My Season of Saying Yes

What I’m learning lately on the internet and in Amsterdam

Hallo fellow learn-it-all 👋 Greetings from Amsterdam, Netherlands (finally!!) I woke up here for the first time in ages, after weeks of schlepping backpacks across the country. My shoulder’s sore, but I’m grateful to finally have a base for a bit. Now, let’s dive into letter 281 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy :)

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Last Friday marked 90 days in the Schengen area (an area of 29 countries that abolished border control).

Life has felt like a limbo. It’s been easy to let it lie this way since I’ve slept in upwards of 10 beds during this stay.

But lately I’ve dove headfirst into a season of saying ‘yes’ to learning opportunities, ever since my Visa to stay as an entrepreneur has been accepted.

And I don’t mean just educational entertainment.

(Well, except for the vibe coding course, I've just been trying to understand the lingo better of frontend, backend, and APIs are waitresses).

Lots going on.

Where my feet are for now are in Amsterdam for the next 3.5 weeks. And this is my first time paying rent. The first 90 days were fully funded by family zolder (attic) stays and Trusted Housesitter job applications. Rent hasn’t been an expense. Instead, my main line items are Albert Heijn oud kaas (old cheese), train rides to classes in Amsterdam, buying courses (if work trade isn’t an option) and filling up the car’s gas tank. Oh and my most recent celebratory drive-thru at McD’s for €10.15 for a McFlurry and fry. 🙈

For the sake of keeping this simple since there’s a lot of doing I need to be doing instead of talking about the doing. This week will be a list of wins and things I’ve been dabbling in. Needless to say I am swimming in a season of “Yes”.

Eight things I’ve been learning this week:

1. International Writer’s Collective Fiction and poetry in-person writing course.
   This is my first time ever taking a writing class in-person as an adult. I’m stoked! It’ll take place over the course of 8 weeks. Last week we read “Cat Person” by Kristen Roupenian and this week my exercise is to emulate a style and tone of writing similar to “The Heron” by Dorthe Nors

2. Act 2.
   This is a live five-week creative accelerator that helps to get your best idea out of your head and into the world. I’d call it like a creativity project management course. My main project for it has been turning my memoir I published last October from something that get consumed by eyes to ears. I finished recording it yesterday. Now onto production. I wrote a bit about this project last week in Pressing Record without Perfection. Audiobook recording is completed and now I’m moving into audio production.

3. Zen Meditation at the Zen Centrum Amsterdam.
   Not much to say here. I feel like I’m flunking because I still haven’t been meditating at all, and we’re already halfway through the course. Needless to say, I am ashamed. The course is taught by this guy from Montana named Wayne, who lives with monks in North Holland, so he knows English really well—something I will no longer take for granted after flailing my arms around in Thai temples. Ironically, of the 10 students in the class, about half are from Brazil.

4. Writing circles.
   I facilitated my third writing circle yesterday, and three friends joined! It was a lot of fun. You can join next week too: https://tally.so/r/3lxQoV

5. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
   I’m on week 3 of the 12-week program. This is either my 3rd or 4th time doing this program. Why not? I started laughing my shivers away at the train station, commuting an hour home from writing class, listening to this week’s chapter. It was a lot about anger. I found myself pissed that I spilled gasoline on my favorite soft red flannel shirt that I just laundered the day prior. Being hangry didn’t help. I’m ecstatic that my current plantsit has the book in physical form. I can listen and read at the same time. Goody goody gumdrops!

6. Vibe coding.
   It’s taught mostly by Louie Bacaj. He’s great. I’ve gone to three workshops and still feel like I am completely incompetent around how to deploy a code using a PRD (Product requirement document). It’d be really cool to create an app some day.

7. Meeting people IRL.
   My golden retriever dog energy has been thriving. I went to Gouda to meet a new friend from the train. I messaged a old student friend on LinkedIn that lives in Utrecht. I’ve made some Internet friends, video messaged strangers who are potential roommates, met some writers, and most recently, over eight days, I went on six dates. One of the cat parents I sat for told me about this Dutch dating app called “Breeze” that they used to find their partner. It was a fun experiment, but I’m going to prioritize now meeting new connections in the wild, like how I ran into a friend from Thailand yesterday after being in the city for three hours.

8. Newsletter editing.
   I’ve made money for the first time from freelancing for a fellow Substacker. It’s fun to see my almost 6 years on this platform to be valuable to others finding their way.

What have you been learning this week? I would love to read them to keep the momentum alive :)

❓A question for you

I skipped the voice-over for this week. Would you like for me to keep doing them? If you enjoy it, would you consider paying for it as a bonus feature?

I’d love to hear from you.

🎧Listening

September by Earth, Wind & Fire

It never fails to make my heart race a little bit.

🔍 Dutch phrase to define

“Overprikkeld“

In Dutch literally means over-stimulated. (source: hersenstichting)

It’s used when your senses, emotions, or mind have taken in too much. There’s too much noise, light, social interaction, pressure, or information and you feel frazzled or unable to process more.

The image of a hedgehog 🦔 comes from how it curls up into a ball with its spikes out when it’s overwhelmed. Similarly, when someone is overprikkeld, they often want to retreat from the party, protect themselves, and shut out extra input until things calm down.

🌟Quote to inspire

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” —Maya Angelou

📸Photos of the Week

🙏Shoutouts

• To Melissa Menke your presence in my writing circle really makes my morning :)

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I am grateful you chose to fill part of your day here.

If something in this letter resonated, press the ❤️ , leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetJL@gmail.com. I love hearing from you.

Keep on learning 😁

Tot snel 🌺 🌺

Toodles :)

Jen

P.S. I coach writers. I guide them to find their voice, build a writing rhythm, and have fun hitting “publish.” Let’s chat.

P.P.S. You’re invited. If a friend forwarded you this, welcome to the learn-it-all crew. Sign up here to get the next letter.

P.P.P.S. I wrote a book. Letters to My Life is my favorite way to share my writing with you (and it keeps your screen-time stats down). Grab your copy here.

And last but not least, look at this collage I made!