Archives
“What are you doing tomorrow?”– Taking a banana for a walk with you. Plain and honest, just like the Dutch culture requires and expects.When you send a message like that, you’re likely to cause bewilderment.Confusion comes before excitement. Why is that? It is certainly not a regular idea among humans. You can easily spend a lifetime without ever coming across such a sentence, let alone actually do it the next day. I… Read More
What does it mean to belong? According to the definition, there are many options. You can belong to a country, a city or a house.You can belong to your family, your friends or co-workers.You can belong to a community, a cult or a religion. The amount of things we can connect to is exhaustingly long.So how come some of us can still feel alone, lost or without a home? If the World… Read More
“You can do contests with this material…and win.”That’s what the senior Toastmaster/Public Speaker told me after I finished my speech. I don’t remember the last time I was this hyped for a project I needed to finish.For this performance, I decided to apply the feedback from the previous one, so instead of memorizing, I was going to improvise it. There were bullet points of course, but the weight of the endless chain… Read More
Waking up early can be a wonderful thing, except when you barely had time to sleep.Luckily a song from Burna Boy can make any ass shake. No matter the day, it’ll move that booty out of the sheets. It was 6 am, and we were about to go for an early morning swim. When we arrived to de Waal beach, the idea of a quick workout became very tempting. Since many of… Read More
“He is smiling!” – One of the Ladies from the group stares at me.I was lifting the massage bed over the balcony to help my neighbor after a heart surgery.“Oh, jij doet massage? Nou kom maar!” – All of them starts laughing [“Oh, you can massage? Come come!”] And I did. After finishing the treatment, I packed everything in and went straight to the other side of the street. You’ve never heard… Read More
How do you strengthen a friendship?You probably have a few solid ideas already.Order pizza and watch a movie, get drunk and go out on a Friday evening, support them when they need it, continuous honesty and reliability, a surprise or a gift, cooking a delicious meal; or offering an open ear to listen to their great news or difficulties. If we really care about our buddies, none of these should be challenging.But… Read More
What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “Home”? Is it the place where you were born, where you spent your childhood?Is it the country, the culture, the people around you?Or is it the house where you keep your clothes, eat breakfast and have a shower? We all have our own definition, but all of us has one thing in common:That’s where our heart belongs. My… Read More
Connecting with nature is immensely rewarding. Ask any pet owner about how much love they receive from their buddies.And I don’t mean dogs, cats or fish only.Many owners have snails, birds, spiders or even snakes. There are endless connections you can build.Some people out there even raise tigers and bears. So today, I began a new project to befriend the neighborhood’s crow family. Soon I’m going to move to an apartment and… Read More
Working on a project of a Lifetime is quite difficult.The challenge to document the process of growing into the person we want to become, just like anything else, has ups and downs. Sometimes it just flows out of my mind, I speak my heart and it’s as easy as that.Sometimes I can’t even look at the keyboard without disgust.“If I have to fill another page about what I’ve done, I’m gonna tear… Read More
How can you LOVE and HATE something at the same time? This problem occurs quite often throughout our lives.Let it be the person we love, a habit we want to get rid of, or a harmful hobby we enjoy.You know you shouldn’t eat that entire box of ice cream you just bought, but it still ends up in your stomach.You know the new episodes of your favorite show are 10/10 ones, so… Read More
Poor walls.I’ve been talking to them for 2 hours now. 540 words. No more, no less – and my job was to remember all of them.After practicing the act over 30 keer1, I felt quite confident.The speech was clear and fluent – but a good public speaker doesn’t leave anything to chance, so I repeated it another 20 times and made sure that nothing would ruin the performance. I was very excited… Read More
Clark Kent is a rookie compared to him. Even though we barely knew each other for 5 minutes, he offered an entire day to show me things.“What’s the catch?” – I wondered, baffled by the amount of friendliness.There was none, whatsoever. Such generosity came from within. It started with a trip towards our “rival” city: Nijmegen; Arnhem’s Nemesis. The route should’ve taken 1 hour by cycling, but the headwind was stronger than… Read More
“Mooi op tijd1” – He smiled at me as I locked my bike. It was 8:00 in the morning, we were about to hop into his car and do some gardening where he Lives. I made a promise that I won’t talk in English from the beginning of the year, which I kept quite easily. You see, this promise doesn’t include talking in Dutch either, just the lack of English. So I… Read More
A story about defeating Social Anxiety and overcoming fear to achieve our dreams – by taking a banana on a glorious journey.
I had a chat with the suicide prevention hotline the other day. Things weren’t going well, and I had nobody to turn to or talk with.Reaching out for help seemed to be the only possibility. When they picked up, they started to ask questions about where I am and what I’m doing.– At home, I’m safe. I’m not under the influence of any substance.This sentence was enough for them to close the… Read More
What would you do, if tomorrow was too late? The answer is supposed to be easy. Donate stuff, call some friends, make amends. Say goodbye to your family, co-workers, pets.Let go of the reign.Make peace with it. Is that really the best way to spend your last day? What about the Dreams you’ve had, the Promises you’ve made?It may not be enough to explore a Country, but it’s more than enough to… Read More
“There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” ― Henry Ford When was the last time you truly believed that you can do something epic?When you felt that you’re capable of achieving something great? Good ideas can be scary. Great ideas are straight up terrifying.But why is it that every time our souls are set ablaze by a spark of passion, the second it… Read More
“…Parkinson’s disease… and Cancer” – These were the only words I could remember.“I don’t know what to say…“– Mom… The pain was like being pierced by the sharpest Katana, through the heart – with the force of a rhino on the run. I collapsed.Then got up, grabbed the corner of the wall.-What? Not possible. Clearly not.I didn’t understand. Couldn’t comprehend. – What does it mean? What are the numbers?You become curious and… Read More
What’s the best way to conquer our Fears? There is a technique called Fear Setting.It’s very simple, yet extremely effective.Ready? Here it is: 1) Describe the worst possible outcomes you can come up with Let’s pick something common: Asking someone out in public. You see this gorgeous Lady standing on a bus, looking at her phone, reading a book or listening to music. She is mesmerizing. You could look at her for… Read More
He can’t turn water into wine, but boy, does he know how to play Reggie. Stevie arrives to the store, eyes blazing, legs shaking.He just came from the Canary’s this morning.– My man!I smile and attempt to do a handshake, but he falls of his bike during parking. “Bhro, I’m so fucking high right now” – He says, as if tumbling on the concrete floor didn’t give it away.– Let’s get some… Read More
Road to a New Life 