🌎 Balancing Hustle with Healing: How I Built a Business and Stayed Well Abroad

March 2023. For me, life restarted again for me in Rio de Janeiro alone, starting completely fresh. No safety net, no familiar faces, just me — my goals, my fears, and a burning desire to rebuild from the ground up.

To be honest, it wasn’t glamorous at first. My version of living in another country was not the highlight you normally see online. It was raw, humbling, and some days, lonely. The isolation was loud. The weight of starting over felt heavy, and there were moments when I asked myself: “What am I doing here?”

And let’s be real — Rio isn’t a place people describe as “easy” or “safe.” When I told people I was here alone in my broken Portuguese I was slowly picking up from my surroundings, they looked at me with wide eyes. “Isn’t it dangerous?” they asked.

Yes, there are risks. Yes, there are moments you feel hyper-aware of your surroundings. But beyond the fear, beyond the stories people tell, I found freedom. Freedom in trusting myself. Freedom in being hyper-independent. Freedom in building courage muscle, day after day.

Because when you’re in an unfamiliar place, far from your comfort zone, you don’t just grow — you evolve. Rapidly.

But here’s the thing I’ve come to believe with every part of me:

To truly grow, sometimes life will pull you away from everything you know. It will strip you down to your most uncomfortable state, so you have no choice but to meet the version of you that was waiting to emerge.

That’s what happened to me.

🚀 Building My Remote Business From Scratch

I had my low paying remote job lined up, and while it kept me afloat, deep down I knew I craved something deeper. Something mine.

In Rio, I had the space — and the silence — to finally listen to what I wanted.

That’s when I threw myself into my passion for fitness. I started sharing my real journey, opening up about PCOS, burnout, discipline, and healing. Slowly, women started reaching out — women who felt just like I did, craving structure and empowerment.

My online personal training business was born not out of perfection, but out of real life. Out of my own healing and lessons learned the hard way.

Every client who trusted me reminded me: we are never truly starting from zero. We carry our lessons, our resilience, and our fire into every new beginning.

💡 Lesson: You don’t have to have it all figured out to start. You just have to be brave enough to begin.

🧠 Mental Growth Through Isolation

I had spent so many years will 0 structure and stability in my life, but it was all “in the moment fun”. Work, social life, noise, distraction. Before moving to Rio, I worked as a bartender for seven years — a lifestyle of late nights, constant stimulation, and yes, a lot of drinking and going out.

If you knew me before, you probably thought I’d never give that up…

But I did. Completely.

I stopped drinking often. I stopped going out. Not because I “had to,” but because I wanted to feel everything clearly for once. To sit with my thoughts, my ambition, my discomfort — and transform it into growth.

I began reflecting and journaling every morning 🖊️
I let sunrise outdoor workouts, trainings and runs replace late-night shifts ☀️
I read instead of numbing out with endless nights out 📖
I created space to finally hear my own voice, unfiltered

The quiet that once scared me became my greatest teacher.

🏋️‍♀️ Physical Growth (The Strongest I’ve Ever Felt)

Being in a new environment forced me to rethink my training. Gyms were unfamiliar, routines disrupted — but it was exactly what I needed.

I can honestly say: I have never felt this physically strong and capable in my entire life.

I embraced outdoor workouts 🌊

Focused on functional, full-body strength

Prioritized rest and mobility — not punishment, but nourishment

Fueled my body with local, whole foods 🥥🥭

Your physical strength mirrors your inner resilience.
When you feel powerful in your body, you approach everything else with that same energy.

This is the strongest I’ve ever been — not just because of weights, but because I chose consistency over comfort. And that has changed everything.

🌱 Maturity: The Quiet Growth You Can’t Fake

Starting over in a foreign country forces you to grow up fast.

I became my own motivator, cheerleader, and accountability partner (learning Portuguese alone is not for the weak)
I built resilience in uncertainty, trusting myself when nothing felt familiar.
I learned to celebrate small wins, not just big milestones.
I realized that external noise had kept me from hearing my internal wisdom.

Nobody was watching. Nobody was clapping in the quiet moments. But in that space, I met the most powerful version of myself.

Growth isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s silent progress in the shadows.

🫶 For Anyone Feeling Alone or Starting Over:

I need you to hear this:

You are not lost. You are not behind. You are not failing.

You are being re-routed. You are being given the chance to meet the parts of you that were buried under noise, routine, and comfort.

This season might feel uncomfortable, but it’s growing you. It’s preparing you for everything you’ve been asking for.

“Life will sometimes take everything from you to give you back you.“

Stay disciplined. Stay patient. Trust the quiet.

Because one day, you will look back at this season and realize: this is where I met my power.

GabrielleBeamesderfer