The importance of swallowing your anger

We are told all the time that we need to stand up for ourselves when people do us wrong. ”Don’t let people mess with you!” You know how it goes. But is it good advice? Only if they add to it that you shouldn’t get all ratchet chick. Sadly ”ratchet chick” is the way most people respond  to injustice. What they don’t realize is that when they ”stand up for themselves” they are actually only harming themselves. Ego 1 – life 0.

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My name is Lina and I am a perfectionist

There, I said it. I admit I’m a perfectionist. It took me years and years to admit this, because in my view perfectionists aim to be the best in everything, spending every minute of their day working towards their goal and crying over a B+. I’m pretty much the opposite, as discipline is definitely nowhere to be found in my dictionary. Now I finally realize that this is a one-sided view on perfectionism. Perhaps you’ll recognize yourself in this blog post.

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Do I want to be a mother?

When I see babies I think they’re super cute. When I think of having my own children I suddenly have to search for air. The thought of having kids is really scary. I babysit all the time and every time again I think: I don’t know how they do it. I don’t know HOW they can take care of a child 24/7! Saying that raising kids is a challenge is an understatement of the same level as saying the universe is small. Is that really what I want my life to be about?

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Why do bad things exist?

I’m staring at a box of Ferrero Rocher I bought for a friend and I’m thinking: ’’I have the definition of yumminess in front of me, yet I don’t feel any desire to put it in my mouth.’’ I know why I don’t feel like eating it: I’m tired of Ferrero Rocher. Who thought that would ever happen? A while ago my sister was gifted a huge Ferrero Rocher tree. We (read: I) had been eating from the Ferrero tree for weeks. At first it was great, but after a while it wasn’t special anymore. By the time the tree was almost bare I didn’t even feel like finishing it. Something once so wonderful became ‘’just chocolate’’ to me. It’s still delicious, but the whole magical feel was gone and now, months later, I’m still thinking ‘’nah’’. I realized we stop valuing things once they become normal to us, and that got me thinking…

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Are Dutch people really stingy?

When the Dutch queen – who’s Argentinean – emigrated to the Netherlands, an interviewer asked her to describe the Netherlands. With a cute Spanish accent she answered in Dutch: ‘’the Netherlands is tea with one cookie and big windows without curtains, so that everybody can take a good look inside.’’ In my opinion she hit the nail on the head, but the Dutch weren’t so happy with her answer. That’s not because of the part about transparency and openness of course. Dutch people are known to be stingy. Ask an expat and he’ll confirm. The term ‘’going Dutch’’ wasn’t picked out of thin air you know. But ask a Dutchman if it’s true that Dutch people are stingy and he will most likely say: ‘’No, we’re misunderstood!’’ Are the Dutch really just misunderstood? Let’s have a closer look.

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