my 2021, the year that

•        I turned 51
•        The days seemed to fly by (or does it really speed up as you get older?)
•        I came to the conclusion that I could talk about 'the past' and could refer to my own experiences and sometimes still felt old
•        Our Emma, Anke, Femke and Nina blew out 21, 20, 16 and 45 candles and me and Nina have been sharing our lives for 26 years now
•        Our dishwasher gave up and I discovered that washing dishes together was actually nice
•        Our tomcat still enjoyed life to the full
•        Femke has had a boyfriend for over a year and I loved seeing how the two feel so good together (they are still togheter)
•        Our Anke enjoyed her freedom and the Antwerp nightlife
•        Emma started her last year of art and culture mediation
•        I saw how Emma, Anke and Femke got through the past corona measures quite nicely

 

•        I went back to work full-time after 11 months of inactivity
•        I felt completely at home working for the Antwerp youth service
•        I mostly worked from home….and didn't mind at all. Although I noticed at the same time that every now and then real contacts turned out to be necessary
•        I was able to look inside many people’s interior via zoom
•        I hesitated between working full-time with a full salary or working four fifths and a few hundred euros less per month… it became full-time work
•        I came to the conclusion that I can retire in 10 years and didn't mind that idea at all (secretly I'm already looking forward to it, which doesn't mean I'm counting down now)

 

•        I still got overstimulated several times
•        I almost didn't need my personalized hypnosis therapy session...but I meditated briefly almost daily
•        I regularly came to the conclusion that I actually have everything I need…unless a little more income…because life kept getting more expensive
•        My 'other specified psychotrauma- or stress-related disorder & compulsive personality disorder' was more in the background
•        I regularly came to the conclusion that daily living in a family at times seemed like an assignment (but at the same time realized that I certainly cannot do without them)
•        At times I was jealous of people who seemed to go through life carefree

 

•        I greatly enjoyed Nomadland and Dune
•        I binge watched Squid Game
•        I rediscovered the 7th day (it’s a current affairs program, every Sunday on TV)
•       I discovered The Walking Dead
•        I saw at times that male studio guests and Ivan De Vadder (the host of this weekly current affairs program, every Friday on TV) behaved really cocky when female politicians participated

 

•        Hamilton became F1 world champion for the 8th time
•        Verstappen did receive a very nice gift from FIA
•        I enjoyed F1 a lot more, looking forward to the new season

 

•        I was in physical pain every day and my family doctor told me not to think about that and it would pass (not so)
•         I did not undergo such fine cardiological examinations
•        I was told I have a sports heart and that I have the cleanest artery the doctor had seen in weeks
•        I kept moving: cycling, walking, on the cross trainer, yoga, daily workouts and sometimes vacuuming, ...
•        My osteopath managed to relieve the pain to a great extent and the shoulder specialist discovered where the pain comes from (and that not thinking about it is not the right treatment)
•        Tanja had to say goodbye to a very fascinating and loving life way too young

 

•        It remained a challenge to make enough time for the many hobbies
•         I took a portrait writing course… but didn't find enough time to write portraits
•         I experimented with baking cheesecake
•         I still found some time to discover some museums with the museum pass
•         I almost bought a ticket to the Coldplay concert
•         Every now and then I came to the conclusion that I found drawing soothing…
•         and had no problem sharing my 'drawing skills' online, but also found too little time for this
•         I could enjoy delicious Brussels waffles in the Antwerp Zoo without feeling guilty
•         I went to a hotel in my own city a few times to activate Ucoins
•         I kept dreaming of a bike ride to Malmö and back
•         I enjoyed a bike ride Hoboken – Temse – Dendermonde – Mechelen – Mortsel – Hoboken
•         Listened to music for 27,277 minutes with Spotify and had 163 active Strava days
•         I found a very peaceful place somewhere between Lier and Kessel
•         I finally got to the Zoniën Forest and walked a blissful 20 km
•         I cycled to Bergen op Zoom (and back)
•         I didn't get to Brussels & Ostend enough
•         I regularly enjoyed the Flemish landscape while cycling and walking
•         I discovered Borgerhub
•         I kept walking out of the bookstore with books that were too serious
•         The nice correspondence with Bob continued and a few other people received a letter from me
•        Saw the stack of books to read grow
•         I still felt hesitant to ask people if I could interview them to write a portrait of them

 

•       'freedom' increasingly became an empty container concept (do you use this saying?) and at no time I felt that I wasn’t  free, there was still so much we could do (although I realized that it was certainly not an obvious period for young people)
•         I found out that the promise that the liberalization of the gas and electricity market would be better for consumers didn't really work, our monthly bill went up by €100 (basically everything they liberalized over the last 20 years became more expensive and deteriorated in quality)
•         Every day I discovered even more how 'our' neoliberal model of society further destroys everything
•         The media continued to undermine its own credibility and existence through sensationalism and breaking urges, thereby convincing people that they only deliver fake news after all.
•         I looked in amazement at a section of humanity and became more convinced that much of their brain is no bigger than an amoeba's (which they probably can't help)
•         'our' mayor thought the health of 'his' citizens was less important than Dutch people who came to spend money in our city, despite the lockdown in the Netherlands, which meant that the Dutch had to stay at home.
•         I was amazed to see how the housing market was transformed more into an investment market… and I was still happy about the fact that we decided years ago to buy our own house (although it still weighed heavily on our monthly budget)
•         I continued to participate in the climate march

 

All in all, it was certainly not a bad year… on to 2022!