For as long as I can remember, I have loved writing. I started by writing short stories when I was a kid, fun and playful storylines about female pirates who make stew out of a man named Stu (I still have this story stashed away). Later came journal entries, travel blogs, and professional assignments. My writing has often been described as sounding the same as I speak. I like that!
Prose is my latest venture into blogging, it will be a bi-weekly blog that covers the stories I feel inspired to write and share. It’s not marketing advice, it’s stories from my life and experiences, possibly woven in with a moral of the story or lesson learned (like a fairytale).
My only guarantee is that it will be creative, playful, and probably have run on sentences and some grammar mistakes (to err is human). It will also be a connection between me and you each week. I hope you’ll join me on this writing adventure.
Red Flags In Job Interviews
I have experienced a few red flags over the years when it comes to job interviews. Some of them I’ve come to learn would be considered microaggressions, while others are downright discrimination.
Now, I’ve had enough interviews from Dutch organizations that I’ve started to realize there’s a new red flag to add to the list.
Staging, Strategy, & Staying Calm
It’s really happening, our house on Terschelling is officially for sale. I’ve never prepared or sold a home before, so this was something new.
I was surprised by how much my marketing experience helped— staging, pricing, market analysis, and storytelling all played a role.
Being a consultant also reminded me when to trust the experts. Because not all of my ideas are winners (even if it includes our dog Pablo in a blazer).
Dear younger me…
Letters to my younger self about the twists and turns of career, love, and building a life abroad.
Dear Michelle who just started college,
Dear Michelle who just started her consulting business,
Dear Michelle who wants to run away,
Three versions of me. Sometimes the hardest person to celebrate is your past self.
Freedom, Flags, and… Canadians.
It starts with King’s Day and ends with Liberation Day. It’s the most patriotic week in the Dutch calendar. There’s also a surprising intertwined history between Canada and the Netherlands during this time. As an immigrant, finding personal meaning in this patriotic Dutch week has been its own journey of embracing a new nationality as part of my identity.
Adventures.
When we lived on the island, we stopped exploring, even within the context of the island. So we got in a rut. We stopped going on little adventures.
We got bored. I got sad.
With the decision that we wouldn’t be pursuing kids anymore. Our rut needed to stop, we both agreed, this couldn’t be the next 40-50 years of our life.