I wanted to write this article about all the complaining I did over the years. It took me a while and I still find it hard to start somewhere. Although my English is probably better than most of the foreigners’ Dutch, it is still hard to describe everything perfectly. I might pick words wrong, or put them in an order which is not correct and offend, hurt or upset someone by it and that is the last thing I would want to happen. I do not want to harm, hurt or offend anybody! I do not want to make myself look better than anybody else, I just want to point something out and I really hope that you will benefit from this article! This piece really feels as a sort of disclaimer, but I just wanted to say this before I post the article which I wrote before this little piece of text. But here we go!
It must have been December when the first snow came from the sky. Beautiful, that is going to be a white Christmas as everybody hoped. And indeed it turned out to be a white one for the first time since ages!! BUT, after Christmas the snow did not melt…. Not the next week, not the week after that and then I became more and more frustrated each day! Training plans changed daily to avoid the snow and the indoor turbo became my friend for cycling! But I wanted to be able to train outside without having to plan each step careful, turn on the bike and not slip! The weather did not improve and it even became frustrating! It became even worse, it was no longer just the weather that made me complain, there were other things that started to be annoying... It really got to me and started to wear me down physically and mentally! And then lightning struck me: THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT!

I do not exactly know when lightning struck me, but what I know is that a lot changed from that day on! But what I knew for sure that I was done with all those negative thoughts and the complaining! It was time for some change and a different view at things. The complaining had worn me down till that point and it was enough. I wanted to look at the bright side of live, look at things positive, feel the vibe and the flow of the nice things that happened to and around me! Of course this was easier said than done and I still have to remind me about it almost every day. But it really feels great to look at things in a positive way.
So what did I change you might wonder to feel great? Well… First of all I stopped complaining about all things on which you have no influence what so ever. This was and is just a waste of energy! And I am really the only one who was effected by it. Secondly I tried to change my standards. In the Netherlands everything is well organized and therefore my standards were/are high. Putting things in perspective makes things look different! Thirdly smiling is a different way of paying attention to something. Instead of being negative I just start smiling when something negative happens and see the possible change in it. Last, but not least, I tried to life my live to the max, do what feels right for me and enjoy this as much as possible! Of course I know that live is not always fun, but making the best of it is just the least you can do, right?

Weather
Since there is no way to influence the weather, there is really no need to complain about it anymore. I wanted a white Christmas and I got it! Yes, I know, we were in the Alpes for a little vacation, so our Christmas was going to be white anyways, but still. The trip took us a bit longer because of weather issues. The fun part (seeing it positive) was we ended up in a hotel in Ludwigshafen. We slept in a 1.20 meter wide bed with just one blanket… Pure romance! The next morning we took it easy and visited the Decathlon at -13C! And we got ripped off by some gas station, which charged us 20 euro’s for 5 liter of anti freeze window cleaner fluid! Everybody just paid it and I guess I would have done the same if I had been running that station! I guess the weather was not so bad after all, we had at least some great stories to tell back home?

Grumpy at the poolside
My last stay at Lanzarote had some really interesting features for this article. We were in the 50 meter pool and just finished a great set. At the side of the pool was a group of young girls. One of the girls was really looking grumpy and this upset me! I wanted to tell her to put things into perspective. She was at Lanzarote, with a beautiful sun, at the outdoor 50 meter pool, staying in the wonderful accommodation! She could have been at home, in the snow, without any sun and what not more! But she did not think of this I guess?

Shopping
In Groningen we have one big shopping street and there is a little coffee place there. On one of those rainy days of the last months we were having a coffee there and we were looking at the shopping people.  And then there was this person coming out of one of the stores. She had just bought something, but she did not look happy at all. Did she buy something stupid or ugly? I was surprised about this negative attitude and  just laughed at the situation. Instead of being negative about this, I laughed at it because I would smile if I just had bought something.

KLM
My last trip to Lanzarote was different from the all the others trips. I flew with KLM and this experience was really great! Although I had some troubles getting my bike on the plane, everything went pretty good from that point! When boarding the plane the stewardesses and stewards were smiling and started a little chat with me. They were really interested and willing to help you with whatever I would have asked (this within reason of course). During our flight it struck me that the crew was really enjoying their work, they were smiling and excited during the serving and even during the gathering of the junk we produced. Although the flight took longer, I really consider flying with KLM again, because the atmosphere the crew created just felt amazing and positive to me!

So where does this leave me? Of course it is impossible to be positive at all times, but trying to do so as much as possible makes me feel great, healthier and more relaxed. It almost feels as if I can take on the world, which is of course not true, but the feeling is amazing! Training sets are easier done and mentally I can keep the focus on what I want and where I want to go. I hope that this article might help you too. There are obviously more points of attention, but these are the major ones for me. I hope you find you major points and get that positivism flowing!