For most of the years that are now behind me, I would have probably deeply and publicly loathed the stuff I\u2019ve posted recently, the things I talk about, the poems, the feelgood-shit.<\/p>\n
So I totally get it if you sometimes (or often) think that my approach to life is way too simplistic, too optimistic, too na\u00efve.<\/p>\n
Always feeling good and putting it out in the world.<\/p>\n
Being grateful and amazed and hopeful and, well, spiritual.<\/p>\n
I get that it sometimes (or many times) can be daunting or even provocative to the personal mind that experiences life in a heavy and really serious way, to encounter my stuff.<\/p>\n
I get the skepticism, the distrust, the \u2018this is just too good to be true\u2019-idea.<\/p>\n
It is not the approach to life most people seem to find relevant and true.<\/p>\n
The Rational Way.<\/p>\n
The Realistic Way.<\/p>\n
And so you might think that I\u2019m suspiciously happy.<\/p>\n
That it\u2019s a setup, some fraudulent scheme, like I am desperately in denial, an emotional racketeer.<\/p>\n
That I don\u2019t see what\u2019s REALLY going on in the world, the pain, the suffering, the confusion, the hatred, the polarization.<\/p>\n
But to me it doesn\u2019t feel like that at all.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all very real.<\/p>\n
I feel really good.<\/p>\n
And hopeful.<\/p>\n
And buzzing with energy, ideas, empathy and mental space.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not a single moment that I have to try to look like I am doing well, that I have to pretend or force myself and behave like someone that I am not.<\/p>\n
This is all natural and effortless.<\/p>\n
High on life.<\/p>\n
And I am smart enough to realize there\u2019s no guarantee that it will last exactly the way it is right now, but that doesn\u2019t bother me.<\/p>\n
Even THAT doesn\u2019t bother me.<\/p>\n
(Yeah, I know….)<\/p>\n
To the old, angry and scared me that would have probably hated the new me, I would say just this:<\/p>\n
I feel you brother.<\/p>\n
I really do.<\/p>\n
Your time will come.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Photo by @jeremybishop, for Unsplash)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I think I would have hated the me I am right now. For most of the years that are now behind me, I would have probably deeply and publicly loathed the stuff I\u2019ve posted recently, the things I talk about, the poems, the feelgood-shit. So I totally get it if you sometimes (or often) think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[97,117,100,116,113,103],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31250,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31248\/revisions\/31250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}