You often hear the term burnout these days. Everybody’s tired, it seems. I too, was on the brink and had to step on the brakes. Not surprising though, the past year has been a madhouse. It was great, but crazy! With a clear goal in mind I speeded forward like a ball of lightning, and only once the goal was achieved, did I give myself time to relax. As a result, I totally collapsed. I couldn’t even think anymore. I’ve been resting for the past month and it’s done me a lot of good. I potter about in my garden, lounge around in my Tiny House with a good book, enjoy all the new experiences that come with living in a Tiny House, spend time outside instead of on the computer. I have come to realize that I can’t carry on the way I did. I don’t have to keep tabs on everything that is going on in the Tiny House movement. It will go on without me too, and I don’t have to keep an eye on it all. But it’s an ego thing — if I pull out now, I won’t be able to get back in. I won’t count anymore. It’s difficult to deal with my kind of ego.
It’s a challenge to have the confidence that the right things are coming your way anyway, to keep following your heart instead of trying to live as you think others expect of you. But that’s one of the life lessons I have yet to learn, I guess, so I’m going to seriously try to be that wise. I will stop saying yes to everything, and no longer desperately try to keep up and answer every email that comes my way. I will listen to myself and start enjoying my lovely new home. I will feel the earth, feed the chickens, try out new recipes, and more of it. Because that’s the reason I started this adventure, to live comfortably and have the freedom to do what makes my heart happy. Back to basics!
Luckily, blogging makes me happy too. Writing really is something that is effortless for me and I enjoy doing it. And perhaps Lena van den Wal was right when she said that my most important contribution at the moment is: telling people about my experiences, the everyday things, the developments here in Alkmaar, how all the technology in my house works. I think she is right and I will carry on keeping all of you updated.
Yesterday the final interview was filmed for the TV show called “Your own dream house”. Since February they have been filming the whole process of the building of my Tiny House. The show will take 45 minutes and will be shown on SBS6. You get to know the people after a while and it was a pleasure to see them all again. I can’t wait to see the end result, but I have to wait like everyone else until it comes on TV, which will probably be in September. It is a wonderful opportunity to capture the whole construction of my Tiny House on film. And done by pros! Marlayne Sahupala came to do the final interview and was blown away by my Tiny House. Obviously! ;)
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t too good the day of the shoot. It was a grey day with a few heavy showers. Too bad. My Tiny House looks even better when the sun shines! Luckily the weather improved in time for the barbecue which I had organized later that day to celebrate the completion of the build. The Walden team (Lena and Laurens van der Wal, Vincent Höfte) and Dimka Wentzel were invited to celebrate the wonderful result of our joint effort. What a lovely evening with friends and what fun it was to show them my Tiny House the way it is now: inhabited, with my stuff in it, cats on the bed, kitchen in use.
We chatted about what’s going on in everyone’s lives. Walden’s crew is busy studying and working, Dimka is busy with his next Tiny and his agenda is full of assignments until next spring. We spoke about the award ceremony of the BouwEXPO Tiny Housing Almere and the Bouwlab Nijmegen. There is so much happening! The Netherlands might well overtake America in the Tiny House movement, Lena thinks, in terms of innovation. But as Laurens says, we have to make sure that the philosophy is not snowballed by profit and I agree with that as well. Tiny House Netherland keeps an eye on things and fortunately there are plenty of people watching with us. These are incredible times!
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