As far as I know, we only live once. That means that we should try to live our live to the fullest and try to enjoy the moments with our family and friends, because Mister Time is ticking mercilessly and Time goes by, slowly, yes, but it goes by. Every day is a day closer to your death, to say it rudely. Every day is one day that has passed and that will never happen again.
Take this sad story. A friend of mine who lives with her husband and two children in Belgium plans a trip to the United States to visit her dad and the rest of her family. It's been four years that they've seen each other in real life. At their arrival, her dad isn't feeling too well. They recommend him to go and see a doctor, but he refuses. A couple of hours later, he dies. They only had time to say goodbye to him, to give him a hug and that's it. His life is over, only 58 years old, and he leaves this friend of mine with an enormous sadness and a lot of grief. What had to become the trip of her life, became a true nightmare. I truly feel her grief, and she and her family are in my thoughts and prayers.
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| R.I.P. Patrick Bruneel |
What I'm actually talking about is this: I want to change my life radically, and in fact, I've alread begun doing that. I graduated a couple of months ago, and these times are hard times to find a job, but besides finding a job, I should also try to do what I really like. Also, I should try to accomplish some things I've always wanted to do. Take this: I've always wanted to be a karateka. When I was about seven years old, I wanted to take up karate lessons, because in our small town, we had the following sporting facilities: football, karate and gymnastics/trampolining. I wanted to take up karate, but my mom said that was for boys, so I was doomed to take up gymnastics and, later on, trampolining. I wasn't that bad, even got one golden and one silver medal and some bronze, but I got injured badly once, and less badly a couple of other times, and since then, I didn't enjoy it that much anymore, as you can probably imagine. Injuries from trampolining made me scared to do it again, but I was somehow pushed by my parents to continue. So I did, although I didn't like it anymore. It actually is quite a dangerous sport. Guess what I did last week?! Right, I took up karate. I already got my gi (suit) and obi (belt, white, as I'm a beginner).
I'm so proud I took this decision on my own. I'd been looking on the Internet a couple of times earlier, but when I was admitted to the psychiatric hospital, I started looking again. I realised I had to do something about this enormous wish I'd been carrying with me almost my entire life. I found a karate club, women only. It's called Daidokan and it's in Leiden. I knew this was what I wanted. They don't only practise karate, but also Arnis, martial arts from the Philippines. I went to the introductory course last Wednesday, together with a friend of mine and we both knew: this is what we've wanted to do for such a long time. We immediately decided that we were going to continue the lessons.
Another thing I'd wanted to do is something I did on Sunday, March 30th. Oh well, you'll probably laugh, but I went to a concert of my all time favourites: the one and only Backstreet Boys. No, they haven't split, they're still together and even released their new album in the summer of 2013. They've been touring through Europe and had two sold out concerts in the Netherlands, can you imagine? So I went with two friends of mine and it was awesome! I had the time of my life! I made some great pictures and short movies from the show. I even bought a T-shirt! No, I didn't feel like a teenager, because they've become grown-ups, and so have their fans. It's different in comparison with 16 years ago, when I saw them for the first - and until then, also the last - time. It was fun, especially because I also met a new friend over there, a Flemish girl, and I invited her to spend the night at my place instead at some expensive hotel in Amsterdam. It's good to know that you can still trust complete strangers in your house, even in these uncertain times... Okay, let me give you an impression of the BSB concert (sorry for the haters among you ;):
So, I've decided that from now on, I'm going to do things that I really want to do. One of those things is a pretty insane idea. I want to be a volunteer at the Olympics of 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Actually, it was an idea from one of my nurses who came to visit me at home during the first six weeks after my comeback from the psychiatric hospital. She's such a nice nurse, but she has the craziest ideas. However, though it did sound crazy in the beginning, right now it doesn't sound that crazy anymore. I'm going to apply in August and see if I can survive all the tests and interviews. Yes, it means I'll have to go to Rio a few times on my own account, but hell, why not?
Also, I started voluntary work this week. It's something I've wanted to do for such a long time, but I never had time to do it because of my studies. Right now I teach two illiterate women how to read and write. It gives me the satisfaction I've been looking for for such a large amount of time. I know there will be people who will belittle my work as a volunteer and who will say things like: "Oh, it's only voluntary work, she'll never be able to find a real job", but I know what I'm doing. While I'm still living in a student's house, I can afford it. However, I'm longing to have a place of my own, and I do believe that God is going to provide, only when He thinks the time is right.
So people, today's lesson is a simple one: you only live once. Try to make the best of it. I know some of you - including me - have gone through rough times in their lives. I know you can't forget about what happened to you if you've been harassed or abused in one way or another. I know you can't forgive the people who have done that to you. Still, the time will come when God will take away your pain. I know it's not easy, and I'm still struggling with it myself. My book - which is nearly finished, just some corrections and the illustrations which have to be added - was a proper means of coping with the separations. However, it wasn't conclusive, it didn't solve the problem entirely. I still have nightmares in which I'm being followed because they want to lock me up. So if you are experiencing the same or something similar, leave a message, and I'll pray for you. You never know, it won't harm you, that's for sure. If you want me to pray for you because you've been hurt by other people, just write a comment. You can put an anonymous comment, or you can add your name. It doesn't matter. I will pray for you.
Yesterday evening, I was at Delft's "The Door" church, and there pastor Osei Bobie preached a sermon with this title: "What's on your mind?" The guy has humour, oh yes he has. Never before have I laughed so much during a service. He knows how to keep the attention of his audience! I know for sure that this wouldn't be possible in a catholic church. Really, he's awesome. But he also had a serious message. He preached that our thoughts shape our emotions. And if your thoughts are bad and influenced by evil, then, consequently, your emotions will also be rather bad. That is to say, if the devil enters into your mind, he will influence your emotions and look, there you have the emotions of anger, fear, insecurity... you name it.
Sometimes you think that somebody is against you and/or doesn't love you. You just have this feeling, and you don't really have proof for this thought, but it's a thought and for you, it's real. What happens then is that you get - even if you don't ask for it - some proof for your thought, and this kind of proof enables you to see some proof for your thought, which makes the thought even stronger. The negative thought(s) get fed. But hey, this doesn't always has to be right. Sometimes it can, though.
Look at this situation. I've been home for a month after my last admission to the closed ward of the psychiatric clinic, and many times when I was in the isolation cell I got this thought: "Where is God now? I don't see Him, I don't hear Him, I don't feel Him", not knowing that it was the devil whispering this thought into my ear. He was the one wanting me to doubt God and God's presence in my life. There was even more proof for the fact that God didn't love me anymore: people from the church didn't come to visit me, only in the beginning of this 15-week admission. What I didn't know was that they did want to come to visit me, but when they called to the ward, the nurses told them it was better not to, meaning I was - once again - in the isolation cell. So they were almost as desperate as I was. Still, this was sufficient proof for me: God doesn't love me anymore. He even withdraws the people from church from my life.
However, I was wrong. Afther the service yesterday, I talked to pastor Osei Bobie. I explained to him what had happened in the isolation room. He asked me if there were some people in my life I couldn't forgive. Indeed, I still have difficulties forgiving the people that isolated me, especially those in Belgium and especially one psychiatrist. See, the thing is, I was psychotic, yes, I heard those voices and saw those vivid images in front of my eyes, but still, I was aware of what was happening. That's the reason I fought back, that's the reason I went completely crazy and I screamed. We prayed together for forgiveness - I'd like to be able to forgive those people the same way God forgave me when I became a christian.
I stood eye to eye with the devil in the isolation cell, not knowing it was he who crossed my path. I thought it were my own thoughts, but it were the thoughts of the devil. Of course God was there with me, He was right there, on my side, and probably he was trying to comfort me. Maybe He was the one who made sure I almost always slept well in the isolation cell, with few if any exceptions. Maybe He was the one who put some people among the nurses who showed that they didn't want this, and that they really wanted to help me. Maybe He was the one who arranged so many things that made this turning back home possible. In any case, He was there, unmistakably.
Many things are changing in my life these days. I'm doing voluntary work. I have two clients now who are adults unable to read or write. I see this as a challenge, to teach them how to read and write. Furthermore, I teach English to a Brazilian woman and Spanish to a Dutch woman. I go running three times a week, Start to Run with Evy Gruyaert, I go to the Leiden Observatory every Monday, I go to church every Sunday morning, I'm picking up karate within less than two weeks. That'll be on Wednesday evenings and later on, when I have some experience, also on Sunday evenings. So I have a busy schedule. I still have appointments with nurses and my psychiatrist, and I want to pick up individual creative therapy again. Also, I'm looking into the case of PGB (PersoonsGebonden Budget in Dutch, don't ask me how to translate this into English, but it means that you get some money from the municipality, and you use this amount of money to buy your own health care, a nurse for example with whom you go swimming or working out in the gym or just have a nice chat or... whatever, as long as you can explain to the municipality why you need it). So this will more or less be my schedule:
Monday morning: 10.30-11.30: teaching
Monday afternoon: appointment with psychiatric nurse
Monday evening: 19.30: Leiden observatory
Tuesday afternoon: 13.00-15.00: teaching
Tuesday: running, in the morning or the afternoon, depending on the weather
Wednesday morning: appointment with psychiatrist
Wednesday afternoon: 13.00-15.00: teaching
Wednesday evening: 19.15-21.15: karate
Thurday afternoon: 13.00-14.30: teaching
Thursday: running, in the morning or the afternoon, depending on the weather
Friday: FREE, time to study, read, watch TV, prepare classes if needed
Saturday: prepare classes, receive family, sometimes go to church in the evening
Sunday morning: 11.00: Church
Sunday afternoon: running
Sunday evening: 19.15-21.15: karate
Quite busy, right? Will there be any time left to blog? ;)
No, I'm not learning Italian. I think I have enough keeping up with Dutch, English, Spanish, French and Brazilian Portuguese. Still, I'm considering Catalan, as I'm a huge - as in enormous - Barça fanatic (if you didn't already know). However, I haven't found a good self-study guide for Catalan yet, so any suggestions are welcome!
No, it's just that... where's the winter? I mean, two years ago, in 2012, there was no summer, and in 2013-2014 there hasn't been an inch of snow, at least not in Belgium and the Netherlands. I especially bought those expensive Timberland waterproof boots so I could walk in the snow, and make angels in the snow, like we used to do, but... where's the snow? Where's the frost? Yes, it's cold, but more like in autumn, not like in winter. No ice-skating for the kids this year like in earlier years, when here in Leiden the canals were completely frozen and children were outside all day skating on the ice. Two years ago, we even used to have terraces on the ice, where you could enjoy your cup of coffee or tea or a hot chocolate...
A very good friend of mine - you know who you are, A. - once explained something to me about the seasons. I can't remember his theory anymore, but it was a really good one. You had something like autumn and pre-autumn and post-autumn or pre-summer, summer and post-summer. Maybe he can explain it better in a comment, because I regret I forgot the theory, especially because it sounded so good.
It's almost spring! Here in Leiden, the crocuses are already in full bloom. There are some precious places in the parks of Leiden, I should have taken pictures. It looks more or less like this, a picture from 2012. If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to take some pictures and post them here.
In any case, I want to make proper use of this soft climate. I want to pick up running again. The start-to-run method by Evy Gruyaerts is just the best! It will help me to become fit again, because I still have plans to pick up karate. In April there's the possibility to try it out, so I'm looking forward to it. But first, become fit again. I hope the weather stays as it was today, because - I don't know how it is on the other side of the world - hello there Australia, hello there Chile, hello there Siberia! - but today was one of those days on which you have to find an excuse to be outside. I found my excuse, oh boy I did! So I went outside, yes I did! And I hope tomorrow will be as awesome as today, I hope the Lord grants us another beautiful pre-spring day. Then I'll go and make those pictures I promised you before.
Tomorrow is also a special day in another sense. Not really for me, because I'm not a Catholic anymore, but it's Ash Wednesday. What is important, though, is that we're only 40 days away from Easter, and once I received a gift book from a friend of mine with the following title: "40 days to discovering the real you. Learning to live authentically. Companion to the 40 day soul fast." I hope I'll be able to fill in the tasks every day and to read the bible scripture every day. It would be a great achievement.
As for now, I'm almost two weeks at home, recovering from a 15 weeks' stay at the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital. I'm writing my book (in Dutch) and I only now notice I'm already at 215 pages, so it's time to finish the story. It will have an open ending, because suppose the book sells well, I will write a sequel. Promised. I can already give away a few more things. The title will be: "Ik, Timothy. Zin en waanzin." (I, Timothy. Sense and frenzy). I will write as D.P. Mahieu, thereby using my true name. A very good friend of mine - the same from the weather theory - has been building and rebuilding my name into anagrams and pseudonyms, but eventually I decided to be as authentic as possible. Sorry for all the unnecessary work, but we had a great time and a good laugh at what you produced, A.! Allow me to reproduce a few suggestions A. made:
- Phileia Ebubumadea
- Dilma Hebbe Uupaei
- Dorina Priscilla Manta
- Dunya Perez Mendez
Well, we had a great time :) But let's keep things simple: D.P. Mahieu. I know it's a risk to give away my surname on my blog, but luckily I'm not the only Mahieu on planet Earth. Our family is quite big, in fact, so that's great.
But let me turn back to my being and my health. I'm feeling quite well. I have Intensive Home Treatment once or sometimes even twice a day, and it works. Only last Saturday I was in a crisis again. Luckily I could stay as calm as possible (what do you want, with 90 milligrams of Tranxene in your blood?!) and everything turned out well. I was on the other closed ward, and I was afraid they were going to admit me to the closed ward again, but they didn't notice any acting-out behaviour, which is what saved me. I constantly received images of me destroying the closed door. If I'd done that, I'd certainly not be writing from this place, called home, right now. Luckily, the Lord took care of it, and on Sunday I was my good old self again. I even got a surprise. A guy from the closed ward could come to church! He had received the freedom to come. I was so happy, not only for him, but it was also good to see him back!
So people, you got yourself a little update. Off to my book now! Love you all!
