Now that we've had the first days back at school for our daughter, which definitely meant quite a bit of an adjustment after so many weeks in Spain, things in our life in The Netherlands start to settle in again.
In the beginning of our holidays we were mentally still super active, which made it hard to really relax and let go. To just enjoy the moment and not worry about the next day, next week or next month.
There seemed to be a resistance to really not do any work, because my husband and I are both very passionate about creating things.
Whether it's the family adventures that I've started to gather for a new book, or the design of a children's book that my husband is about to finish, or even our daughter's dream to create custom made t-shirts with her favorite characters.... there's always something that keeps us going.
The mind has a hard time switching off...
New ideas, new projects, always something we're passionate about to create together!
The thing with the holidays though, is that we really needed to let go and just spend our time together as a family, which seemed easier said than done I have to admit...
Being together all the time was something we did the first 5 1/2 years of our daughter's life, but since our move last year from Ibiza to The Netherlands our whole family structure has changed a lot!
Suddenly life became more "serious" in a way that we hadn't really expected:
Everything in The Netherlands is so well organized and planned that we started to doubt ourselves for a moment if we would fit in here. All of a sudden a fear popped up and we wondered if our "going with the flow" lifestyle would ever work here in Eindhoven.
Born and raised in The Netherlands, didn't make it easier to be honest...actually quite the opposite: after so many years traveling and living in different countries, my lifestyle just isn't the same anymore.
Making plans is such a big part of this culture, which used to be one of my natural skills when I started my own events & incentives agency on Ibiza, but somehow over the years I've let go of this habit. The need to control and plan everything through, is most of the time something I notice for myself, but not something I want to actively engage in anymore.
Life is meant to be lived, not planned...
I like to leave room for adventures, because spontaneous meet ups often turn into wonderful experiences in my opinion.
Over the years that belief turned into a lifestyle, which has helped myself and my husband with creating our own dream life.
We follow our flow, which obviously isn’t always easy and definitely challenging in a country like The Netherlands, but we somehow always get through the struggles and enjoy the wonderful memories we create together.
To overcome the challenges we’ve created our own tools over the years to help us stay focused and make sure our wellbeing stays our number one priority. Those have definitely helped us again this time coming back from Spain and adapting to the “rat race” again.
Wishing you also a great start of this new season and hope you’ve also found your rituals and reminders to keep living the life of your dreams!
Lots of love,
Esther