Year review : Life!
Boy was this a year of ups and downs.
I started the year cramming for an exam, for my first year degree in counseling & coaching. It involved going through 4 books full of facts and they asked tiny details. I make it! And passed the exam.
The next two months I delved into preparations for my practice, I was well on track to start in July and full of confidence and got a lot of work done. In april some breaks were planned. With my then boyfriend and a group of english friends coming over for the elf fair.
That is when things started to go to hell in a handbasket. I had some doubts about my relationship for a while now and that was making me unhappy. But it took me some time to voice them because he is such a nice guy and we shared a lot of the same hobbies. Round the same time my dad fell ill and was admitted to hospital. I set everything aside to be able to take my mum to hospital everyday. For me with the RSI it is physically tough to do that and it meant that I could spend less time on the computer.But emotionally I wasn't in a good place to work on my practice either. So making the decision to drop it all gave me emotional freedom. Yup I am getting much better at looking after myself and setting my boundaries.
During the visit of the english when we were in a holiday parc close by I also tried to go home as often as I could and go to the hospital. For the rest that visit was great and we also managed to laugh a lot. It took weeks to find out what was wrong with my dad. Finally we found out he had a tumor in a kidney and that had to come out. They wanted him to go to Leiden were there are better facilities, but it meant a longer waiting period which could be as long as three months. This made me very nervous, and he continued to have a lot of pain. We returned to the specialist and now the decision was made to do it in Gouda afterall and as soon as possible. I still think they made a mistake in suggesting leiden first. Leiden would have been keyhole surgery and the surgeon had said from the start the whole kidney would have to be removed. Of course they will not admit that to you. So towards the beginning of june that was all settled. My dad's surgery was the day after the funeral of the father of a good friend. And over the years those parents have become friends in their own right.
I did break up with my boyfriend, in the end a relief for both of us. We are now both happier and managed to remain good friends. For I cherish his friendship very much. :)
By now I was pr
etty drained and did not do much in June but prepare for my holiday in the states. This had been planned a long time in advance.I try to go every five years for the big reenactments in Gettysburg. We left for our trip on June 30th. That holiday was great, I always enjoy my time there. And my body enjoys it's time in the sun, something we don't get too much off here. I managed to recharge the batteries a little bit. Because of the pace we kept that did not succeed completely. Yet I relish the memories of the beautifull places we saw and the friends we met.
Back home I found it very difficult to get back into the flow of preparing for the practice. I had been out of it since early april, and picking up then is hard. I was still emotionally drained as well and pushing myself hard. In September the second year of my coaching & counseling training started. And this work
s best if you already work in the field. That had me stresses as well, and I felt I had not worked hard enough this year. Let's say that september and october were bad months were I was close to a burn out. But this time I recognized it in myself and I responded better. First I cut down on the demands on myself, I gave myself time to enjoy and play and not have to do so much. I had a little break in Britain at the end of october that helped a great deal. That country like the US makes me feel happy and recharge the batteries. I feel at home there and I don't know why.
By the beginning of November I was back on track. Doing work on the practice and really working towards the first of january as a starting date. I had some work on my teeth done that was not fun but had to be done. And saw a neurologist on december first. I had been taking too many painkillers for headaches over the years and was told to cut it out for three months. And they can help me better keeping the headaches under control. I am in the middle of that now, just finished the most difficult three weeks. And it is going better then I had ever thought possible. I am learning many new insights about the headaches already and am sure I will deal with them better next year.
From january 2nd I will activaly search for trial clients, I want a little more practice. I have found my first! The website is nearly finished, and I have talked to an accountant. Next week talking to two banks. It is getting very real.
This year brough many hardships, but also many, many beautifull moments and they by far outway the bad ones. I learnt so much more about my self and I grew a great deal. I am positive about the future and thankfull for the past.
I am looking forward to it, and at the same time a little scared, I want to be perfect and I am afraid of financial insecurity, but I don't want to be on benefits for the rest of my life. I know I have to do this and I want to do this. Next year is going to be one big adventure. Bring it on!!!!!
I started the year cramming for an exam, for my first year degree in counseling & coaching. It involved going through 4 books full of facts and they asked tiny details. I make it! And passed the exam.
The next two months I delved into preparations for my practice, I was well on track to start in July and full of confidence and got a lot of work done. In april some breaks were planned. With my then boyfriend and a group of english friends coming over for the elf fair.
That is when things started to go to hell in a handbasket. I had some doubts about my relationship for a while now and that was making me unhappy. But it took me some time to voice them because he is such a nice guy and we shared a lot of the same hobbies. Round the same time my dad fell ill and was admitted to hospital. I set everything aside to be able to take my mum to hospital everyday. For me with the RSI it is physically tough to do that and it meant that I could spend less time on the computer.But emotionally I wasn't in a good place to work on my practice either. So making the decision to drop it all gave me emotional freedom. Yup I am getting much better at looking after myself and setting my boundaries.
During the visit of the english when we were in a holiday parc close by I also tried to go home as often as I could and go to the hospital. For the rest that visit was great and we also managed to laugh a lot. It took weeks to find out what was wrong with my dad. Finally we found out he had a tumor in a kidney and that had to come out. They wanted him to go to Leiden were there are better facilities, but it meant a longer waiting period which could be as long as three months. This made me very nervous, and he continued to have a lot of pain. We returned to the specialist and now the decision was made to do it in Gouda afterall and as soon as possible. I still think they made a mistake in suggesting leiden first. Leiden would have been keyhole surgery and the surgeon had said from the start the whole kidney would have to be removed. Of course they will not admit that to you. So towards the beginning of june that was all settled. My dad's surgery was the day after the funeral of the father of a good friend. And over the years those parents have become friends in their own right.
I did break up with my boyfriend, in the end a relief for both of us. We are now both happier and managed to remain good friends. For I cherish his friendship very much. :)
By now I was pr
etty drained and did not do much in June but prepare for my holiday in the states. This had been planned a long time in advance.I try to go every five years for the big reenactments in Gettysburg. We left for our trip on June 30th. That holiday was great, I always enjoy my time there. And my body enjoys it's time in the sun, something we don't get too much off here. I managed to recharge the batteries a little bit. Because of the pace we kept that did not succeed completely. Yet I relish the memories of the beautifull places we saw and the friends we met.Back home I found it very difficult to get back into the flow of preparing for the practice. I had been out of it since early april, and picking up then is hard. I was still emotionally drained as well and pushing myself hard. In September the second year of my coaching & counseling training started. And this work
s best if you already work in the field. That had me stresses as well, and I felt I had not worked hard enough this year. Let's say that september and october were bad months were I was close to a burn out. But this time I recognized it in myself and I responded better. First I cut down on the demands on myself, I gave myself time to enjoy and play and not have to do so much. I had a little break in Britain at the end of october that helped a great deal. That country like the US makes me feel happy and recharge the batteries. I feel at home there and I don't know why.By the beginning of November I was back on track. Doing work on the practice and really working towards the first of january as a starting date. I had some work on my teeth done that was not fun but had to be done. And saw a neurologist on december first. I had been taking too many painkillers for headaches over the years and was told to cut it out for three months. And they can help me better keeping the headaches under control. I am in the middle of that now, just finished the most difficult three weeks. And it is going better then I had ever thought possible. I am learning many new insights about the headaches already and am sure I will deal with them better next year.
From january 2nd I will activaly search for trial clients, I want a little more practice. I have found my first! The website is nearly finished, and I have talked to an accountant. Next week talking to two banks. It is getting very real.
This year brough many hardships, but also many, many beautifull moments and they by far outway the bad ones. I learnt so much more about my self and I grew a great deal. I am positive about the future and thankfull for the past.
I am looking forward to it, and at the same time a little scared, I want to be perfect and I am afraid of financial insecurity, but I don't want to be on benefits for the rest of my life. I know I have to do this and I want to do this. Next year is going to be one big adventure. Bring it on!!!!!
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