“Why do you write in English?!”

 Autodidacticsm, Personal  16 Responses »
Oct 212012
 

Despite my blunt tweet, (that I don’t really mean completely) I understand where the question comes from. I do. Dutch girl. Born and raised in the Netherlands. Dutch native speaker. Associated with Dutch bloggers, talks about them, mentions them, links them, talk to them – often in Dutch. But writes in English. Always. Yes. I can understand it’s a little peculiar. Allow me to explain why I do it.

First of all, English has always been super-fun and important to me. I have been madly in love with this language ever since I was little. I taught myself and when I was 20 years old (you can read all about that here) I did the necessary course and exam to become an official bilingual. Through writing, I get to play with one of my favorite things in the world every single day: the English language. I love Dutch blogs, but it’s just not for me.

It really isn’t for me. There is a huge discrepancy between my writing skills in Dutch and my writing skills in English.I mean, Grande Canyon Gap.

Which makes total sense if you think about it. Due to my infatuation with all English words, I’ve been practicing almost every day, let’s say on average of 2 hours a day (this is low-ballin’), for almost 7 years  – that’s when I started my first English blog. It was adorable and riddled with faults and my own drama, but it was a start.

Let’s turn that into a little calculation now, shall we? 340 days (I wrote almost every day but you don’t always have the time, you know?) x 2 hours a day x 7 years. That’s 4760 hours. Not even including anything I wrote in English before I turned 18.

My Dutch writing skills are reasonable enough, but compared to how I write in English it takes me twice the time, triple the effort and the results are not even half as satisfying.

And there is another thing that became more important to me over the years. A reason for writing in English bigger than funnier jokes, prettier words and a hobby gone wild is the fact that English is so nice and global!

Everyone* can understand this language. I mean, I know the majority of my readers is Dutch, but I also have readers in other corners of the world. People from California and Australia and Canada. This guy I know sends his articles to his Portuguese family members and can be like “hey, read this, it’s cool” and with some basic understanding of the English language, they are actually able to read it!

More people can read English and I just love that idea. I write in a language most people know. And I am not deluding myself into thinking I can help everyone on the planet with the articles I write. I just want is that the majority of people have the option to read my stuff. You know, just in case.

So in conclusion, I write in English because I love the language as well as love the idea that anyone, anywhere can read it. And you know…because I can. ;-)

*Okay, not everyone. But pretty much everyone.

An Ode To Apollo-Lemon Man-Manfred.

 Personal, Relationships, Uncategorized  6 Responses »
Sep 252012
 

His real name is undisclosed, but on the Internetz, my man goes my many names.

When I had my old blog, I gave everyone superhero nicknames. I have had a thing for Greek&Roman gods; my new boyfriend looked like I thought a modern-day version would look like with his blonde curls and blue eyes, so I nicknamed him Apollo and that was it for the time being.

After being with him for a year or so and staying at his place a lot, he started to do this supercute thing where whenever he got groceries, he would get me a net of lemons (I got into the alkalinity of it all while we were dating). While I had never asked for it, the subject of lemons had never came up and yet he would make sure there were lemons around for me. So then I started to call him Lemon Man on-line. Much to his dismay, I may add, he preferred being a god over a sour fruit superhero. Alas, such is life.

Then very gradually, I got kind of over that. I started to refer to him on Twitter as ‘my sexy manfriend’ or ‘my darling manfriend’ or ‘such a sweet manfriend’. I dig the term ‘manfriend’. It sounds funny, it implies he is an advanced form of boyfriend and most importantly, it hilariously sounds like Manfred. Before I knew it I was calling him that. I dig ‘Manfred’ even more, because I can put any endearment in front of it and it will still sound totally unromantic and British Comedian-like. ’my Sexy Manfred’? ‘Darling Manfred’? See what I mean?

We’ve been together for almost two years now. We now live together and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather be stuck in a house with. He keeps growing on me. Obviously I’ve always liked him, but I find tons of reasons to like him more over time. He is one of the few people that can always surprise me. Sometimes when I come home, he has done something really weird like stolen a bike or decided to make pancakes. When he wants to do something, he just goes ahead and does it. He is a go-getter, he takes care of me and despite bouts of being distracted by life, I know he loves me more than anything. He can be complicated and stubborn, but he’s also sweet and hilarious and really really really adorable when he wakes up. I have so much fun with him.

So basically, happy anniversary to my baby Manfred. As my Australian friend would say “It might be rainbows and puppies, but puppies shit on the carpet too.” If you want to spend your life with someone, not every day is going to look like a commercial for breakfast cereal. And I find Manfred tolerable even on those days. THAT is true love, ladies and gentlemen.

Out of the Comfort Zone On Vacation x 6

 Life lessons, Personal  9 Responses »
Aug 222012
 

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very sorry to report: Yours truly is a big fat wuss.

I may not be scared about talking to people or new projects, but I am scared of almost everything else. There are so many ridiculous things I am scared of  that I can make the Cowardly Lion look like Scar from the Lion King.

But fear, ladies and gentlemen, is not as bad as it sounds. Fear is only for the idea of something. You’re only afraid of what it is in your head. As I tell almost everyone who comes to me with fear, worry and stress: “It’s never as terrible as you think it is.” And it is worth to put this to the test, because fear is actually the real wuss: It can be pushed around until it no longer decides your behavior for you.

So during my vacation, with my personal badass (=boyfriend) to guide me, I took on few things that are either a little or a lot out of my comfort zone. It was good experience.

Number one: I snorkled. Near reefs and everything.

This may not seem like a big deal to most, but I have this irrational idea that ALL the creatures living in there are ALL going to come out at the same time and EAT ME. Which is why when I snorkel, I avoid reefs. The one thing I enjoy most about snorkling is being out in the open sea and being in the middle of a giant school of tiny fishies. I think they don’t scare me because they remind me of the tuna school in Finding Nemo.

This vacation, following my boyfriend’s flippers around like I myself was an obedient guppy, I dared to come near and go over reefs. When we went sea kayakking, I actually went with him around most of the rocks and reefs. Minor milestone maybe, but one nonetheless.

Number two: I abseiled.

I’m not horribly afraid of heights actually, I just avoid them because someone with my lack of coordination has an increased risk of plummeting to her death. But, I gotta say, this was fun. When I had to stand on the wall, I literally had this thought: “Okay, I can panic about it but that doesn’t change the fact I have to go down so I might as well stay calm.”

And I did. Unfortunately, after being strapped in and taking my first few steps down, I slipped and smacked straight into the rock wall. You may think this would have scared me more but I actually just went like “Okay, I’m okay! The worst has already happened! I’m good!” I put my feet back up on the wall and got myself down to the ground safely. It was great and I would do it again tomorrow, with a little less rock smacking of course.

Number Three: I jumped off a buoy and swam in the deep.

Some of my fears are water-based (I blame Scary Sea Creature Movies). Whenever I’m swimming somewhere and I can’t see the bottom of the ocean, I always expect some big creepy shadow to appear from under me to again, come and eat me. I hide this fear really well because the rational side of myself knows I’m being an idiot, but the evolutionary ‘I Want To Live’ part of me occasionally kicks in.

However, while kayakking I climbed onto the big buoy, took a deep breath and plunged in. After swimming around for a bit and NOT being eaten, I crawled back into our kayak and on we went.

 Number four: Walked around with Batshit Bonham Carter Hair all day. 

The picture doesn’t do it justice, but when I woke up with a Helena Bonham Carter Crazy mess on my head (just not as “I Eat Babies” as it is on her) I decided to roll with it. Not only do I like looking a tiny bit nuts, I found that as long as you act normal and are nice to people, nobody gives a shit about your hair.

Number five: Asked for what I wanted. 

When we arrived in Croatia, we found to our dismay the traveling organisation had put us in ridiculously small tents so close together a snake wouldn’t even have been able to slither through. It evoked a very strong “Hell To The No” feeling in both of us. Since we have a kick-ass Quecha tent and other great camping stuff, we decided to use our own stuff.

I had to break it to the current guy in charge. Boyfriend had mumbled something about feminine wiles and great hair, so I let him off easy this time. And oh man, you should have seen his face. I was very polite: complimenting their campsite, their friendliness, stressing our wrong idea and proposing the solution. Didn’t matter. He looked like I had just crapped on his desk and called his mother fat to boot. That in turn, didn’t really matter to me. I held my ground.

Luckily, the actual guy in charge who was called in to assist had no problem with us and before we know it we had our own spot. It pays to ask for what you want.

Finally, my absolute favorite, number six: I drove plently through other countries. 

Before this vacation, I had only ever driven to Disneyland Paris. The enormous drive to Croatia intimidated me greatly. I always envision driving abroad as there’s all these challenges, difficult intersections and screaming locals. However, I am not letting my darling Manfred manfriend (as seen on picture, I find him dreamy) do all of the driving just because I am a chicken shit: he deserves to relax and sleep uncomfortably in the passenger’s seat as well.

So the second day, I took the wheel and drove us through Austria to the capital of Slovenia. When we were in Croatia, I was the designated driver to ‘the Ibiza of Croatia’, which cured me of any driving anxiety left: If I can drive through the centre of a touristy town during rush hour and do hairpin curves in the pitchblack windy night on our way back, I can fucking do anything.

Which is why I decided I was also badass enough to drive the limitless speed highways of Germany. I did. At times I was driving at 160-180 km/h and it was awesome.

That about concludes my comfortzone-leaving of my holiday. I gotta say, I might have done these things on my own but I love the absolute pants off my manfriend for encouraging me and supporting me when we’re doing all of this stuff. Big shout-out. Now if you excuse me I have more stuff to do outside of my comfort zone. And yes, that would be cleaning. Later, dudes.

Two Weeks of Traveling: The Update!

 Personal  13 Responses »
Aug 202012
 

Hello there! Let’s get the holiday blog out of the way, shall we? Nothing against holiday-themed blogs, but I feel there are other people much more equipped to write about vacation than I am. However, I was the only blogger on my vacation (my boyfriend only writes 20-word text messages) so I might as well.

Munich, Germany was our first stop. We strolled through the city. I stole a map from a hotel to figure out where to go. I think my boyfriend likes delinquents, because he couldn’t stop laughing. He took me to the Beer Gardens (no idea but I saw Lederhosen, which was amusing), and after having lunch there, he napped in the park while I ate some raw chocolate and wrote in my journal.

Ljubljana, Slovenia was our second stop. This picture was taking the second night we were there. The guy playing in the middle of the plaza is Vincent van Hessen. He played Suzanna by Leonard Cohen and Fast Car by Tracy Chapman while we were listening. It made me cry because everything was so beautiful: the setting, the songs, the voice, the atmosphere. It was a magical moment. Until this drunk guy stumbled up to manfriend to jabber on about how pretty I was. We left before he vomited on our shoes.

Starigrad, Croatia, we spent a week here. The weather was amazing, the nature we hiked, climbed and kayaked through was breathtaking, but the food was edible at best and abysmal at its worst. Plus almost all the locals I met, except for a toothless guy I bought grapes from, were unfriendly. Also, supposedly Pag had this place called Crze and it’s the ‘Ibiza of Croatia’.

…I was there. There is no such thing as the Ibiza of Croatia.

Next up were the Plitvice Lakes, Croatia. It was beautiful, all green, blue and waterfally but I mostly tried not to fall off the little steps and bridges while containing my annoyance over all the tourists. And yes, I know I was one of them but that does not make the whole lot of everyone else any less irritating to plough through.

Our campsite was amazing. All hills with little lost tents every few yards, pitch dark at night except for the stars and the only sound you could hear when you were in your tent were a few crickets. I’ve never slept better in my life than I did there.

Because we wanted to go to Venice, Italy, we stood at a campsite in a town nearby where we spent two days on a nice beach, swimming and eating big-ass pizzas. We had to keep shooing away people who tried to sell us towels, bracelets and sunglasses but other than that it was very nice. I got drunk once (on champagne & mojitos: great combination) and let my inner 16-year old loose while dancing in this tiny disco near our campiste. My inner 16-year old is kind of slutty. This to great entertainment of my boyfriend.

Venice was my favorite. Cappuccino, pasta, great stores. We didn’t have a map and so we just wandered around the city the entire day, admiring the gorgeous buildings and goofing around. To memorize the end of our holiday, I spoiled my man with Ray Ban Aviators and myself with Ray Ban Wayfarers. Amazing sunglasses.

So to wrap it up, I’m now back home with my usual ‘did you have a holiday on the sun?’-tan, lots of mosquite bites and shitloads of sand and loose change in all my bags. I loved spending so much time with my sexy Manfred manfriend and being outside in the sun all the time, but it has to be said: I love the Netherlands, I love my house and I love having everyone I love only +/- 20 kilometres away from me. Also, I love Wi-Fi, my MacBook and getting back on the writing&working horse again.

So: Yes? Everyone satisfied? Awesome. Hope you had two great weeks as well, and you can expect actual self-help articles tomorrow.

(Also, Summer School September Enrollment Announcement: I’m starting the Self Help School back up in September, but I will only be taking up 10 new Level 1 students that month. So if you really really want in and be sure you’ll have a place, you should send me an e-mail at info@theselfhelphipster.com as soon as you can!)

(Why) I Wear Chanel Make-Up.

 Fashion&Beauty, Personal  23 Responses »
Jul 172012
 

As you can read in this post where I write about what I think of Fashion&Beauty, I have incorporated some genuine daily effort in the Clothes&Make-Up Department. I wear clothes and colors that suit me, I spend a little time in front of the mirror every morning to do my hair and make-up.

I still have no problem with my very own Leggings, Big Sweater, No Make-Up and Legit Bed Hair Look (it’s a look I’ve perfected over the years), but I love taking the effort to make myself look nice most days. Why? It feels like I’m treating myself. It’s a strong signal of self-love to me: I care enough to take time and make the effort to make myself look extra pretty. To take time out of your day to make yourself look pretty, not because you’re not pretty without make-up and a dress, but because you feel happier and more confident during the day knowing you look your best; that’s a fucking nice thing of you to do for yourself, right?

Yesterday, I decided to be even nicer to myself from now on. See, a while back, I treated myself to a gorgeous Chanel foundation and red lipstick. I’m a sucker for Chanel. Always have been, since I was a little girl. I love their sleek black packages and the logo. And to me, everything about Chanel breathes luxury and beauty.

So after I bought these two items, putting on make-up became about that feeling: one of beauty, luxury and lots of self-love. I started wearing the Chanel foundation and it made me feel all glowy to have something so pretty and high quality to treat myself to almost every day. Putting on my Chanel lipstick made me feel all spoiled and pampered.

While most of my teenage years and well into my twenties, I just used to wear whatever, man. Whatever was in front of me. I didn’t really care. I had a lot of stuff, but I didn’t really care about any of it, you know what I mean? It was just stuff, it didn’t make me feel anything.

But wearing Chanel make-up, I find I do care about it. I feel very positive and pleasant with it on. Because it makes me feel good and spoiled in a happy, grateful kind of way. Not like those bitches in My Supersweet Sixteen, but a lot more Gratitude&Appreciation to the max. A lot of things in life are about how they make you feel: I think I have tuned into a good feeling here.

So instead of buying lots of cheap other products here and there, about one or two months later I bought a Smokey Eye Set, again by Chanel. Putting on make-up became even more fun; even though smokey eyes is tricky (with my enormous eyes it’s like you have two black holes in the middle of your face if you do it wrong), I started to get the hang of it. I love the little ritual as well as the look.

And yesterday, after having writing for almost four hours without any interruptions beside bathroom-and-tea-break, I walked into my favorite beauty department store with the words: “Hi, I’d like a good eyeliner and primer and just a head’s up: I love Chanel.” That was something the lady could work with, because I walked out of the store with a gorgeous primer, eyeliner, and two Chanel perfume samples and a Chanel mini mascara.

And as I walked out, I decided to cut the shit short: I’m not buying any more make-up that doesn’t make me feel all happy, spoiled and indulgent and I’m only using the make-up that makes me feel like I’m treating myself. Bam.

Beauty should be about self-care and self-love, so that’s what it’s going to be. Rather than than have a big box full of meaningless stuff, I prefer having only a few luxurious items and loving the absolute fuck out of having and using them. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put on some red lipstick and have a great day. Hope you do too!

My First Toast Masters Meeting!

 Personal, Public Speaking, Steve Pavlina  7 Responses »
Jun 282012
 

(Alas, there was no champagne. People were plenty bubbly though.) 

I like most of the things that Steve Pavlina does. Apart from his more kinky interests, he is kind of a role model to me; I don’t know anyone who has reached so much in terms of self-development & productivity. I think that’s really cool. So Rolemodel Steve often refers to Toastmasters, which is an organization that teaches people both leadership skills as public speaking in bi-weekly meetings, all over the globe.

I myself was especially interested in the public speaking part: I might have to give some lectures next school year as well as do some workshops/crazy self help teaching. I’m not terrible, but I’d love to become even better. So I decided to Google That Shit and found out they have a Toastmasters’ Club in my very own Rotterdam! They meet up every two weeks in a location 15 minutes away from me! I emailed them I was coming and Tuesday night I walked into a messy classroom to find the Toastmasters.

What happens during a meeting is this: First, you have your introductions and announcements. Up next is the Grammarian. That’s a member who takes the stage, sharing the Word of the Day and encourages the speakers to use it in their speeches and also empathizes he’s going to be taking notes on people’s language. Next up there’s Table Topics: A host comes up with a topic or questions and three or four people have to improvise a 3-minute speech. Afterwards, the Prepared Speeches begin.

Finally their is an evaluation round of the speakers & the entire meeting. There is a General Evaluator, a Uh & Ah Counter (that shit is insane – once you hear it, you cannot unhear it), the Grammarian and the Time Keeper. They all take  turns evaluating and then afterwards, the meeting is closed and you can go have a drink in the cafeteria downstairs.

I listened to two speeches: One about cultural differences and a very, very interesting one that was called ‘Lean is Mean’ that talked about the short-sighted economic scope people uphold today when it comes to big companies and all their downsizing. The woman was very passionate about it, talked with some gorgeous, English phrasing.

They welcomed me with open arms, explained everything well. There was another newbie too: A very kind, 23-year old chemist who was carrying some of my favorite Steve Pavlina articles about Discipline around with him! We discussed our mutual idol Steve and I tipped him on Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog.

The vibe was very easy-going and totally not as formal as I expected. To be completely honest with you I would have liked a little more structure (but since the meetings are led by different members each time, this might vary). What pushed me towards going again was taking a peek at the Course Material, now that I loved. Structured, easy and containing lots of information. You can basically go two ways: Competent Leader or Competent Communicator. This is like First Level of Toastmaster Mastery. If I’m joining I’d be focusing on Competent Communicator, although I might combine them.

But hey, I’m just going to back in two weeks and see if I’m still leaning towards joining. And I already recommend it to anyone who wants to get better at public speaking or leading a meeting: It’s cheap, very laid-back vibe and I think you can learn a lot there. But if I get to be in charge one day, champagne is going to be mandatory. ;)

The Yogi Who Kicked Me: The Power of Focus.

 Personal, positivity  7 Responses »
Jun 242012
 

Although I’m a believer and advocate of focusing on the positive, sometimes negative shit is like a cellulite butt in white leggings: I don’t want to see it, but I’m going to stare anyway because it’s just so fucking awful, WHY GOD WHY?!

Once I’m confronted with something I really don’t like, I frown and keep looking at it until I’m all worked up with absolutely no point to it. Yoga has definitely fixed my short temper, but in this area I still need some work done: I can get worked up over negative shit, that’s not even really my concern.

For instance, today I walked into the yoga studio to encounter a woman I do not like. I hate to write negatively about someone, but I can’t put it any other way: I don’t like the way she behaves when I see her at yoga. She might be lovely, fun and charming outside the yoga studio, inside of it I find her disrespectful and obnoxious. She jumps around on her mat like she’s standing in a bag of fleas while cheerleading, bumping into others. She laughs at a hundred decibel volume during class, which disturbs me and my practice (I can’t speak for others, but I can imagine they might not like it either). She talks loudly before and after class while people are still lying in their final resting pose.

Not to mention this woman while flailing around in a posture managed to kick me. Full out kick me! I was standing behind her, a good five feet away and she still managed to whack me out of my posture flat on my ass. Quite an accomplishment.

Of course it was an accident, but it felt incredibly intrusive: like someone poking you in the ribs with a stick while you’re enjoying a relaxing massage. Unpleasant. Had me sitting on my mat for like two minutes catching my breath and regaining my composure. Needless to say, this didn’t make me like her all that much more.

Today, I saw her as I walked in; she had just come out of a class. She was talking loudly to another yoga student, booming laugh here, booming laugh there, and I could have already been rolling my eyes and thinking all these negative things about her. But as I walked to the counter I distinctly thought: No. I don’t have to pay attention to her and so I am not going to. 

And so I didn’t. I simply looked away, and gone she was. I then signed in for the class, changed into my yoga gear and did yoga. I didn’t give her so much as a second thought. And that was so nice.

I don’t have to care about annoying women in the yoga studio. In fact, I don’t have to care about anything negative that doesn’t concern me or that I have no control over. Not other people’s drama or unnecessary complaints, not the public transits delays that only mildly inconvenience me, not idiots on the Internet nor the bad weather.

I can just focus on something else! I don’t have to pay attention to any of that; I can either look away, walk away or simply turn my focus inwards. None of that stuff is worth making myself feel bad or angry or frustrated over.

I had never understood this, not really. Now I do. You shouldn’t focus on things that makes you feel bad, especially not if you have a choice. Don’t look at websites that talk thrash about you, don’t look at blogs you think are stupid, don’t indulge in other people’s drama on Facebook. Don’t gossip at work, don’t focus on that one annoying aspect of your job or that one family member you can’t get along with. You have a choice. Execute it. 

If that woman is in a yoga class with me again, I’ll just lie on the opposite side of the room that class. If I can’t and if she stays in my peripheral vision, I’ll just have to have better focus. I think I can manage that..As long as she doesn’t kick me again at least. ;)

My Own Manifesting: May.

 Law of Attraction, My Own Manifesting, Personal  4 Responses »
May 052012
 

I talk an excellent game about manifesting the things you want. I can even drag up a substantial amount of evidence how the Law of Attraction has worked for me up until now in my life. But a good preacher shows how she practices too, non?

And excuse me, but I want to be an Epically Awesome Preacher. So how about I take you through how practice what I preach?

I love making lists and manifesting things. Why? Because I can. Because sometimes there is nothing good on TV. Because I figured that even if it doesn’t happen (right away), there’s no harm in it. And of course the most important reason of all: because it’s so incredibly fun! It’s such an enjoyable process!

The list below includes the things I want to manifest during the upcoming time. Although I’m not very good at the *poof!*-factor of the Law of Attraction (which means I’ll be definitely be experiencing some delays in some) we can check back here in June to see if I’ve been able to attract these things. So you can see if I come up with evidence or if I’ve been talking out of my ass this whole time. ;-)

Let’s make a list, shall we? Fun!

Money & Wealth: I want to attract money. I want to be a money magnet, attracting coins, bonuses and unexpected financial opportunities wherever I go.

Before I move on: I’m not focusing on the financial aspect because I’m poor. I make enough money and what’s more important I feel wealthy every day in most aspects of my life. I’m doing it because my earlier Project Penny is one of the best ways to show you how the Law of Attraction works. I have a jar ready for the coins, as we speak and I’m going to keep a log on the other extras.

Health & Fitness: I want to attract shitloads of exercise and healthy foods this month. Of course that means yoga and plenty of time to do that, but also time to juice, opportunities to exercise, prepare super healthy foods and maybe the possibility for a iHerb superfood order. Also, I’d very much to see my abdominal muscles make a comeback before summer, so thanks a bunch sweetpea Universe. 

Love & Friendship: I want my life to overflow with love and affection, basically. I want to feel love around me constantly. I want me and my boyfriend to get even closer, talk to each other earnestly and share lots of happy moments. I want to feel connected to my best friend all the time. I want to take the time to catch up and spend quality time with my other friends.

Work & Writing: I want to work with enthusiasm and positive energy, be as productive and effective as I can. I want to attract inspiration and a pro-active attitude both in my job as behind my computer for writing. I want inspired action and an excellent performance review.

Beauty & Fashion: I want to feel comfortable and attractive in what I wear. I want to attract beautiful and luxurious things in terms of clothes&make-up. My outer appearance is a reflection of my inner being: I want to do that justice. I want to be surprised by cool and gorgeous items and maybe find a new perfect jeans and a high-quality white T-shirt.

Miscellaneous Specifics (because they’re easy to spot and to check off the list): 

  • An interesting new person to be friends with.
  • Champagne!
  • Young Thai coconuts for smoothies and coconut water
  • A festival ticket
  • Poetry fridge magnet set (always wanted one!)
  • Raw honey (can’t find it anywhere!)
  • A plant for in the dining room.

I’m putting on my best attractive buzz as we speak: curious, excited and trusting. Let’s get to it.

That One Positive Action.

 Life lessons, Personal  5 Responses »
May 042012
 

I had been having a rough week of sorts. I had a busy week at work and wasn’t sleeping well. Bad sleeping results in lots of coffee in my case, which I accompanied by shitty eating habits this week. Cue the self-loathing because of all that: I know exactly how I should take care of myself and I wasn’t doing it! What the hell is wrong with me?! Then as a cherry on top, you add to that I hadn’t practiced yoga in two weeks because of my tattoo that needed rest and healing, and you have yourself a craptastic week and a craptastic Self Help Hipster.

This morning, when I woke up at 05:40, intending to go to the 06:30 yoga class, I still wasn’t feeling so hot. While I turned on the snooze-button and leaned back in the pillows, I debated on whether or not I should go which was basically a list of excuses not to go. It was too early, the bed was so nice and warm, I could always go later: the list goes on. But then I had one winning thought: I’m awake. In 10 minutes I can be out the door and finally do something good this week. 

So I got up, grabbed my stuff and went to yoga. The class was lovely and what’s more, it started a positive pro-active approach that I kept feeling throughout the entire day. When I came home, I made a liter of green juice and a superfood smoothie. I went to visit my parents and had lunch with them. I then did a bunch of laundry (strangely satisfying), then decided to do some groceries. I went to this great local organic supermarket where they have all these interesting healthy foods: I came home with a bunch of different sprouts, spinach, seaweed, raw chocolate and almond milk.

I made this healthy&quick avocado pasta for dinner and then spent the rest of the night nibbling on raw chocolate and drinking light lemon tea while writing and watching old episodes of the O.C.  Candles burning, under a blanket, all very comfy. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sound asleep when boyfriend comes back from having drinks with his friends.

And what’s more, I feel so much better now. Because today I was doing all the things to take good care of myself and that made me feel good again. It’s just by doing that one right thing in the morning I was instantly triggered to do the rest of the things right too.

So basically I learnt two lessons here.

One, I need to take excellent care of myself to feel good (I guess I’ve became a little high maintenance along the way). Nobody else is going to do it for me, not to my own standards. I mean, my boyfriend’s adorable and he makes me green smoothies and healthy big salads every once in a while, but he doesn’t trust the juicer or the sprout-packages in the fridge.

And two, one positive action can be all you need. It sets into motion a wave of other positive actions. This can completely turn your mood, your day and hopefully the rest of your week around. It always pays to make one positive action. Or you know…maybe even two. Once you start, it’s easy to keep going.

Hope you have a positive-action filled weekend. Kisses.

 

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