Last week was all about letting go for me. Last Wednesday, despite the official farewell party being last month, was my last working day at Weleda. So handing in keys, laptop, cards and car. It all felt very final and of course it is. Why do we generally have such a hard time letting go? Letting go For nine months I have known that this day was coming. I have not regretted that decision for a single day and yet... Last weekend I gave Kelly's family a tour of the building and the garden. When I talk about Weleda later, they will at least have an image of it. Why is letting go so hard? This is exactly what I want, isn't it? Underneath the difficulty of letting go is a piece of fear. What if traveling is not our thing? Will I ever get such a good job again? Will I ever find an employer who is just as socially responsible? Can I leave my children and other family members behind? I now know what I have and I choose so much uncertainty, is that wise? Advertisement: The trees and the leaves The past few weeks I have of course been thinking about it a lot. Every day was all about transferring and final appointments and saying goodbye. And every time you think: I can let it go. But the funny thing is that the more you actively work on letting go, the more you actually hold on to it. In the sweat lodge (A sweat lodge ceremony is a ritual used by Native Americans in preparation for important events) they often talk about allowing it instead of letting go. Just like the trees in the fall. They really don't let go of their leaves. No, they allow the leaves to let go of the tree. If you allow it, you are not so tense about it. Of meaning If you are really deeply attached to something, whether it is a person or a job, then separation hurts. Of course you can trivialize this: No, it was just work or no, I always knew that we would break up one day. Or you can get angry: my partner is really a big &%# I never want to see him/her again or my manager was so &%# happy that I am gone. But if you do that, the time together has actually been pointless. Then you could have spent your time better somewhere else. If you separate lovingly and take your time to grieve, then the time together can become very meaningful. The time I worked at Weleda had a great positive influence on my personal development. "Letting go is not always necessary, letting go is usually enough" Future Now this all sounds very heavy but on the other hand a lot of responsibility has been lifted from my shoulders. Only when you have really stopped working do you feel how heavy that burden actually was. We are also now at the beginning of a fantastic adventure. For seven years I have been working on later. And what if you never make it to later? Now later has really started. Stopped working and at the end of this month, when Kelly has also stopped working, our big adventure that we have been looking forward to for so long will start. We are so looking forward to it. Bring on future, I will gladly allow those other things to let go of me. If you like to follow our experiences, sign up at the bottom of this page if you haven't already done so and you will receive, maximum 1x per week, an email when we have posted a new blog. Your email address will not be used for anything else than this! See you in the next blog!

They say that life is a party, but you have to hang the streamers yourself. For us, the streamers were hung last month. We had two parties to celebrate. 100th blog The first party is that this is our 100th blog. Wow, the hundredth! Two and a half years ago we started writing blogs about the conversion of our Globus. The entire conversion process was recorded to inspire other people and they could learn from our experiences. After all, we ourselves also scoured the entire internet for information. At the time, the blogs were clicked by about 100 to 200 people and now our blogs are read between 1,500 and 5,000 times. We are proud of this and we would like to thank everyone for following our stories! All blogs about the conversion can be found here . "A party creates a sense of community because you celebrate together" Party There was another party. Last Thursday was my farewell party at Weleda. They did not let that pass unnoticed. After 14 years and 7 months it is time for a new big step. During the annual Weleda summer party there was also attention for my departure. There were speeches by my boss from Switzerland, who had come over especially for this occasion and my colleague director. There were also nice presents such as a farewell book with contributions from all employees, new rims for Globus and special home-brewed Weleda Limoncello. All in the presence of my family and while enjoying delicious food and drinks, music and beautiful weather. What a great evening and a valuable memory for me. Rituals I have always taken the farewell of employees seriously when writing speeches and organizing receptions. Now I could experience firsthand how important they are. Herman van Dijn (philosopher) explains in his book ' Rituals. Why we can't do without them ' why rituals are so important in our lives. According to him, without rituals people have no natural or rational way to deal with major moments in life. Advertisement: Mourning The weekend after the party I was grumpy and I didn't really know why. I had just had such a great party and was still enjoying reading 'the farewell book'. Poor Kelly who had to suffer a bit because of my mood. Until I suddenly realized that this was mourning. Yes of course, I am going to do something wonderful, on a great adventure. At the same time I am also leaving something behind that I love. Weleda was "my" company. The role that I was allowed to play there also determined my identity to a large extent. Now that is gone and I am choosing an uncertain future. When I realized that and said it out loud, my grumpy mood disappeared almost immediately. It is okay for it all to hurt a little. If you like to follow our experiences, sign up at the bottom of this page if you haven't already done so and you will receive, maximum 1x per week, an email when we have posted a new blog. Your email address will not be used for anything else than this! See you in the next blog!

Anyone who has a camper knows that 'weight' is the crucial factor. Especially when, like me, you convert a bus into a campervan yourself, everything revolves around weight. Of course I kept accurate records of the costs incurred in Excel, but much more attention was paid to keeping track of the weight. After all, with all the trimmings, including a full water tank, myself and my girlfriend should not weigh more than 3,500 kg. That 3,500 kg may seem like a lot, but the bus itself already weighs 2,578 kg. Just over 900 kg for the installation, luggage and occupants. Below is a list of the heaviest parts I installed: These things alone account for 1/3 of the weight that I can install. I therefore used light poplar plywood to finish the ceiling and walls. "At my weight I should actually be 2 meters 10, but I can eat and eat whatever I want, I just can't get any taller" RDW At a certain point you have to have the bus converted into a camper. At least if you want to qualify for the affordable camper rate. During the inspection, Globus2, empty, weighed 3,200 kg. Well below the maximum. However, after approval I installed a lot of extra things such as the upper cabinets and various other small things. The cupboards also had to be filled with kitchen utensils, clothing, etc. Girlfriend The maximum weight of 3,500 kg includes the people inside. With a girlfriend that means an extra person, extra toothbrush, curling iron, brush, books, clothes, drinks, food, etc. etc. Now it is of course highly unkind to suggest that my girlfriend can be compared to a cow. That is by no means the case. In fact, my girlfriend weighs barely 65 kg, is nice and compact in size and therefore fits perfectly in Globus2. If anyone should lose weight, it's me. Let's hope she doesn't see this blog herself :-) Energy It can be quite a challenge with the two of us in such a small space. You could quickly get in each other's way and get in each other's way. Especially in winter when you spend a lot more time indoors. So far we have not had any problems with this. Okay, we haven't been together that long, but we can enjoy each other's energy very well. I also have enormous admiration for Kelly, as that cow... er, sorry friend is called, that she feels so at home in my Globus and does not feel confined at all. If you would like to follow my experiences, sign up at the bottom of this page, if you have not already done so, and you will receive a maximum of once per week, an email when I have posted a new blog. Your email address will not be used for anything other than this! I occasionally post affiliate links. This means that if you purchase a product via this link I will receive a small compensation. This way you support our way of life. See you next blog!

Globus2 is black, which I think is much nicer than a white refrigerator on wheels like most campers are. The question is whether this is very useful during sunny days. But all black might also be a bit boring. I regularly think about stickering my bus. I often see buses driving with those standard stickers on them. Stickers with mountains or a large compass. Tastes differ of course, but I personally don't like that. I would prefer something more original. I've been thinking for some time about sticking a self-made photo on the back of the bus. There is even a possible candidate already. I'm curious if you think this is a suitable record. Moose There are currently two small stickers on Globus2. A moose and a flower of life. The moose of course has everything to do with my beloved Scandinavia. The moose symbolizes that. Almost everyone who has been to Scandinavia with a camper has had one of these taped to their house. However, it was quite a job to find a white version, because of course a black sticker must be placed on all those white refrigerators. On Globus1 there was a white sticker of a polar bear. Bought at the time in Spitsbergen. If only I had bought two. I love polar bears. I have seen several "pacing things" in the bus; cuddly toys, t-shirts, socks, books. No matter what you think of it, it makes me feel like a polar bear, which sometimes leads to frowning eyebrows from my girlfriend... "Geometry will lead the soul to truth" Plato Flower of Life Since Globus2 went to Norway for a week this year, he also has another sticker on his butt, namely the flower of life. Entire books have been written about this figure. It is an ancient geometric symbol consisting of 19 circles that overlap each other. The circles symbolize creation. In addition, it represents unity and connection with all life in the universe. It is therefore seen as the blueprint of life. In addition to its spiritual meaning, it has a mathematical basis, such as the golden ratio and all mathematical forms can be found in it. An oh so seemingly simple symbol with a beautiful, profound meaning. Could that be why it might be called sacred geometry? If you would like to follow my experiences, sign up at the bottom of this page, if you have not already done so, and you will receive a maximum of once per week, an email when I have posted a new blog. Your email address will not be used for anything other than this! I occasionally post affiliate links. This means that if you purchase a product via this link I will receive a small compensation. This way you support our way of life. See you next blog!

I have been to Iceland several times, but never with Globus. This is on my wish list, but I really want to make time for it. The long crossing from Denmark and the trip to Iceland on the ring road take so long that the usual three weeks of holiday are far too short. Last month I was in Iceland, for season II of the outdoor trainer training. After I braved the cold in Sweden with the Arctic edition in February, it is now the turn of the 4x4 edition in Iceland. This time, Globus2 stayed in the parking lot of the campsite. In this blog you will find various pictures and the route we drove. "Life is like taking pictures, use the negative to bring out the positive" Route Let me start with the route. In Iceland you actually only have 1 real main road and that is the 1 also called the ring road. All roads in the interior are off-road and can only be accessed with a 4x4. In winter, almost all internal roads are closed and with good reason. We slept several nights in a teepee, in a cave or right outside under the stars. A good sleeping bag, a liner and a bivouac bag are of course essential. In addition to the well-known tourist spots such as Geysir and the Jökulsárlón glacial lake, we also visited many other beautiful places. It really is a fantastic journey where coaching, outdoor life and beautiful nature come together. The trip could not have been worse as we were able to see the northern lights in no less than three evenings. Now I have seen it several times, but never before have the northern lights moved so fast and we have been so surrounded by them. It was truly magical. I was of course very disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me. However, this trip was about coaching and not photography. Fortunately, today's smartphones can take very acceptable photos. Coaching I don't want to advertise too much here, but if you want to know more about this tour, you can find the information here: decoachingsreisvanjeleven.nl. For people For those who likes personal growth and likes an intense adventure, this is really a great opportunity! If you want to follow my experiences, sign up at the bottom of this page, if you haven't already, and you will receive a maximum of once a week, an email when I have posted a new blog. Your email address will not be used for anything other than this! I occasionally post affiliate links. This means that if you buy a product via this link I will receive a small compensation. In this way, you support our lifestyle. See you next blog!