time Archives - Miranda van den Heuvel

Opinion

Miranda2022-11-12T23:49:29+02:00October 2nd, 2022|

It started around the time when the pandemic began. So many things were new, unsure, frightening. Everyone had an opinion. So did I. Or so I thought. It seemed to be a solid opinion. Until it started to sway. Doubts, friends' opinions, news, fear. All of it seemed to influence my opinion. And I found it quite stressful to have it change on me almost daily. So for a while I decided not to have an opinion and just follow the given. It was so freeing. It did require to not engage into conversation [...]

The problem is, you think you have time.

Miranda2022-06-30T10:18:34+02:00July 4th, 2022|

The problem is, you think you have time. I have quite some time on my hand at the moment as I'm on sick leave, recovering from 2 surgeries in 1 month and resting up for what is to come in the next four weeks. Time is tricky. Sometimes it passes fast. Sometimes it slows down to a halt. I always liked to organize my time and plan. But when time and plans get thrown overboard a little, that's when time shows its real face. Time is a matter of perspective. When you're young you want it to move faste [...]

7 seconds

Miranda2021-04-30T09:45:16+02:00April 30th, 2021|

The other day I was on a call with my coach (yes, coaches get coached too) and she was commending me for just rolling with things and making decisions rapidly, instead of overthinking and procrastinating. How is it that in certain areas of our life we have absolutely no problem with making decisions and just 'rolling with things' and in other areas, we can totally overthink things? Sound familiar? In The Hagakure, a book of Samurai principles, it is suggested that you should make a decision in t [...]

How balanced are you?

Miranda2022-05-31T14:01:49+02:00December 18th, 2020|

Balance is the new buzzword. It's the state we all long to be in. For years now, we have been hearing that a work life balance is important for our well-being. That we can't just work-work-work because we need to play in order to stay sane. And that we can't just play all the time, because there is rent to pay. But what does work life balance really mean? From my experience there is no right answer here. Because my work life balance may look terrifying to you and I might not like the way you ha [...]

Your Life: a soundtrack

Miranda2022-05-31T15:47:23+02:00July 31st, 2020|

Music is the soundtrack of your life. – Dick Clark The other day, I was sitting on my couch having a glass of wine with a friend. We were talking about music and she mentioned Nirvana. All of a sudden I had this weird time warp experience. I was transported back to the early 90ies, to a room in the McNair barracks in Berlin. I was dating a very kind but wrong for me G.I. and spent many weekends in Berlin listening to ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’, drinking too much Jack Daniels and eating Ruffles w [...]

Can money buy happiness?

Miranda2022-06-01T11:04:17+02:00May 8th, 2020|

Remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait for school to start? Or summer vacation? Or your birthday? Or Christmas Day? You felt butterflies in your stomach. You couldn't sleep at night. You talked about it all the time. You kept asking your parents how many more nights there were to sleep before it was finally there. All this anticipation is half the fun as they say, although you didn't understand it back then of course! And even as adults, we don't often consider anticipation as half [...]

A comfortable margin

Miranda2022-06-01T11:25:49+02:00March 13th, 2020|

My friends say that I am well organised. That I like to plan ahead - way ahead! They also call me punctual. I call that 'having a comfortable margin'. I don't like stress (who does?). So I plan. I ask myself: what do I need to do or put in place so I don't get stressed? Leave 10 minutes earlier for example. Sometimes that gets me to my appointment 10 minutes earlier (which allows me to have a coffee or revise the topic of my meeting), sometimes traffic is bad or something else happens and I'm j [...]