A Life Unscripted: Meet Victoria

For as long as I can remember, I've been asking the big questions. As a little girl, I would look up at the night sky, the stars twinkling overhead, and wonder, what on earth is going on? Why are we here? Are we really alone in this ever-expanding universe? I marvelled at the miracle of being alive on a planet that just so happens to sit in exactly the right place to support life.

I've never trusted coincidence. I've always believed in synchronicity and magic, and stayed open to ideas like reincarnation. The perfection of our existence feels too significant to be random. So when I had a spiritual awakening at 14, it didn't feel like discovering something new. It felt like my instincts finally had form. It happened during a difficult time as a result of learning about the law of attraction; the idea that our thoughts and focus shape our reality. I applied the techniques I'd learned, and my prayers were answered through a monumental change in my life. A miracle occurred that was so remarkable, even the skeptics were left speechless. It showed me that I'm not alone, that every day I'm co-creating my reality with a higher power. Through conscious direction and positive belief, we can change our lives for the better.

Then came the societal boom. As spirituality moved into pop culture, the law of attraction was suddenly everywhere. You too can manifest everything your heart desires! the campaigns promised. It was a relief to see this awareness spreading, but it also fuelled a surge of businesses profiting from "total life transformation," sometimes in just 30 days. Like many people, I bought a few of these courses and mentorships, hungry to deepen my magic. Some were genuinely useful, others left no lasting impact.

Today, spirituality and personal development are established industries, and I see more clearly how far much of what's sold has drifted from the essence. It's easy to package breathwork, meditation and affirmations into neat programs that promise change on demand. However, from my own experience, I've learnt the more I try to control these practices, the less they work.

Part of the problem is that we live in a world that celebrates the mind. We are raised to rely on logic and expect linear progress in everything we do, yet the spirit is immeasurable and finds no room to breathe within those limits. So we overthink whether we're breathing correctly. We grow impatient for our soulmate to arrive. We override our intuition to push through one more minute in the ice bath. Somewhere along the way, growth becomes a performance for the ego, and the soul's whisper is silenced once again. The industry has convinced us, yet again, that we need these things to feel complete.

In 2023, as these truths began to unravel, I hit a wall in my spiritual coaching business. I no longer knew which direction to take or what felt authentic. I had been living the digital nomad dream in Lisbon, but I realised I needed to return home to Belgium, step back from helping others, and turn that attention inward in search of my own clarity.

Then, on my very last day in Portugal, I met Tulaya.

We were both staying at a beautiful hotel on the Atlantic coast, and the moment I saw her, I knew we had to connect. Within minutes, my intuition was proven right: we were on a similar mission, to spread the love and light of consciousness and help people return to their true selves in a fast-paced modern world. A few weeks later, we spoke again by phone, and something special began. I was ready for new perspectives, and the more I learned about EmpathyArchitects, the more I could see myself becoming part of this conscious movement.

Three years on, our relationship weaves together friendship, sisterhood, growth and professional collaboration. Discovering the power of ancient indigenous wisdom has filled the void left by new age spirituality. My first EmpathyArchitects event was a deeply transformative Solar Eclipse healing circle led by Abuela Eres Reyes. It included a profound release of limiting beliefs, past wounds, and the wounds of our ancestors that we unconsciously carry in our DNA. What struck me most was Eres's reminder that the empowerment we seek is not external. The ability to heal lives within us, and always has.

I've also been enriched by Livy Von Goh, a holistic sleep expert who helps people become aware of the power of our dreams. How dreams are actually messages from the subconscious mind. Understanding the symbolism of my dreams has become a powerful tool for resolving dilemmas and finding answers in waking life.

The red thread running through EmpathyArchitects is simple: come back to the present moment, to the Earth, and to the forces of nature around us. Using creative and practical tools, we can learn to live more consciously from the heart, in communion with our environment and ourselves. We already have the answers. When we trust ourselves and trust that we are supported, there is nothing to worry about. All is whole and complete, and what we seek arrives at the right moment.

I now approach life from a place of greater spiritual maturity, understanding that less is more, and that nature's cycles can be trusted because they mirror our own.  Fittingly, a seed planted three years ago is beginning to sprout, as I step into a new chapter as a member of the EmpathyArchitects team. I'll be helping expand our events, creating the newsletter, and supporting the evolving needs of our community.

Alongside this work, I’m being asked to practise a deeper kind of trust: to pursue, once again, my childhood dream of becoming an actress. The decision feels right in my soul, yet it comes with an uncomfortable truth. I can’t predict when the right opportunities will arrive, or how this chapter will unfold. Some days I feel deeply connected to the path. On others, uncertainty stirs up fear, doubt and the temptation to grasp for control. I’m learning that I don’t need the next five years mapped out to know I’m moving in the right direction. EmpathyArchitects has become an unexpected anchor in that process. By offering my skills, creativity and energy to something I believe in, I have a meaningful place to put my focus while my own future reveals itself in its own time. It reminds me that I can act without knowing the outcome.

The law of attraction taught me to ask for what I wanted. Life has since taught me to loosen my grip on how I get there. It's important to be clear about what we want and to take small, consistent steps toward it every day. But when and how things manifest is beyond our control, and that's the part so often left out of the teachings. Sometimes what we think we want differs from what we truly want, and life has its own magical way of showing us the difference. That's hard to remember in a Western culture that urges us to have one-, five- and ten-year plans.

Yet the most powerful thing we can do amid the chaos is to let go, surrender the fine print, and trust that whatever plan we hold, the Universe will play its part in ways we can't yet imagine. Those ways are revealed only as we walk the path.