In a creative career, criticism is the one big constant you'll always face. On the one hand, you'll have to follow your own gut feeling. On the other, you'll have to embrace the criticism, since in the end, it's the only thing that will make you better. But the million dollar question is... when they you do what ? Let's dive in! The creative conflict Since storytelling is all about creating conflict , let's begin with throwing a nice big stone in the pond: one of the most de

Apart from a general lack in energy many burnout victims also suffer from anxiety issues. This happens for a reason: your feelings and your breathing are connected to one another. And anxiety is triggered by shallow breathing. So let’s talk feelings, breathing... and movies. Think of what happens when you're watching a scary movie. You hold your breath, right? Why is that? It's because even when in real life you are perfectly safe (sitting on your couch or in the cinema) in y

He called his screens his ‘eyes’. There were hundreds of them. Black and white, CRT, LCD and plasma. Old and new, thick and thin, small, big, flat, fat and curved. They were spread out like pebbles, pushed to the shore of the riverlike main corridor in this large underground cavern. It was such a vast array of monitors left, right and center, that if you were standing in the middle of the facility, the walls at both ends would not be visible. Some screens were hanging from th

When we are stuck creatively, becoming more depressed, or even already in a burned out state, we tend to overthink. The trick to getting out of this rut, is not to think, but to feel your way out of a negative mindset. Fortunately, there are many techniques than can help spark this, and reconnect you with your emotional world. Including literally feeling into that underbelly. Let's explore! Overthinking When we are not feeling good, we tend to over analyze all kinds of thin

So, there is no cure for burnout. Why? Because you are not sick, nor broken. You feel terrible yes. But you don't have a disease. You should never think in terms of 'curing' yourself. Because you ain't broken. In the end you are 'just' burned out and very much still alive and healthy. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. You do however require some treatment. And most of all you need time. As by now most of you will know, I always recommend taking a highly personal appro

Of course, I make a point in the book of saying your recovery should be highly personal. So I don’t know if this will work for you… but I want to tell you about my experiences with all kinds of Martial Arts. For me personally, they worked. And still work brilliantly today to keep stress away and give me creative focus! Balancing emotions Any kind of movement is good for you if you are stressed, feeling stuck or burned out. Our first blog post is even on just going for a walk

Very often burnout victims have not paid attention to the signals their body gave them. Heck, I even ignored an episode when I landed in the emergency room with a gigantic panic attack! So yes, this lesson is very, very simple: don’t ignore signals... stupid! And for creative people: pay attention to the specific ones! When you are moving towards a burnout your body is overproducing a very useful hormone called cortisol. This is known as the ‘stress-hormone’ and is actually b

A special mention in your personal road to recovery is friends and family. They are the ones who stand by you in your time of need. However, sometimes they can also be part of the cause of your burnout. Try to tread lightly here and take it easy in your relationships with them. Take time to feel your way through. And remember that the only constant in relationships, is change. Let's dive in deeper. Relationships always change During the burnout I discovered many of the relat

A lot of the reactions I get are from the people who support burnout victims, help people with creative anxieties or step up to the plate for those who get depressed for not achieving their creative life goals. So I thought, let’s give a few quick pointers on what to expect when you are part of the Help Team. A shoulder can be enough The first thing is: you don’t always need to offer full-blown help. When we see someone in need, we have the natural tendency to reach out and t

Thank you so much for the fantastic interview by Watersedge Counseling on Restart - Burnout Recovery. It is an honor to tell the story from a patient perspective, time and time again. Please check out the full interview in the link below: https://watersedgecounselling.com/how-to-beat-burn-out/ Love, as always Rogier van Kralingen

Should social media companies edit content? Some say no and cite freedom of speech. Others say yes and cite hate speech. What is the way out of this conundrum? That answer becomes clear when we start to see social media for what it truly has become: our shared online public space. And in the real world public space you have freedom of speech. Yet, crucially, you also behave. Social media are right now at the center of conspiracy theories, racism and cancel-culture. Let's jus

What we wish for when we are in a negative emotional state is to come out of it. Yet, it's a cycle: the more we want to be out of the negative, the worse we feel. The switch back to a positive outlook often remains elusive, meaning we start to wish for it even more. That's the cycle. Luckily, there is a way out: embracing the bad. The paradox of emotions It's a paradox: the best thing to do break the cycle of negative feelings is to simply embrace them. This is the reality: L

The tendency of psychologists and psychiatrists is to focus deeply on the cause of your burnout, depression, grief, and mental breakdown or traumatized state. That is very, very good of course. But in my experience that is only half of the solution to burnout. Work the mind yes, but also the body . That's the key. A focus away from the mind, and into the body Of course, the mental side of a burnout is extremely important. We need to give the mind space to process the reasons

There are plenty of causes to burnout and you will have to give a lot of attention to all of them. But if there is anything that my experience has taught me, is that battling the symptoms can be just as effective as finding the causes. So for this first solution blog we will focus on the simplest yet – for me – most effective way to treat yourself successfully: the walk. (In the past, and as creator, I have suffered from the usual big creative anxieties, which I have now full

“Good morning,” said God. “Hey, good morning,” said The Devil, refilling the coffee machine with water. “Coffee?” “Yeah, thanks,” The machine grumbled. When it was done, the Devil handed the full cup over to God, who took a small sip and quickly pulled backs his lips. “You always make it too hot,” He said with his typical devilish smile. Both of them chuckled. They walked out to the hallway, then into the conference room, sat down, stared at their phones for a bit and sipped.

Once, I had a Swedish girlfriend. She was, and still is fantastic. So, on my first Saturday night out in Stockholm and I was going to finally meet her best friends, I was nervous. I wanted to leave a really good impression. Since my girl had an errant to run, I settled down in a bar in this beautiful Swedish capital and waited until they would all arrive. What happened next taught me more about men, women and toxic masculinity than any of our modern doctrines could ever teach

Society is a contract. The contract states that we live and let live, through equality and freedom, whatever your view of life. This contract has been broken left, right, up, down, front, rear and center in the past decade, because we have forgotten that freedom is not just something you have, but also something you extent to others . Freedom doesn't work if we take it, without giving it. So, with the recent developments in mind, let’s break down the current story of society

For those of us in a creative job (and who isn't these days) anxiety is part of the work. Creative expression always comes with vulnerability: you open yourself and your work up to the judgement of others. Naturally this creates anxiety. That's why many creative people are more prone to depression and burnout. In this blog we explain why that's okay and how it can be used as a force for good. In today's world we are all producers of our own content. Whether we post things on

A few years back I was at this art exhibition that had attracted hundreds of people. The main artwork was a big block of simple perplex wood that was painted white. That was it. Must have costed somewhere between 20 and 30 euros. Maybe close to an hour to built, including the painting. The price? Five thousand euros. And in front of all of those visitors, I exploded. When someone asks me why storytelling is important my standard answer is that good stories are remembered. Som

Storytelling is always about the journey, never about the destination Storytelling is about embracing friction, not avoiding it Storytelling is about universal emotions, target groups simply don’t exist Storytelling is about building character, step by step, brick by brick Storytelling is about honesty and truth, not about sales and marketing Storytelling is about losing ego… and having fun doing it Storytelling is about maintaining values without compromise Storytelling is a