June 26, 2025

Episode 26: 🔥 Girl on Fire Burning the Old Blueprint to Build a New Life (But Damn, I’m Tired)

What happens after the comeback?
After the phoenix rises.
After the glitter settles, the contract ends, the photos fade...
and you’re standing in the wreckage of your old dream, asking:
“Now what?”

I’ve been there.
I am there.

After ending my year-long creative partnership with Lyko – where I built seven magical Milajki selfie photobooths inside their flagship store on Drottninggatan in Stockholm – I packed up years of immersive art, color explosions, props, vending machines, and literal tons of pitballs.

It was supposed to feel like freedom.
But it felt like grief.

I looked around at the 2,000 m² of installations I poured my soul into…
and saw ghosts.
Ghosts of my past life.
My ex. My breakdown. My bankruptcy.
All glitter-wrapped trauma I was trying to heal by “saving” my legacy.

🧳 Letting Go of the Glitter Ghosts

I bought back everything I had legally created and emotionally clung to — even though I couldn’t afford it.
I hauled inventory solo. Paid storage unit after storage unit.
And slowly realized…

I don’t want to carry this anymore.

Not the stuff.
Not the stories.
Not the pressure to keep proving myself through physical weight.

Because somewhere in the middle of “saving” my brand, I started losing myself again.

I’ve been trying to keep up. I took a summer job in elderly care just to stay afloat.
And while I’m so proud of how far I’ve come… I’m also damn tired.
This isn’t the fantasy-glow-up people see on Instagram.

🌍 The Glow-Up Isn’t Always Glamorous

Sometimes it looks like caregiving shifts.
Sometimes it looks like backend tasks, late invoices, and storage fees.
Sometimes it’s heavy and blurry and unbranded.
But it’s still real.
It’s still mine.

And then… came Mykonos.

A week in Greece with my family — a white villa with blue windows, two sunny patios, flower gardens, a pool, and views that felt like heaven.
We sailed a catamaran.
We clinked wine glasses.
We collected sunsets.

And I realized:
I don’t want more stuff.
I want more moments.
That’s the version of wealth I’m after now.

🦄 The Future Is Lighter

So I’m letting go.
Of things. Of pressure. Of the identity I built from survival.
I’m building something new from softness. From truth. From joy.

✨ Digital storytelling.
✨ AI-powered creativity.
✨ Art prints. Jewelry. Interior design.
✨ Freedom. Movement. Magic.

No more letting my legacy own me.
No more dragging dead weight to prove I’m still standing.

This next chapter isn’t about rising with fire…
It’s about floating with light.

💌 A Note to You

If you’re in that in-between space right now, wondering if you made the right decision…
If you're tired, questioning, surviving...

I see you.

You’re not behind.
You’re not broken.
You’re just in the process.
The messy, sacred, holy process of becoming.

Let it be slow.
Let it be real.
Let it be yours.

🎧 Catch the full episode of Level Up Your Selfie wherever you get your podcasts – Episode 26: Girl on Fire – Burning the Old Blueprint to Build a New Life (But Damn, I’m Tired)