Jan 2024 — time for my 9th Year-in-Review — as always, I’ll go by the alphabet.
Aqua — After not having been at the sports school since it closed its doors due to Corona, I finally felt like it was time for yoga & co again. A week after I learned that my yoga teacher no longer practiced at the studio, I used to go to, I was in the pool, swimming rows. It felt so good, so effortless, that I decided to get a rather exclusive gym subscription at the Mediteranna. It’s much more than a gym, it has fifteen saunas, a thermal bath area, great courses, and more. There are lots of older people at the gym and it’s inspiring how fit they are. Probably the best decision I made in 2023. Investing in yourself and in your health is always a good idea.
A healthy mind, a healthy body and a guilty conscience are the three best companions ;-)
Berlin — In March we were visiting my mom, and having lunch or dinner, and somehow spoke about Berlin. My mom called out, “I’ve never been to Berlin”, to which my daughter immediately responded with, “Me neither”. This led me to add: “Then let’s go visit Berlin!” We planned a trip for June, but as we all know, sometimes life interferes with your plans. On May 27th my mom‘s heart managed to beat more than 200 times a minute for more than an hour. That evening she sent me a WhatsApp message:
“I was taken to the hospital in Terneuzen by ambulance with sirens. I can retell it again. I’ll know more tomorrow.”
That hot and sunny afternoon, she had opened an exhibition after which she felt unwell. She lives in a rural area, it took the ambulance more than twenty minutes to arrive and more problematically, the driver was alone. He was able to offer care on the spot, but he could not treat the patient and drive at the same time. So he ordered a second ambulance, which had to come from what we call “the other side of the water”. Nowadays, there is a tunnel under the Schelde, which separates West Zeeuws Vlaanderen from the rest of the Netherlands. Yet, it still takes more than half an hour, for a vehicle to get from one side to the other. All the while, my mom is breathing, and breathing, and with the help of the paramedic, slowly managing to get her heartbeat back to normal again. It was a miracle that she survived. Instead of our trip to Berlin, we went to pick up my mom at the hospital in Eindhoven to bring her back home after surgery and getting an ICD.
I could write a lot more but I’m a sucker for good news, so let me tell you, in December of 2023, we planned another trip to Berlin. We spend the days right before Christmas in a cozy hotel in Berlin Mitte. We went to see the Dali immersive exhibition, which was fantastic. We had breakfast in the “Reichstagsgebaude”, which is an incredible building and the breakfast was more than yummy. All the food, we had those days, was magnificent. On our last evening, we went to the “Friedrichstadtpalast”, one of the world's largest stages, and saw a wonderful, colourful musical, with costumes designed by Jean Paul Gautier. On the morning of Christmas Eve, we drove by the Berlin Wall and thought about death and life, and the reunification, and about how lucky we were to be able to go on this little road trip together.
The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed. — Eminem
Chat GPT — 2023 was the year, where AI went mainstream. I used Chat GPT to write a press release, which I did however not manage to send out. Nevertheless, it was a truly enjoyable experience, communicating with “someone” so patient and willing to cooperate and assist me. There were several more occasions, where I consulted “my personal 24/7 assistant”, and also at work, we are more and more using the benefits of Artificial Intelligence. The future is here and I’m on the exciting end of the spectrum when comes down to what these new technologies may bring to the world.
Everything that civilisation has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools that AI may provide, but the eradication of war, disease, and poverty would be high on anyone’s list. Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last. — Stephen Hawking
Driving License — My little girl has grown up, she has her driving license now, a boyfriend, and big plans to travel to Asia when she finishes school. She beat her older brother to the game again, he’s still taking driving classes. Let’s see when he can drive me around rather than me driving him ;-)
For sure it was great to be able to switch the driving seat with my girl on the way to Berlin. The weather wasn’t exactly nice and the drive from Cologne to Berlin takes 6–7 hours, so I was pretty glad, to share the steering wheel. In the beginning, it was odd to sit in the passenger seat, and I did my fair share of cry outs, but I’m getting better at having faith in her driving and assessment skills.
The great paradox of parenting is that it moves in both slow motion and fast speed.
eBike — In January 2023, I took the opportunity to lease a business bike. Which I didn’t use at all last year. However, it did get used daily. We live in “Bergisch Gladbach”, where it goes up and downhill all the time, so my daughter was more than delighted.
You can’t lease happiness, but you can lease someone an electric bike (and that’s pretty close).
France — During the summer vacation we went to France and had a most wonderful stay at a gorgeous bed and breakfast in a small village across from Grenoble. There was a pool just for us, surrounded by several places to sit either in the shade or in the sun at any time of the day. The house was only a few steps away from the harbour, where we could use a raft and where the dog was allowed to swim. In short: a dream place. I went with Maja to Grenoble for a shopping afternoon but beyond that, we did not do any trips, there was no need to. When you are, exactly, where you want to be, why go anywhere else? The second week, we stayed only about an hour’s drive up the coast, in a fancy apartment right at a sandy beach. Another wonderful stay. I especially appreciated the local market, which I supported wholeheartedly ;-) Our last summer vacation with teenage kids was a full success and I’m more than thankful for having such a wonderful family and the means to go on a trip like this. Not taking it for granted.
The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and all the memories we’ve made along the way.
Glühwein Get-together — In December, we rather spontaneously planned a Glühwein Event in our street, we decorated the garage of one of our neigbours, put a pavilion in front of it and several standing tables. We bought thirty liters of Glühwein, some punch, and put up flyers telling everyone to bring mugs & friends. All proceeds going to Moms Needing Help. We had no idea how many people would be coming, but we did know we have a great street so it wasn’t all that surprising that the turnout was fantastic. In a last-minute spur, we decided to get a barbecue out and also grill some sausages. More and more people showed up and all too soon we had only a few litters of Glühwein left. Someone drove to the local grocery store and purchased more bottles, someone else came with home-baked cookies and soon also crates of beer were coming out of other garages. We ended up collecting nearly 1.000 Euros and decided this event was to be repeated.
Nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbor’s noisy party than being there. — Franklin P Jones
Helping Becks — I’m part of a group called “Being Global in Bergisch Gladbach”. It’s an incredibly active group with very little formal organisation and I love being part of it. One of the ladies in our group had to get her house ready for sale, yet with two small children and health issues, it was near to impossible, to get the house prepped for making real estate photos. It only required one call for help and a dozen ladies showed up to make the impossible to possible and by late afternoon we were all set. After sorting through the pictures, we ended up with more than forty awesome images showing a beautiful lofty house with a huge garden. It was a true team effort and it was fun! It made me realise how important it is, to ask for help when one needs it because you’re not putting a burden on others but more so, you’re giving them an opportunity to help.
He who sows a flower for others will blossom himself
ICD — After my mom’s surgery, she had doubts about whether it was wise at all to get an ICD. She did ask the doctor if she really needed one. Though, she asked him in an almost funny way, as the devise is costly and she wanted to know whether the price of the operation should be spent on an old woman like her. The doctor brushed off her concerns with a smile and smirk. The ICD was undoubtedly the suggested path forward. Between her heart attack and the ICD placement, she was hospitalised for a bit more than a week. During this week, she was doing rather well. She was a bit bored but physically fit. She even started doing exercises when “Holland Moves” was on TV. After the surgery, she felt weakened and the feeling of a l“machine” in her chest was bothering her. Her doubts increased by the day. In the end, what an ICD does is, it detects heartbeat irregularities and if needed the ICD delivers electroshocks. She said to me, who knows, what the next heart failure will do to me. Perhaps I don’t want to “escape it”. I’m a rather practical person, so at that moment, all I could respond was: “Well, it’s in there now. It doesn’t make sense to do another surgery to take it back out. There’s no other way than moving forward. Too late for doubts now.” Still, I could fully understand her considerations. She is simply not afraid of dying. There are not so many people I know, who aren’t afraid of death. That’s why I want to capture this here. It might be one of the most important things she has passed on to me. She has nothing left on her bucket list, even though she has loads of things, she would still like to do. In quintessence, she’s neither afraid of living nor of dying. I do think this is the best recipe for living a full life. In 2023, I got her a subscription to Storyworth, where she gets a question every week. Her answers are shared with us instantly and this year, we will gather them in a book. I am looking forward to seeing this piece of work, full of life nuggets, come together.
Life is eternal, and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. — Rossiter Worthington Raymond
Jane Austen — One of my “tiny little joys Products”, that did unexpectedly well last November was my Advent-calendar, with 24 stars with each containing a quote from a famous author. In the description it says, customers can reach out to me, when they have a favourite author, whom I don’t yet have a version for. One customer requested a Jane Austen Version so I started searching the web and found some lovely Jane Austen quotes. In 2023, more than ten new products were added to the store including a lovely postcard set, from women for women. Comes in very handy, I’ve used it several times already. Creating new products is one of my favourite tasks.
A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.— Elizabeth Gilbert
KOR Academy — Another request I truly enjoyed getting was a larger order of 200 sachets of stars for a coaching business called “KOR Academy”. The stars contained German and English inspirational sentences and for the first time, I matched the corporate colours. This meant changing the way the stars were produced and I was very pleased to see it worked out as planned. Scaling that process for all other star sachets hasn't entirely worked out yet but it’s being worked on as we speak and I hope early 2024, I’ll be able to make some changes that will improve the creation process significantly. It is still a very manual process with various steps along the way and for many of those steps, I’m the bottleneck, which is far from ideal. So goal for 2024 is to make the process more scalable and perhaps get some more business orders. If anyone is interested in hand-made customized unique little giveaways, let me know 🌟
If you can’t scale, you can’t scrum. — Gereon Hermkes
Last times — I read somewhere that one never knows when it will be the last time one does something. The last time your child wants you to tell a bedtime story, the last time you hug your father or mother, the last time you go to the disco with friends. When we were skiing last year, we did all realise, this was the last ski vacation in Serfaus, with the family, we’ve spent our easter vacations with since 2016. When children finish school, big changes are ahead. Decisions on what to do next, traveling, working, internships, what to study, where to live. It’s all coming sooner than one can imagine. But I’m running ahead and there’s no need for that. We had a most wonderful ski week, with lots of snow and sunshine, with great apple strudel, with beautiful walks, and with evenings with fun games and lots of laughter.
Life is a collection of moments; some remembered, some forgotten, some treasured forever.
Marzena & Pino — Marzena is a lady that lives in our neighbourhood. She has a dog called Pino. We met before once in a while when we were outside on our dog walks. This year, their fence got damaged, and when we walked by their garden Hazel and Pino wanted to play together. So we were invited into the garden and from then on it was clear that Hazel loved everything about the garden, the house, the dog but most of all about Marzena. Every time Hazel sees Marzena, her tail wags so fast and exciting, I can’t help but smile. She really really adores Marzena. Of course, it helps that Marzena has sauer milk and delicious home-cooked dog food ;-) So when I needed a place for Hazel to stay for half a day, I asked Marzena and since then we have been able to exchange the favor. Pino does not quite love me the way Hazel loves Marzena but that’s okay. It surely feels good to leave your dog with someone, where she instantly feels right at home.
If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then give him only two of them. — Phil Pastoret
News — It was hard in 2023 to watch or read the news. The Ukraine War is nowhere near to finding its end and the terror in Gaza seemed to top it all. No matter how many good humans there are, there are always a few horrible ones, that seem to be able to empower so much evil, that one can only feel miserable, and close to losing faith in mankind. Yet, we cannot lose faith. I find it quite easy to keep my intake of news to a bare minimum, yet I don’t want to be the kind of person who looks away and ignores. It is not easy to understand what to do and where and how one can make any kind of difference. In 2022, I tried hard to do good. In 2023, perhaps I might not have done enough. But I’m not a fan of being hard on oneself. It’s of no benefit to anyone. It’s just a thought or more a feeling to remember going into 2024.
Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow. It has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it. — Shakti Gawain
Reading these words, reminded me, that sometimes it’s simply not our duty to try and fight evil, but more to add to the light. I think I did that in 2023.
Outdoor Office — In June 2023, it was already so hot, that I decided to create an outdoor office in my garden. I found an extra PC Screen in our cellar, and still had a spare keyboard and docking station and managed to create a space with enough shade to see properly. This way I could find the best spot to sit during the day but just plugging in my laptop either upstairs or in the garden. It made work taste like summer and freedom and I felt blessed.
Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don’t collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything. — Norman Lear
Predictive Analytics — More work fun. I love data and we have a lot of data. The past year, we worked together with a partner to dive even deeper into our data sets, and through predictive analytics, we were able to cluster customers in new and exciting ways. Simultaneously, we were able to add a few rudimentary workflows to use some of the data points and show that acting upon them can be seriously lucrative. There is nothing like seeing things come together in meaningful ways. We still have lots of improvement areas but we can also be very proud of the work that is getting done.
The most important questions of life are indeed, for the most part, really only problems of probability. — Pierre-Simon Laplace
Quality of Life — The World Health Organization defines Quality of Life as an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. I turned 48 in 2023. The average lifespan of my generation is about 4.000 Weeks, which means I am at 62% already. Of course, I could just as well be at 99% and be blissfully unaware of it. No matter what the real percentage is, if I were to die tomorrow, I’m good with how I used my time. I’ve been blessed by life in countless ways and there are times were I’m unsure how to adequately “repay” for those blessings. But does such a thing exist at all?
In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices. — Elizabeth Gilbert
Recovery—On the 2nd of March, when I checked my Covid Test, it was the first time it had two dashes. And oh boy, did it hit me. It took me months to properly recover. Then again, surely other people have been worse off. I didn’t need to go to the hospital or anything. I just struggled with breathing and my energy levels pretty badly. It wasn’t until the end of July, that I suddenly started to get notices from my Apple Watch that my respiratory rate, cardio recovery, breathing rhythm at night, etc. were improving significantly. Odd to realise, all the metrics these wristbands can measure. I was thankful though to be able to read during this time. My lunges are my weak spot, since childhood, but I sure would not want to trade with anyone suffering from headaches.
Imprisonment of the body is bitter; imprisonment of the mind is worse.―Thornton Wilder
Story Telling Contest — Early last year, I met up with my mom in Arnhem, where she participated in a Story Telling Contest. She told a story about the dream of a mermaid. The story was inspired by my sister Muriel, whose name means “She, who sparkles like the sea”. My mom is a fabulous storyteller and it was a true joy to be there and see her perform. She didn’t win—the other participants were outstanding too and some of them simply more experienced— but what I found most impressive was her willingness, or better put, her eagerness, to learn what she could improve. Many people pretend they want feedback when really all they want to hear is praise. She was different, she craved honest, helpful feedback. I want to be like that when I am seventy-plus years old!
From the sadness, learn something; from the happiness, learn something. From the setback, learn something and even from the success learn something. Never stop learning from any situation in life, for that is where the wisdom lies.― Gift Gugu Mona
Tapas — Every third Thursday of the month is reserved for Tapas with the Being Global in Bergisch Gladbach Group. In November, I was standing in this crowded room, full of happy loud conversations, when I learned that our Tapas evening coincided with Thanksgiving. We weren’t going to have turkey, but in the end, the most important part of Thanksgiving isn’t the turkey, but the celebrating together and saying thanks. So we toasted to each other and spontaneously went around the room saying our thank you’s and it was a lovely moment together. This group of such diverse personalities, I hold very dear.
Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse. ― Henry Van Dyke
Unsuccessful — In 2023, more than 1.600 people purchased tiny little joys products, thousands of stars were shipped, more than 33.000 euros in revenue were made. By now www.tinylittejoys.com has 900+ heartfelt five-star reviews. My great friend Vicky, joined the force just before the summer and took care of sending out 1.000+ packages, which relieved me of a lot of stress, especially in November. It all looked rosy! Yet, one crucial thing didn’t look good in 2023: the bottom line. The profit in 2023 was negative. No money was made. It was the first year the business needed to pay 19% VAT. On top, Etsy increased its fees and at the same time made the discount coupons more prominent. I really should have seen this coming but after October did extremely well, I thought we were set up for a successful holiday season. When early December, I updated the P&L it was too late to make edits. It took me a while to digest but then I took a step back and thought about what success would need to look like. I made little cards with action items and grouped them into four categories: Must do, Ought to do, Want to do & Eager to do.
In the end, only one action item, made it into the “Eager to do”-bucket. I want to create a newsletter. Not so much with a marketing goal in mind but to create a more scalable way of sending hope and joy into the world. The goal for 2024 isn’t to scale sales but to scale impact.
Success isn’t always what it seems
Vinted & Adra — 2023 was my “Fashion Year”. I got rid of probably 90% of my closet and that felt good. Some of it landed at friends and the rest was donated to Adra, the second hand charity store. My closet was incredibly spacious for perhaps 2–3 months. Then I discovered Vinted, the second hand clothing app, and started to buy pretty much everything I fancied. At some point, I realised I had to get more specific. I booked a colour and style counseling session with Astrid. She is a true expert in the field and a coach for convincing presence. It was a joy to spend the afternoon finding my personal colour palette, which made my eyes and face light up. I knew blue was my thing but to be honest my closet was full of brown, and creme, and dark colours. Going through older pictures, I realised I dressed much brighter at a younger age. Why did I lose that along the way? After that style session, I shopped more consciously, more targeted, and a lot more colourful. I’m still in the process of going from clothes to outfits but for sure, I’ve received more compliments this year than ever before. It’s been a fun ride.
Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.— Marilyn Monroe
Wedding — It had been a while since we were invited to a wedding. It was a blessing to see the groom and bride radiate with love and happiness. It brought back fond memories of our own wedding day. Plus it got my husband on the dance floor, which doesn’t happen that frequently anymore.
Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
— Marcel Proust
X — The easiest would be to talk about Twitter becoming X but I haven’t been very active on Twitter the last few years so the whole Elon Musk thing kind of passed by me. For me, the X stands also for things I want to remember that happened during the year but since they involve other people, I can’t write about them as freely, as I can about the things that are just about me and my business. In the past year, there were two events, one concerning my husband and another one concerning a dear collegue. The first one got figured out — in hindsight—fairly quickly, nevertheless before it got resolved there were moments of intense despair. The part about my collegue, I’m still tapping into the dark. Remote work has a great many benefits, but it also means you never get the know your colleagues in the same way as you would when everyone would show up at work. Working together online means, you miss the subtle nuances of how a person is doing. In any case, I believe people, need people, to support them and I can only hope everyone has someone that has got their back.
Solitude vivifies; isolation kills. — Joseph Roux
Yummy — On to a lighter note. Food. I had so much yummy food in 2023. During our ski vacation, we had a delicious Tomahawk Steak. On several occasions, we had amazing Sushi. One weekend, we had planned a family brunch at a Mexican Restaurant, yet as we got there, we stood in front of a closed door (regardless of our reservation), lucky us, our second choice for brunch was right next door, and even luckier us, they still had a ten-person table. So we sat down at Wilma Wonder and had a marvelous brunch. I recall having baked eel and sole, which one can’t eat, any place better, than in the village I grew up in. I could go on a while more, especially about the food in Berlin, but you get the gist. For sure, it’s good, that I’m doing more sports 😂.
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. — J.R.R. Tolkien
Zamonien — For about 22 hours, I morphed into a world called Zamonien. An audiobook from Walter Moers, a famous German author. He’s a true wordsmith and I adore his craft, his books, his fantasy. ”The Island of a Thousand Lighthouses” is yet again a fantastic work of his.
A completly different book, that deeply moved me in 2023, was Wo vielleicht das Leben wartet (Where Perhaps Life Awaits), written by Gusel Jachina. The first sentence of the book introduction translates into A victory for humanity in a hopeless situation. I couldn’t summarise the book better. Towards the very end of the book, all the nicknames of the children, who arrive at the final destination, where perhaps life awaits, are read out aloud. It takes perhaps ten minutes long, nickname after nickname, the entire story passes by one more time, and even when the story has long ended, these names continue to live on.
Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it. —Lloyd Alexander
