Tussen ambitie en hygge
Music, books and videos that inspired me and will hopefully inspire you too.
Het is al even geleden dat jullie hier iets konden lezen van mij. Ik heb het te druk gehad… nee, wacht… ik KOOS ervoor om wat minder te gaan schrijven. Met de vrijgekomen tijd konden Sofie en ik enkele projectjes afwerken.
Mijn volgende posts zullen gaan over waar we de laatste maanden mee bezig geweest zijn.
Misschien krijgen jullie na het lezen inspiratie of “goesting” om een oude droom nieuw leven in te blazen of dat mini-project eindelijk eens in gang te trappen.
Zo spannend! Move to Happiness, onze lokale gym, nodigde me uit als gastspreker op hun Happiness Day.
Het thema is “stress en veerkracht: tijd maken voor jezelf” en daarover kan ik wel een boompje opzetten.
Jullie lezen dat goed: we verruilen Engels voor Nederlands.
Vind je dat leuk? Of ben je nu eerder wat teleurgesteld? Het zij zo. Als er iets is dat ik in het leven heb geleerd, is het dat je nooit iedereen tevreden kan stellen.
Vanwaar de plotse ommezwaai?
Een blog beginnen is één van de beste beslissingen die ik ooit heb gemaakt. Het was de ideale uitlaatklep tijdens een grillige periode in mijn leven. Bovendien heb ik dankzij NoMoreMovies mijn passie voor schrijven en fotograferen (her)ontdekt.
Ik voel nu dat ik klaar ben voor een nieuw hoofdstuk.
That’s right: I decided to switch to Dutch – my native language – from now. I suppose you are a bit disappointed? What can I say? If there’s one thing I learned in life it’s that you cannot please everyone.
Why switch?
Starting this blog was one of the best decisions ever. It was the ideal outlet during an unsteady phase of my life. Besides, thanks to NoMoreMovies I (re)discovered my passion for writing and photography.
Now I feel I am ready for the next chapter.
Our hoarding mentality and messy home was making it impossible for us to enjoy traveling. If we wanted life at home to feel as light, dynamic and nimble as life abroad we had to get our priorities straight. And get to work!
My first reflex was second-guessing our house. Why, oh why did we buy an old, detached house? For the past eight years it felt like we had spent all our money and energy in renovating this ever hungry, money-devouring monster… and still it didn’t resemble the home I had envisioned so many years ago.
We considered downscaling to an apartment, but changed our minds: there were still too many things we loved about our house. So many things we took for granted. Now the fog finally lifted and the road ahead became clear…
It was time to return home.
With a vengeance!
My traveler’s blues had followed me all the way to the woods of Finland. It made me realize that something needed fixing if we were to fully enjoy traveling again. But what? Some soul-searching and a little help from the Minimalists showed us the way forward.
If we are happiest and most carefree when our possessions fit in a single suitcase or backpack… Why do we keep cramming our houses full of stuff?
If we wanted life at home to feel more like life abroad we had to rethink our way of life, completely.
“Why is your blog called NoMoreMovies? Don’t you like movies?”
“Are you never going to watch a movie, like, ever again?”
I get these questions all the time…
Want to know why my blog is called NoMoreMovies?
Here’s your chance!
Music.
I cannot live without it.
To me it’s as important as breathing.
Read on and listen to the musical gems I discovered in 2017. Enjoy!
Once upon a time there was a shy kid with only a handful of good friends. After a particularly tough day at school he slipped the new Hitbox album into his Philips Discman. Listening to music always cheered him up. Sitting somewhere between Def Dames Dope and Laura Pausini was Enigma’s Return to Innocence.
The native chants were intriguing but the lyrics left him speechless…
Some of you may remember Return to Innocence as a forgotten gem of the nineties. Some of you may know Enigma from their early albums. Then again, most of you probably never heard of it… Whatever may be, I invite you to enjoy this unique video, celebrating life itself.
The Black Eyed Peas just re-recorded their 2003 single “Where is the love”. Not to cash in but because they felt the world needed to hear this song again. I cannot agree more. Here’s why…
