Way of The Free

A community of people who didn’t feel like they belonged where they grew up, and are now creating a life on their own terms.

Hey, I'm Annabelle 👋

I grew up in a conservative environment where it was made clear to me early on that women didn’t have the same freedom as men, and that there was a very fixed way of doing life.

Even before I had the language for it, something about it didn’t sit right with me.

At some point, when it came time to make decisions about my life, I couldn’t ignore how restrictive it felt. And I realized I had to choose between staying in that environment or choosing myself.

So I left.

After graduating from university, I moved to Germany on my own and started over. It wasn’t easy—figuring out a new country, the bureaucracy, building a life from scratch—but I did it because I wanted a life that felt like mine.

And for a moment, it looked like freedom.

But after the excitement of moving to a new country has settled, I noticed something I didn’t expect: Even though everything around me had changed, I still didn’t feel free.

The beliefs I grew up with didn’t disappear just because I moved. I still found myself constrained by beauty standards, body image, work culture, and the way life is “supposed” to look. While externally I had changed everything, internally, I was still carrying the same limits. Because of that, I still didn’t fully feel like I belonged anywhere.

I started to realize that I had a way of seeing life that didn’t always match the world around me. I would catch myself constantly questioning things—what I should look like, how I should live, what success is supposed to be.

At some point, I made a decision: I would rather live in alignment with myself, even if it meant feeling lonely at times, than keep trying to fit into something that didn’t feel true.

So I started doing the inner work. I challenged the beliefs I grew up with. I worked on my mindset. I started rebuilding confidence in who I am, without trying to conform.

Slowly I let go of the believes and stories that weren’t mine to carry, and started surrounding myself with people who saw life in a similar way.

Through it all, I realized that you can change your environment and still feel stuck if nothing changes internally. Real freedom isn’t just about where you are—it’s about how you relate to yourself and the world around you.

1. I wanted to be around people who think differently from the norm, question things deeply, and are actively choosing a life that feels true to them—and to create that kind of space for others as well.

2. I know how much it matters to have the right kind of conversation when you’re figuring things out, not advice being thrown at you, not surface-level talk, but real perspective that helps you see things differently and move forward.