Last Saturday I was picked up from my holiday location, a recovery hotel on walking distance from home. The neighborhood came by for coffee and to make sure I would come back home, since I was enjoying the swimming-pool too much.

You all know how it is to get back home from holiday and pick up ‘normal life’ again. Strange enough I experienced the same. Until today I did not take the opportunity to update the blog. For two weeks (one week hospital (zieken-huis) and one week hotel (beter-huis)

I have been away and left everything behind. This sounds strange if you already outsourced your life in order to concentrate on your illness.

My main goal of the vacation was to try to get bored at least once. I was looking for emptiness, rest, relaxing my mind.  I believe this is one of the main ingredients to stay healthy as well as to get healthy. My conclusion? I need to go back to practice more. I also need to make sure to build it into my day-to-day-life. No obligations, go with the flow, accept everything that is happening around me and take it as it comes without judgement.

My other goal of the week was building physical strength. Mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body), in other words: using the warm water swimming pool and steam-cabin as much as possible and have my physiotherapist come over to make sure my muscles could keep up with my sporting activities.

And it worked! For months muscle-ache was the most disturbing side-effect, now it is gone! I got my legs back and have improved my physical shape. Before my holiday physical exercise would go hand in hand with weight decrease (I am burning more fat). The most impressive outcome of the holiday however is that I gained 2 kg (4 pounds sounds even more) in only one week. Being back home it seems that the weight increase continues and I keep on walking, biking (home-trainer) and swimming.

In hindsight this is the place where I should have gone to right after my hospital admission (opname) back in May. We seriously discussed the option of renting a house somewhere near where I could recover without disturbing life at home. We just did not realise that this recovery hotel was something I could go to. We walk by this place on a daily basis, it is just on the other side of the castle. Not long ago Jenn found out they have a warm-water bath which would be very good against my muscle aches. And she was damned-right.

What’s so unique is that I can only transport myself by walking. Insurance would not cover a trip by ambulance for a vacation. This location is on walking distance, so I also got to see Jenn and the kids every now and then. My nurses and therapists visited me there, so also in the house it was more quiet now I was not there.

I do recommend all people who are in a healing process from whatever disease to evaluate the option to go to this hotel (www.kuurenherstel.nl). When I came back home after two hospital weeks in May, I was so happy to live here with the woods, a castle, water, pubs and a shopping street on walking distance. Not being able to get in a car, I could not picture a better location for my healing process. You can call it luck or destiny, I enjoy every minute of it.

Especially now I have been on holiday in my own area, I realise that life should be one big holiday. It is great to travel and explore different cultures and natures, but don’t use it to escape from your day-to-day life. Turn your life into a vacation where family, work and staying healthy all have their place.

Being back home, I realise how hard and how important that is at the same time.

Joost

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