What a year!

Usually, this time of year, it’s time for looking back on the past months and reflect on what has been accomplished. Last year I didn’t even bother because I was simply too depressed. I spent a couple of weeks isolated in a chalet in Canada, I needed to regroup, I needed to flip a switch. And boy I did!

One year later, so many things have changed in my life it is scary to think about it… though energizing.

One of the biggest decisions I made during my cold retreat was to finally tackle the pain I’ve been struggling with ever since I was a child. I had started my first diet when I was 3 and struggled with my weight ever since. For the past three years, I have been working on the roots of this disease, of this malicious relationship I had with food. But it was time to face it head on and do something concrete about it. In January, I had my first appointment with a nutritionist at the Brussels Weight Loss Center, and it was the beginning of a long but inspiring journey. I was too far off to just go on another diet, the only durable solution for me was surgery, so I did what had to be done… and told the story of it (in French). The surgery happened in early July, and I’m very pleased to report that I have already lost 55 kilograms over the past 6 months… and counting. The goal is to go back to 100 and get out of medical obesity, so things are on track.

When I took the decision to have the surgery, I knew I needed some financial and professional stability, both to prepare myself and to recover properly. I couldn’t afford to live the stressful entrepreneur life anymore. So I accepted a new consultancy mission for a big bank. Sure it wasn’t fully aligned with my values and goals in life, but it paid the bills nicely and allowed me to focus some attention on my health. I started working there in early April this year and I learned a lot. Then a few months ago, a Belgian friend of mine who had moved to San Francisco and joined a promising startup there told me they might soon need some help on their technical team. It was not an immediate need, but I started dreaming of settling in this city that I love. Then a couple weeks ago he got back to me. That was it, they needed someone now! My relocation plans had changed a little (I’ll tell you how) but I really wanted to join them. I talked to him, I talked to the CEO, I met the backend developer… and the deal was sealed in enthusiasm. So starting in January, I’m back in the startup world, but not with my own company. I’m a developer for Instaply and I’m thrilled about it.

Last (not really), but not least, I told you my relocation plans have changed in the past few weeks. Here’s why. When I took the decision to have gastric bypass surgery, it was thanks to a lot of online resources and especially testimonials from other patients who told their story in videos from a few months before to a few years after the procedure. It really helped me ease my concerns about the surgery, its consequences, its challenges and the overall journey that was ahead of me. Lucky for me I understand English without too much trouble. But then it struck me that very few French-speaking patients dared to talk about it, which allowed a lot of false ideas to spread, and the surgery to be somewhat shameful in the French-speaking world. So I took it upon myself to create my own Youtube channel, my own community, my own blog, with a triple goal in mind:

• Inspire patients
• Educate their family and friends
• Inform the general public

But there was one side effect I didn’t anticipate: those videos allowed me to find my special someone. I thought that after I would get back my self esteem as the result of getting back in my own driver seat, I would have a crazy “catch up” period, having fun, meeting a lot of people, getting out and not taking things seriously. But as often in life, surprises are even better. She had the same surgery I did, she watched my videos, she called me to ask questions and share her experience with me, and we quickly noticed we shared much more than an obesity journey. I used to find this concept very overrated, but now I can tell you with full certainty that I found my soulmate. She is everything I had never hoped for, she makes me feel more alive than ever, she makes me enjoy every moment of life, here and now, like I never could, and believe me when I tell you that’s quite a feat. Things went incredibly fast between us, but it was just obvious, and being far away from her became so painful, that I took the decision to move back to France, near where she lives, and be happy there. Now of course this relationship and decision to move come with greater responsibility too, because she has two kids who are going to be part of my life too. But even though I’m fully aware of the challenges ahead of me, I’m not scared. It’s fair! And this move is fully compatible with me working remotely from home for Instaply, so everything is just perfect.

So… new body… new job… new girl… and kids. What did I forget? Oh yeah! Back in October we went to TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin with the PeerTrust team. PeerTrust is this side project we had been working on for 18 months, trying to find a solution to this trust problem that made Kodesk (my first startup) fail. And PeerTrust failed to raise the enthusiasm that was necessary to keep us on track. So we decided to stop working on it. But on the other hand, it was obvious that we enjoyed working together very much, and none of us wanted to be a consultant for big companies our entire lives. That’s when it struck us: why not create our own agency, work for customers we chose, with our own tools and more importantly with our preferred team. Hence was born ZeTeam! I won’t go too much in detail about it yet, because things are still in their infancy, but suffice it to say that if you or someone you know is looking for innovative and pragmatic software solutions for their business, feel free to contact us or keep in touch. I’ll definitely keep you updated here in the coming weeks.

So there we go. 2013 is soon coming to an end. I’m on my way to enjoy the best holidays of my life, then 2 months between 2 jobs, finishing my mission for the bank and ramping up on my Instaply work, and then moving back to France with my sweetheart in March. Things are very exciting. So have a merry christmas, a happy new year, and don’t forget your destiny lies in your own hands. Be happy, and you will be even happier.