My favourite animal is…

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What is your favorite animal?

This is a difficult question for me, because I have a lot of favourite animals. For now, dolphins made the top 1. I am fascinated how intelligent and social they are.

It would be a privilege to be able to spot a dolphin on the wild.

But mosts if not all animals are intelligent in their own way. Perhaps not in a cognitive way as humans are.

That is why, it is very important to be kind to animals. It is very important to acknowledge that humans are not at the centre of the ecosystem, but merely a part of it.

When we used to write letters

In what ways do you communicate online?

I consider myself lucky to be able to experience an era in which letter were exchanged as a way of communication. Writing letters is an excise I find quite stimulating and an experience I very much enjoyed.

When we write letters, we do not only communicate with the recipients of our letters, but we also communicate with ourselves. Through these writing exercise we learn to listen to the voice from within our conscious mind.

The digital world has drastically changed the way we communicate with each other. Communication has become swift these days. I usually send email, send message, share photographs or videos on social media. These are the ways I communicate online.

I do still remember the effort I exerted when trying to communicate my thoughts on paper, trying my best to make my handwriting legible. I will feel a sense of achievement as I seal the envelope and putting stamps on its upper right hand corner. And not to mention the excitement of anticipation for a reply to that letter and the joy of receiving one.

All of these are gone.

Road trips…

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

I had some memorable road trips in the past with a very special friend. Many years ago, we drove to Umbria, Italy and explored the place by car.

We also drove to the southern part of France, namely, the Pyrenees, to Prague, and Southern part of Germany.

We haven’t drove towards other countries for so many years now. I think we should do that again. Especially now that I have my own car.

In anycase, I am planning to have more road tips of my own in the coming years.

sushi cravings

What snack would you eat right now?

Sometimes, I just crave for sushi they way I do now. So I ordered a set.

I don’t do this often, because it is expensive. But I worked hard today. I gave my 100% this week. So, I deserve to reward myself.

The first few bites are delicious. But as soon as I started to get full, finishing the sushi set becomes a struggle.

Anyway, this is my way of closing the week and welcoming the weekend!

Weekend for sale

Come up with a crazy business idea.

Here is a crazy business idea for you: A van driving around selling day-offs, so that you can have a longer weekend. It is like a food truck, but instead of food, I am selling freedom.

It is almost weekend and weekend is just too short. Before you know it, monday has just begun.

Would you buy extra weekend from my van, so that you could enjoy your weekend a little bit longer with your friends and family? You can have a long weekend any day of the week!

My fountain pen

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

As a youth, I did not have something I was incredibly attached with. I was not easy attached back then. Yes I have a lot of interests on a given time, but they changed like the Dutch weather. And i think it is a good thing.

But I have something that I am quite attached now as a grown man. And that is my fountain pen. I bought this fountain pen as a gift for myself in 2015. It is quite expensive. At least for a pen.

I am so attached to this object, so much so, that this pen does not leave the house. I am worried that it I might lose it. I had already lost a fountain pen before and that was quite upsetting.

Keeping a journal is an integral part of my routine. I write so that I could hear myself think. Writing is my way of communicating with myself. And I enjoy it so much, using my fountain pen.

To do my best in whatever I do

What is your mission?

My mission in life is quite simple: to do my best in whatever I do.

In everything I do, whether it be my tasks at work or just cleaning my house, I do it properly. It is almost a compulsion.

If one will not perform one’s task properly, then there is not sense of doing it in the first place. When I am doing something, I try to focus my full attention to it. And while I am at it, I might as well do my very best.

In his book entitled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi argues that we are most happy in life when we are able to attain the state of flow. That is: when we are in our flow or in our element because we are so focused in whatever we are doing.

Living a long life is an achievement

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

For me, being able to live a long life is a phenomenal achievement. And I am really hoping that I will have a long , happy and healthy life like many people in my circle.

I know some people at work who have become sick and died way before their pension age. It is so sad to think that they have not enjoyed their pension life.

While I am hoping to live a long life, I am also trying to enjoy every present moment. I do not want to wait until I am retired before I do the things I want to do.

Whether I will have a long or short life, I would not now. That is also something I cannot control. For this reason, I am trying to focus on the state of my happiness everyday.

I could have done a different study

What could you do differently?

In one of my previous blog post, Thinking about those years I spent in Utrecht University, I have mentioned that the years I spent in the university are some of the happiest memories in life. And yet at the same time, I am wondering from time to time, what would have happened should I have chosen a different path.

Let us be honest, an academic education does not always guarantee suitable employment. I am quite lucky, because I managed to secure a career I love although it is still beneath the education I have attained. And I know a lot of people who are academically educated who are currently un employed.

Sometimes, I wonder: what if I have learned a useful trade instead? I could have been rich maybe. Or maybe not.

But you know what, earning money was not my motivation why i went to the university. I went there to enrich my mind and cultural capital.

Failures are opportunities.

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

If I had a freeway billboard, it would say: ‘failures are opportunities’. They are great teachers. So we should celebrate failures as much as we celebrate successes.

One of the many valuable lessons I have learned from the philosophy events in our lives cannot hurt us, but the way we relate with them. For instance, failures in themselves have no power to wound us, but how we see failure does.

Acquiring a driving licence in the Netherlands proved to be arduous and expensive. I took me 5 exams before I finally got my licence. I started in 2019 and I cannot count anymore how many hours I booked.

Every failure has been painful. That I will admit.

But those failures were actually opportunities for me to become a better driver. Thanks to those failure, I have become a confident and defensive driver I am today.