The power of community
Inspiration shot November 2025

“Communication is merely an exchange of information,
but connection is an exchange of our humanity”
Sean Stephenson
You can have and do everything your heart desires, but in the end, it all comes down to connection. The feeling of belonging, of sharing, laughing, and growing together.
This past month, I spent time with my tribes, the Dynamite Circle and a few people from ISTA. With old friends who feel like family, new people who immediately felt familiar. Sometimes you realize the true value of community in the most unexpected places, like a stuck elevator.
1.5 hours stuck in an elevator, without air conditioning 🥵
What happens when thirteen entrepreneurs get stuck in an elevator?
It happened during the Dynamite Circle conference in Bangkok, in the 5-star Conrad hotel. The temperature kept rising, panic set in, and condensation started dripping down the doors. The hotel kept saying a technician would arrive “in ten minutes,” but it ended up taking nearly an hour and a half!
And yet, we joked. We meditated. We practiced our ‘elevator pitches’ (pun intended). We comforted those who panicked. We laughed. We distracted each other and stayed calm. I even created a reel of the experience…
Moments like these show what community really means. When things heat up, you keep your cool together. That is your tribe. ❤️
Is friendship the shape-shifter of relationships?
“Friendship has always been flexible, but never has it needed to adapt so much, or so fast.”
We have rituals for family connections, engagements, weddings, even divorces, yet friendship rarely has an official title, a clear beginning, or an end. Still, it might just be the most important relationship of our time.
A recent Harvard Kennedy School article, “The Friendship Recession: The Lost Art of Connecting,” explores how friendship has had to adapt to modern life. We move more, work remotely, meet online, and see our friends less than ever before. Friendship stretches, reshapes, and reinvents itself, much like a shape-shifter, to fit our changing lives.
What does friendship mean to you? What role does it play in your life? And how do you shape it?
How my network has helped care
for my dad in Miami for 10 years
For ten years (!) now, I have found loving caregivers for my father, who has Alzheimer’s, through my network. Of course it helps that he lives in Miami, but what really makes it work is the win-win-win approach. Everyone benefits. My dad gets personal care and companionship, we as children have peace of mind, and the caregiver becomes part of our family for three months, experiencing a unique and heartwarming time in Miami.
Starting May 1st, we are looking for someone new again. Do you have experience in care giving, either professionally or in your personal life, and would you love to spend a few months in the sun doing something meaningful? Send me a message.
Community in action, just as it is meant to be. 💛
Inspiration bites
VIDEO
Phone dance
How real are our connections these days?
This powerful performance, WITH smartphones portrays it beautifully and painfully.
BOOK TIP
Time travel love stories
Two personal favorites, stories about finding each other again across time and space. Sometimes as friends, sometimes as soulmates or lovers.

Congratulations on your book! 🥂
Two new fiction titles recently published by participants of my writing retreats and coaching clients who used my Reverse Writing method.
PS. You can find more published books here, both non-fiction and fiction.
Did you know...?
… that I decided to host one more live event?
I thought my writing retreat in Thailand would be my very last one, but I just could not resist… It is too much fun to share inspiration.
Participants often say that my tips and tricks, even the ones I was not aware of, truly changed their lives and work. That is why, in December, I am organizing a one-time ‘No Excuses practice day‘ in Amsterdam.
In a small group, we will dive into ChatGPT, and I will help you create your own AI version, filled with your unique knowledge and tone of voice, like my EstherAI. I wrote a blog how you can do this yourself.
Where is Esther?
After two amazing, inspiring, and socially intense Dynamite Circle conferences, in Kuwait and Bangkok, this introvert needed time to recharge alone. I am spending the entire month of November on Koh Phangan, Thailand, partly for my (for now) final writing retreat.
I first visited this island in 1992 (!) and have returned regularly since 2016. You can find my favorite local spots on my personal Google Map. By the way, if you go skinny-dipping, keep an eye on the tide. I still smile about this island-blooper 😉
Koh Phangan has changed a lot. Local police are now cracking down on illegal activities and foreigners running businesses without the right papers. As a result, there are hardly any yoga classes, workshops, or retreats at the moment, while usually the calendars are packed. This video shares a critical view on the digital nomad scene here. My advice: always act respectfully and give something back to the communities you visit.
Early December, I will be back in Europe for the Nomad Island Fest in Madeira, where I will host a “How a book can boost your business” workshop. Want to join: Dec 4 – 10? Use code NOEXCUSESLADY2025 for a €100 discount.
Or maybe I will see you afterwards in Amsterdam, during my Live chatGPT experience?

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