My Story
I am a forty-three-year-old Filipina who grew up in a life filled with warmth.
Beaches and sunshine. Karaoke nights. Midnight laughter.
Fresh vegetables and fruits from the backyard.
A home that always smelled like food and felt alive with noise.
That was the world that shaped me.
A world where people i loved and admired showed up without knocking, where silence was rare, and where a woman like me found identity in giving, serving, loving, and being the strong one.
Then everything changed.
I married to a Dutchman and we haved two beautiful kids, because of my husband next work locaton he needed to move back to Europe and so we follow after a year of being apart. Life here was safe, stable, beautifully organized…but it was also quiet. Too quiet. No loud Pinoy laughter. No friends dropping by unannounced. No chaos to belong to. The days felt gray, timed, colder than the weather itself. I tried to adjust. I worked different jobs. I told myself, “I can handle anything.” I wasn’t an office girl. I loved physical work. I loved fixing things. I loved using my hands. Until one day, my body simply stopped.
My Breaking Point
A deep arm pain that wouldn’t heal. Migraines since 5th grade that loves to visit often.. Days when I couldn’t lift my arm, brush my hair, or dress myself. I stopped working to recover… but instead of getting better, I felt myself disappearing. My body rested. My mind sank. I felt useless. Guilty. Lost. Not unloved… just fading away. I cleared my space, my thoughts, i lost connection with my favorite people not because i did not care for them but because i needed to create a new space for what i have to do to have a better future connections.
I turned inward. I listened to anything that could keep my spirit alive. One night I asked my husband,
“Do you still see me, or did I fade somewhere along the way?”..
I met the version of myself that was breaking…and the version of myself that was
ready to rise.
The Search for a New Life
I knew I could not go back to my normal routine. And I could not stay where I was. I needed something new something gentle, something with purpose, something that is not gonna hurt my body or silence my heart. It started late at night, I searched: “How do women pick up themselves”, “Can I start again from zero”, “Is online work even real?”
I got motivated by people i did relate to, I knew it was a challenge for me to do different things that i used to . I studied digital marketing, social media, affiliate marketing, online business.
I wasn’t techy. I was confused. But I was determined. Little by little, everything
started to make sense.
The Birth of WithJann Collective
WithJann Collective began and inspired from my quiet season from my pain, from my homesickness, from losing myself, from rebuilding slowly, from choosing softness, from choosing me. It became the home I needed when I first moved abroad. A space for women, wives, mothers, sisters, dreamers. A space for beginners. A space for late bloomers.
A space for women whose bodies slowed them down but whose spirits still want to rise.
Here, I share everything I learned digital marketing,online business, content creation,
tools that make life easier, systems that feel gentle, not overwhelming.
Without pressure. With heart.
A Heartfelt Message for You
To the woman who is tired yet still carries her world with grace.
To the woman who feels homesick or unseen or quietly lost in the life she once dreamed of.
To the woman whose body slowed her down and whose heart is still learning how to rise again. To the woman who stays up at night searching for a way to upgrade herself to learn something new, to earn without breaking her spirit. You are not behind. You are becoming. You deserve a life that feels gentle supportive and true to the woman you are growing into. This space was made with you in mind a place where you can breathe, learn at your own pace and build something that honors both your strength and your softness. If you are here you are not lost,
you are beginning again and that is powerful.
Pause to Heal. Restart with Purpose. 💗
-withjann