I still can’t believe it! Someone pinch me!

I couldn’t believe it when that Google Alert popped up in my inbox yesterday – I had to read it twice before it started to sink in.

I was named Harper’s Bazaar Woman Of The Week!
I joined a list that includes Solange Knowles, Eva Jinek, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Neelie Kroes. WOW. (I mean, WOW! And in the article they said my lessons felt like stand-up comedy! What a compliment- no joke.)

When I came to this country in 1991, at 22 years old, I knew exactly 2 people. My Dutch boyfriend (who I now call my ex-boyfriend because we got married), and the woman who hired me for my first (and only)  job, which was to teach English at Regina Coeli, the famous language institute in Vught.

I didn’t know where the Netherlands was.

I didn’t speak the language.

I had to navigate my way, as a stranger in a strange land, through patience, humour, and dedication.

I was 33 before I connected all the dots and found my true passion. And boy, when I found it, I refused to let go.

I refused to let go when people called me crazy for leaving a safe, well-paid job to do something that no one had ever heard of.

I refused to let go when people told me I was crazy for doing this with a newborn at home – the time that people definitely NEED security in their lives.

I refused to let go when no one returned my phone calls when I left them messages about English coaching.

I refused to let go when people said ‘an English teacher can teach me for free during her lunch break so I don’t need you.’

I refused to let go when I was told that this idea of English coaching would not work because it simply…didn’t exist.

Because it did. It did exist!
In my head.
And in my heart.
So it did!

Now fast forward to so many years later. I’m blessed every day, working more than full-time doing what I love. Living my dream. Travelling to places near and far to make a real difference in how people learn and use English. It’s here. It’s real. It’s fabulous.

If you have a dream, go chase it.
No one else can chase it for you.
You’re never ready enough, and it’s never a good time to start.

But if you have an idea, in your heart, and you feel it in your bones, go do it.
And don’t you ever let ANYONE tell you it won’t work.
Believing is seeing.

I believe.
In you.
Do you?

With so much love from The Woman Of The Week!
(Pinch me!)

XX Buffi

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