, that it
sounds like in your body andwhat you do in your work now, is
looking at the holistic,because it's not like your liver
is separate from everythingelse.
Exactly, maybe it's a piece,but all of these things are
working together all the time.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, and I did change my diet a lot like left
out sugar and all the chemicalstuff, like go as natural as I
can.
And then you know just thedaily habits and working on
yourself and, um, while livingat this high altitude, like
that's why this altitude andthis dry air is so good for me,
because mold barely grows hereso it wasn't feeding the problem
(22:04):
.
Yeah, if I go to a more humidplace right now, like two years
ago, I went to Gran Canaria, theCanary Islands, and that's
pretty humid, and I was thereand I immediately felt those
pains in my muscles again in mylegs, and I felt so extremely
tired and I was like whoa, thisis like fibromyalgia all over
(22:26):
again and I realized, well, it'sjust too moldy and humid here
for me.
I need to go to dry places.
And it was a confirmation thatmy body's just instantly
reacting to that.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Wow.
So where has this journey takenyou since then?
You made it to Belgium and theyidentified all of this and you
got healthy and made somechanges to your diet.
It sounds like that perhapstransformed your health.
You ended up back in Peru.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah, yeah, I was.
I wanted to stay in Belgium.
My idea was oh, I had my threeyears in Peru, I had my fun, but
now I'll start the serious lifein Belgium and life is better
in Europe and Peru is a thirdworld country.
So I had all the mental,rational reasons, right?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
A lot of what I would call tethers that are like
pulling on you, like, oh no,this makes sense.
It does not make sense for youto do that.
It makes sense for you to dothis do this Exactly so.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I was doing what I thought I should do, so very
centered to my culture and toprobably what my parents were
also expecting of me.
My mom kept saying have yourfun in Peru, but come back you
know A little bit of anultimatum there.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
A little bit of an ultimatum there.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, so I did.
I did go back, but then I wouldsee someone on the street that
I barely recognized but somehowdid, maybe from primary school
or whatever and my reactionwould be like, hey, you know, I
recognize you, let's hug and sayhi, because that's very much
Peruvian culture, just, they'realways happy to see each other.
(24:06):
And another person would lookat me like what I barely know
this girl.
Why is she saying hi to me?
You know, just leave me alone.
So my Peruvian enthusiasm, thatdid not find its place in
Belgium at all.
So I was a bit disappointed bysocial life.
I worked at a very Belgiancompany, not a lot of diversity,
(24:27):
and I was so used to beingaround people from all around
the world here in Cusco, becauseit's very touristic, but also a
lot of foreigners living here.
I have my Peruvian friends andthen I also love surrounding
myself with just people from allaround the world.
So it got a little bit betterwhen I moved to Brussels,
because Brussels is also veryinternational.
(24:48):
So I did have friends from allover.
But still, the climate though,it's like six months a year of
gray, really gray, and I waslike, oh, I need the mountains,
I need the sun the whole yearthrough.
I need the dry air because Ialso felt like I had less energy
there.
I need the lifestyle and thespontaneity and people being so
(25:13):
curious about meeting new people.
They're like, oh, you know,they're genuinely interested in
Wow, here's a new person, I'mcurious.
You know what, what they do,how they think, how they are.
You know new friends and theyget really happy about that.
But in Belgium, everyone hastheir own little circle of
friends that they've had sinceforever and that's where they
(25:34):
stay and it's really hard toenter a new circle, you know.
So I was like you know what?
Maybe I can move back to Cusco,but maybe I can build my online
business so I can have enoughof an income.
So I can move back to Cusco,but maybe I can build my online
business so I can have enough ofan income so I can still see my
family every year, because witha Peruvian salary, it's
impossible to travel back toEurope every year.
(25:56):
So I had a local salary here,used my savings to see my family
twice in those three years andthat was that.
You know, savings gone.
So once I found the answers inBelgium, I did start studying at
the Functional MedicineCoaching Academy because I was
so passionate about what I hadjust discovered and look at this
(26:17):
, more people need to know this.
You know I can help people whoalso have fibromyalgia.
And so I went in it a wholeyear, just studied everything
that I had been studyingnaturally already for the past
10 years, but now officially,you know, with a certification.
I was like, look at all thesepositive psychology things and
stuff.
You know it's the things I'vebeen reading for 10 years.
(26:39):
Yeah, you're able to turnaround and help people with it.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
That's I am.
One of my mentors yesterdayshared something on Instagram
that said something to theeffect of if you're wondering
what your purpose is in life,heal yourself and then turn
around and use what you've doneto heal yourself to teach others
how to do it for themselves too.
Yeah, too, and you are theepitome of that that.
(27:03):
This entire story is that Iknew that there was something.
You listened to your intuition.
You knew that there wassomething different than what
you had been told, so you werelistening to yourself.
You went down that journey andnow you're able to finance your
dreams, this life that you wantto live, by doing this job.
That is helping people with thesame thing.
It's so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, and I was coaching for a while and then I
started incorporating mymanagement background just some
online entrepreneurs who neededhelp with their online business.
I'm like, yeah, when you'rebuilding your online business,
you help people with podcasts aswell, because you have the
experience and it's fun to helpothers with that.
So I started doing the samewith business as well.
I'm have the experience andit's fun to help others with
(27:44):
that, so I started doing thesame with business as well.
I'm like you know, I built mywebsite and I did all the
business coaching courses andlearned everything there was to
learn to build my presence,right.
And I'm like, okay, let me helpothers and I'm pretty tech
savvy, so I would just help themwith all the things that were
too techie for them.
And then I was like what am Idoing the things that were too
techie for them?
And then I was like, what am Idoing?
You know I'm coaching, healthcoaching, but then I'm also sort
(28:08):
of a virtual assistant, butalso not like what am I?
What title do I put on all thelovely things I'm doing for
people?
And then I came to theconclusion that you know what
I'm going to call myself thecreative entrepreneur's sidekick
Because my coaching clientsstarted asking for websites.
(28:29):
And then my VA clients.
They started asking forcoaching because they needed
more balance in their life.
You know, I have HolisticImagine this.
Extremely holistic, right, soit was like whoa 360.
What do I call myself now?
Extremely holistic, right, soit was like whoa 360.
What do I call myself now?
And I was like you know what?
(28:50):
I'm just helping them.
You know, if I'm helping thembalance their life and structure
their business and I'm just I'mtheir sidekick, you know.
So now it does mostly lean intothe business side of things.
But then I have business clientswho one of my clients has ADHD
and early Parkinson's and soshe's really struggling with her
body's new limits and how toadjust, adapt her online
(29:12):
business to that diagnosis andthe pain she sometimes feels in
her hands.
And and I'm like, well, this ismy jam, you know, this is just
me reminding her to be gentle toherself, telling her we can
shape this online business anyway you want that fills your
soul but also respects what yourbody needs.
(29:33):
Right now, we deleted all ofthe extremely structured things
that her previous assistants hadcreated.
Just a simple example like inher Google Drive, there were
like folders within folderswithin folders, like sub, sub,
sub, sub, sub folders, right,and in the end she couldn't find
anything.
It was too much clicking andsearching and creative minds
(29:58):
cannot do those extremely linearthings, right.
So I'm like let's delete allthose folders, you know, and
let's just make it more visualor with more colors or more
present or, you know, just let'sadapt it to you.
So yeah, using my coachingexperience and my own health
experience and my managementbackground to just really tailor
(30:19):
it to the person, their bodies,the way their minds work and
just what works for them.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Yeah, I think what's so cool about your story that I
would just love to underline foreverybody who's listening is
(30:46):
that all of these skills allmight be true, but maybe it's
not what other skills do youalready have that you could be
applying or how can itsupplement?
We often don't.
We treat all things in lifebecause that's the systems and
the structures that we've beenraised in to look at the liver
as just the liver and this skillas just this skill.
(31:07):
And you're a beautiful exampleof somebody who's seeing that
full picture scope of what youcan bring to a client.
When they come to you Likeyou're their perfect sidekick
because you've got all of thisand I have to believe I don't
know how spiritual you are, butyour clients, the right clients,
are coming to you.
That client came to you becauseyou have exactly what can
support them and help themthrough whatever it is that
(31:27):
they're needing.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah, and I'd say it's those experiences that then
feel drawn to you, or peoplethat feel drawn to you, and then
maybe in the beginning youdon't realize that, oh, this is
for me, because you know youhaven't analyzed that thing.
But that comes after, because inthe beginning I did have
creative minds who were clientsand I had also nonprofit and
more and more like more seriousI wanted to say serious
(31:51):
businesses.
Every business is serious, butyou know more the linear things
around, like I don't, and Ifound it so boring.
I was like, okay there.
Then there comes a moment whenyou declutter, when you're like,
okay, what feels super aligned,what feels really good to me,
what do these things have incommon and how can I fine-tune
it even more.
(32:11):
So there did.
There was a moment where Istopped working with certain
clients because I said let mereally focus on just the
creative people, because I feellike that's my jam, but it's,
it's a trial and error, it'sit's experiences and then seeing
what's for you, what's notalways coming back to that of
decluttering, and I think, yeah,that self-analysis or
(32:33):
self-observation was just okaywhat feels good and what's
working here and how can I domore of that?
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah.
So what's feeling really goodto you right now?
What's working?
What do you want to do more of?
I'm just curious.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I love the techie stuff.
It's strange, but it's true.
But in terms of, I want to honein on the kind of things I do
for people and I'm just when I'mlearning a new software or
setting it up for people ortheir website tweaks or their
CRM, I get into this space whereI forget about time.
(33:08):
So even someone's QuickBooks,someone's accountancy, somehow
it's like a meditation for me toplay with their expenses and
their invoices, and I've beenlike that since I was a kid, you
know.
And it sounds so strange tomany of my creative clients.
They're like, oh my God, that'swhat drains me, you know.
I'm like, okay, let's matchthat up, because that's
(33:30):
something.
The thing is, I don't seemyself doing the same thing the
whole day through.
I need variety.
That's why I love the fact thatI'm doing a million different
things.
But if I can kind of categorizeand hone in a bit more and have
more of those, let's say,techie stuff, I feel like those
are the kinds of things I can do, even when I feel sick.
(33:51):
So even when I'm in on thecouch or I'm in bed and I'm
feeling sick, I can still dosomeone's expenses.
Yeah, because I love it.
So that feels aligned right now.
And also, I became the co-ownernow of crew volunteer, which is
an organization that bringstourists, people, here, and
(34:14):
instead of only visiting MachuPicchu, you're also volunteering
, you know, in projects withkids or with dogs, and you're
also taking some Spanish classes.
So those are the people, thetourists, who stay for a couple
of months mostly, and I used towork there before I moved back
to Belgium.
Right, that was my firstofficial job as a volunteer
(34:35):
coordinator, so I was the onepicking them up from the airport
, bringing them to their project, you know, organizing
everything from the moment theyarrive in Peru.
And now, seven years later, itcame full circle where the owner
was like hey, maya, you knowI'm so tired after the pandemic
and after this politicalsituation in Peru and I had to
(34:57):
send everyone home and refundeveryone and I've lost the
energy and he's also havinghealth issues.
So he's like I don't have theenergy right now.
He said do you want to step in?
So he's like I don't have theenergy right now.
He said do you want to step in?
And I said, well, it soundslike a nice variety again with
(35:18):
my online work and then havingan in-person project and giving
back to the community here,right, so that feels very
aligned too to have most of myclients online.
But then in the evening I go toa pub quiz with my volunteers
and we have a lot of fun and Ihave that in-person contact.
So that feels very aligned too.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah, congratulations , that's really exciting and
you're doing a really great jobof selling Peru.
I just got to say you're doingyour job right here on the
podcast of getting peoplewanting to go to Peru and go
visit and not just have theexpected tourist experience but
also go and do the other things.
I remember Joey and I that's myhusband we went and had dinner
(35:55):
with a family.
We sat down with a family andthere was a translator, because
we don't speak Spanish, but wehad a translator who was there
and they cooked us dinner andjust everything that you're
saying about the people there sofriendly, so warm and inviting
and genuinely this is what stuckwith me.
They cared what we had to sayand I could see it and I could
feel it.
What you said about curious, thecuriosity, and they were
(36:19):
delighted to hear what we had tosay.
I'm like nobody has ever caredso much about what I had to say
at this dinner and it wasn'tlike they didn't care about what
I said about the food.
They weren't like looking formy compliments.
They wanted to know about us.
Is that reflected in theculture?
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I'm so curious, absolutely, it's so genuine.
I guess it's such a groupculture, you know, because we
come from very individualcultures, you know, and it's the
focus is on me, I, we're all.
When I go to Belgium, I feellike I'm locked up in my own
home, because life in Peru ismore outside, it's coming
(36:54):
together, it's joining eachother.
In a bar.
People never, ever, talk aboutwork.
When they join, when they go toa bar, you know they're like
let's leave work at work andlet's just, you know, talk about
our lives.
So with a Peruvian person,within five minutes you're
talking about life, you knowabout the meaning of life, even
and deeper things, and withinfive minutes you're going to
(37:16):
hear someone say, ah, that'slife, you know.
So it's an honest, genuine,true conversation, because
people love connecting with eachother.
People love it's weird here tobe by yourself.
So sometimes I do need to go tomy own cocoon and just withdraw
and be with myself, right, butfor Peruvians that's not very
(37:38):
normal.
For Peruvians, the normal isbeing together and it's true
that there's a genuine curiosity.
So in Belgium I've always felt abit out of place, even as a kid
, even as a teenager.
I would always think, you know,do people not care about who I
am?
Like there's no curiosity.
(37:59):
I'm such a curious person tomeet new people and to know what
drives them or the way theythink and feel.
I love discovering that.
But then, when I didn't seethat reflecting in other people
towards me, I was like am I, amI not interesting?
Like as a person, or people donot see me.
I felt, yeah, I felt likepeople didn't see me in Belgium,
(38:22):
even as a kid, and thensomething inside of me said
there must be a place for me outthere.
I always had had that thoughtand I'm guessing that's Cusco
now.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Thank you for quite a few things in this conversation
, but one of them is reallyconfirming what's possible for
us Not listening to what we'rehearing on the outside.
That doesn't feel true to us.
Such a powerful thing that youreally listened to yourself and
you pursued that and you madeyour own dream possible and
(38:56):
you're making it happen, andyou're actively making it happen
right now.
And also that permission tountether because even though
your mom wanted you to staythere and she wanted you to live
there and there's probablyparts of you that wanted to stay
there and wanted to be withyour mother was so supportive
and just like your family andyour friends, and you want to be
(39:19):
there and you know that there'ssomething else for you.
And the way in which you areserving people now in this space
because you stepped out of that.
You are serving people now inthis space because you stepped
out of that.
It's really powerful.
Is there anything else aboutyour story that we haven't
covered that you're like.
I just really want.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I feel like people need to know this.
Yeah, there's something that Ido felt like highlighting is
that one don't think that it'seasy.
It's not an easy thing.
I do miss my family like crazy,but it's just that when there's
that voice inside, sometimesthe mind does protest and like,
hey, do we really want to do?
We really want to change thiswhole thing?
(39:55):
Or we were just comfortable,right, do we really?
But when that voice inside isstrong enough, you, just when
you listen to that, it does feelmore freeing.
And when everyone was saying, ohso you're moving back to Peru,
is your, are you gonna staythere forever?
You know, is this definite?
Like that's your, that's whereyou're gonna live, and I was
(40:16):
like, what is what is forever?
Any?
I mean, I don't know, I don't.
I'm turning 30 in a couplemonths.
I'm like I don't know what I'mgonna feel, what I want to do
when I'm 35, when I'm 40, 45, 50.
Every phase in your life youjust need something different.
And I just gave myselfpermission as well to change my
(40:39):
mind, to realize, okay, Ithought I wanted to move back to
Belgium, but it was just for areason I had to learn something,
I had to go there forfunctional medicine and for my
health and to come back to Cuscostronger.
Now I'm in Cusco.
I don't know if the intentionor the purpose or the meaning is
that I stay here forever.
(40:59):
Maybe I changed my mind in fiveyears and it's just like my mom
said back then right, just goand you can come back whenever.
So even now I'm still like if Imiss Belgium too much, I can go
there for six months, for ayear, whatever, and feel into it
.
Maybe I need more time there,maybe I miss Cusco and I come
back.
I can change flights, even if Ihave a plan of I'll go for a
(41:23):
year.
I can change flights and comeback after six months, you know,
and come back after six months,you know.
So just that permission ofgoing with those faces in your
life, making those big changesthat, in the end, are they that
big, though?
It's just a different country,you know.
I have a comfortable couch heretoo and I'm just hanging on it
like watching series.
Sometimes I mean, I'm doing thesame thing, the same things I
(41:46):
might be doing in Belgium, right?
So is it that different though?
Speaker 1 (41:59):
You can always change when you feel it and change
your mind, change it back ifit's not for you anymore.
Things are permanent forsecurity.
It makes us feel secure if weknow.
We really want to know as humanbeings.
The truth is that we don't know.
Anything could happen.
An asteroid could hit thisplanet tomorrow.
I hate to tell y'all, it's thetruth.
We don't know, and givingyourself permission to change is
(42:21):
really shaking up that tether alittle bit.
And yeah, you're going to keepgrappling.
We're always grappling forsafety.
We're always trying to findways to feel safe, for we're
always grappling for safety,we're always trying to find ways
to feel safe.
But that is one of those, oneof those tethers that I think
really holds us in places thatyou know, in a fear of shame if
we do change.
I am, I felt that shake up whenI also moved, when I moved away
(42:41):
from home.
It's like, oh, it's actuallynot shameful to go back home, or
if I wanted to move away fromhere.
But we think, oh, thatdecision's got to be permanent.
My goodness, if you're going tomove that far away, it better
be permanent.
Is that true?
Is that true?
We can question that.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Yeah, we can, and it's not about making very
sudden decisions and being verywishy-washy.
But you can sit with it, feelinto it and then just do what
really inside feels right, andthen it's okay to change your
mind.
Yeah, I mean any friendship,any relationship, any country
where you're living, any job.
(43:22):
It's not like we have to changeevery month, but just knowing
that they're all here for acertain period of time.
You never know how long inadvance.
You never know.
Maybe some of them are going tobe permanent, maybe a certain
country or a certain business,or they could be permanent.
But you also have permission toclose your business and start
(43:44):
something else or go back to acorporate job or even if you
felt years ago that startingyour own business was the thing,
right, I know people who goback to corporate and then are
happy and that's totally fineand it's all good.
You have permission to do that.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
You have such a beautiful grounded energy that
I'm certain has supported youthrough your years and all of
these changes and just thatlistening that you have done to
yourself so powerful.
Thank you for coming andsharing that gift with us.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Absolutely.
Even that last little thingwhere I've been giving myself
permission to let it go, wasthat big thing that I thought
would be my big purpose nowbecause it comes from my health,
and that was health coaching,right.
So I said, said this is mypurpose because it comes from my
own healing and I'm I investedin this certification right in
functional medicine, and I wantto help people.
(44:37):
And then when I started feelinga shift, when I was really
enjoying the business side ofthings, like helping the
creative entrepreneurs in theirbusiness but it always involves
some coaching because we'readapting the business to them,
right but I was like, oh no, Idon't like health coaching
anymore.
What do I do now?
You know, I built this businessand I invested in the
(44:59):
certification and this was mything.
I need to help people withfibromyalgia, right?
Or chronic disease, and I justhad to be like you know what, or
chronic disease, and I just hadto be like you know what.
Maybe it was just for my ownjourney, maybe it has served its
purpose and even that it's okayto let that go now, to let go
of one of those offerings thatyou thought was your big purpose
(45:19):
, right.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
And it's still serving people because you have
that client who you're able tosupport with.
So we just never know Way tofollow the nudges and way to
encourage every listener andmyself to follow our own nudges
as well.
I have one last question foryou, Maya, that I ask everybody
who comes on the podcast when doyou see the magic in the world?
Speaker 2 (45:38):
I see the magic in the world in our senses.
So I'm a Taurus, very connectedto my senses, and I'm a
musician, a singer, and I justlove.
For me, the magic is in goingto a bar and enjoying live music
and that's just a simple thing.
But I did ayahuasca last Friday.
(45:59):
Actually it's for people whodon't know, it's quite a strong
plant medicine from here, fromPeru, and I was like ayahuasca
was my purpose, you know, tellme.
Tell me plant medicine, allknowing, yeah, and she was like
just this, you know, just listento the music, hear what you can
(46:20):
hear, touch what you can touch.
I had a soft blanket.
I was like, ah, you know, andjust taste, see the beautiful
things.
I think it's the beauty in themoment and in nature and when
you go on walks, and in the end,our purpose is just that, just
to be and be here now, andthat's where the magic is.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Absolutely gorgeous.
Thank you so much for sharingthat and for all you shared
today.
Where can people connect withyou?
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Oh, they can follow me on Instagram If you want to
see some of Peru.
Sometimes I just film where I'mwalking and people always love
that.
These little streets in Cusco.
It's at Maya Lombards.
I'm sure you'll put that in theshow notes, but it's
M-A-Y-A-L-O-M-B-A-R-T-S, and mywebsite is the same thing it's
(47:06):
mayalombardscom.
So there you can find out moreabout me too.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah, and a lot of creative entrepreneurs listen to
this podcast, so might evenlook into Maya and being
somebody who can help you withall those files like I have.
I'm looking at my desktop goingoh my gosh, I could use Maya.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
The magic is also in decluttering.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
So true, but not in the doing it for me, for having
somebody else do it, which iswhy you have such a beautiful
gift.
Thank you so much for coming onthe podcast, Maya.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Thank you, this was so lovely.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
I just know you probably fell in love with Maya
as much as I did.
I was like you're one of thosepeople who I genuinely want to
be best friends with and I wantto go to Cusco and I want to go
hang out with you for two weeksor two months and be friends and
have you show me all the ropes.
If you don't want to go to Peruafter this conversation, then I
don't know.
I don't even know.
(48:00):
She makes it sound so wonderful.
So thank you so much forlistening to this episode.
I hope you pulled out somethingreally powerful for yourself,
whether in terms of listening toyour own intuition and really
listening to that voice, sayingyes to it, giving yourself
permission to change.
In Thursday's episode, I'm goingto pull a little thread out of
(48:20):
this episode and go a little bitdeeper, so stay tuned for that.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode.
It means the world to me thatyou would listen.
If you enjoyed it, if you gotsomething out of it for yourself
.
I encourage you to share itwith a friend who might need to
hear it too.
Maybe they need to beencouraged to follow their voice
or to follow the path, even ifit doesn't feel like the path
(48:41):
that's outlined for them.
You can also share it with allof your friends by taking a
screenshot of the episode.
Put it on social media, put iton Instagram, tag me, tag Maya.
Our links are in the show notes.
I'm untethered, jen, onInstagram.
Thanks again for listening.
You just keep shining yourmagical unicorn light out there
for all to see.
I'll see you next time.
Bye.
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