Inspiration

The 1-2-3-4 ups and downs that make me feel alive!

10 September 2024 by Nicole Loeffen

1 great holliday love, my prince next to the white horse, whom I met when I was 18 in Lipica (Slovenia) where I came to ride the white stallions he cared for at his stable. My prince has been struggling with severe residual symptoms of a spinal cord infarction since 2022, so we can only keep our spi...

Continue

Without any shame for being happy

13 April 2024 by Nicole Loeffen

Tears of happiness and sadness battle with each other, washing my hay fever eyes clean. Richly the opposing emotions and fragments of thoughts flow through my head and body. Floating along on this, I write down freely everything that comes into my mind and goes through my mind, until the words on pa...

Continue

Don't let anyone make you feel smaller than you are!

12 February 2024 by Nicole Loeffen

Don't let anyone make you feel smaller than you are! That sounds logical but doesn't always work in practice. In this personal story I take you through three work situations in which the other saw me as smaller than I was, and I tell you how I dealt with this in order to be seen as full. ...

Continue

Backstage or in the spotlight?

8 December 2023 by Nicole Loeffen

'So, that one is coming in,' he says and then there remains a long but pleasant silence. He is visibly impressed by his own discovery and is still searching for words. We've only known each other for half an hour online but I sense connection. For me it is Friday afternoon and I do have ...

Continue

Bucket list or career switch?

2 November 2023 by Nicole Loeffen

'Sounds like an exciting concept,' said Jelte in April during the 'Release the book in yourself' workshop as we stood together in the hallway leaning against a wall and sparring over my idea. That was the final boost I needed, I was unstoppable! The adventure began the very next w...

Continue

'No one can only be strong,' is that true?

22 June 2023 by Nicole Loeffen

'This is so frustrating. Apparently others only see me as strong and confident and don't believe me when I show my deepest vulnerability.' I am chatting with my trainer Robin after his boxing workshop, in which I fought mostly against the fears of my past.  Everyone was looking f...

Continue

Happiness in a strawberry

31 May 2023 by Nicole Loeffen

Somewhere halfway between the 200 meters from Nes 71 - the most delicious and cozy coffee shop in Haarlem and the surrounding area - and our house, I pause for a moment. With a fresh latte macchiato to go in my hand, I am on my way home on this Sunday morning to start writing my book - which is a...

Continue

Letting go more, how (to do this)?

28 April 2023 by Nicole Loeffen

'When I read your biography you have done so much already,' Anne my coach says gently to me. She bends down a little and I look into her big eyes, in which I read warmth and compassion. We both hear the murmur of the rest of the group in the training room, but time seems to stand still fo...

Continue

An ambulance in a traffic jam of pleasant things is not nice!

28 March 2023 by Nicole Loeffen

Oops, at the thought of you and many others reading this soon my heart rate shoots up. It's exciting to write this stuff down like this, and yet I do it anyway, because I'm sure I'm not the only one "stuck in a traffic jam," and also that a good number of you want to think with...

Continue

What I can't always say immediately but still want to

26 February 2023 by Nicole Loeffen

'Do you see any differences with other management teams?' the CEO says as he walks up to me and looks at me with an expression that seeks confirmation. Meanwhile, the management team writes and scribbles happily on whiteboards on the wall, together creating a unifying change story to tell ea...

Continue