Happy & Healthy
6 important lessons my mother taught me
When I call her with a super cool opportunity but I'm too chicken to make a decision, she always assures me that I'm crazy if I don't do it. “Trust your own strength, Kiki, don't let others make you insecure. Bet it will be totally insane?” And it really is.
Mothers are special beings. Walking advice cannons. As a child, you'll never understand why they sacrifice themselves for their offspring for years, until you have a mini-me in your arms, I think. Today we all put our moms a little extra in the spotlight and that's why I’d like to share the most important lessons I learned from her with you:
1. Make sure you are always financially independent from others
This is definitely the lesson that has stuck with me the most. I don't do borrowing money, I prefer to earn it myself. And I can recommend it to everyone.
2. Animals are the most fun and you should always treat them with respect
Which is why I found it normal as a four-year-old to even save wasps from the pool. Even though they are annoying little creatures, they don't deserve a painful drowning death, do they? Or was I hours busy with a grave for a moth. We spent five hours shoveling in the freezing cold because my dearest rabbit really had to be buried and couldn't just be impersonal in a bag to the vet. Do my mother and I see that you are doing something bad to an animal? Really, then we will come and get you. Together.
3. Always listen to your gut instinct
I didn't quite get this as an annoying fourteen-year-old, constantly smoking teenager, but now I feel this advice more than ever. Which is why I (thanks mom) might be a bit more suspicious than necessary, but the naivety has been thoroughly knocked out of me.
4. Honesty lasts the longest
This all started on the day I lied to the lunch lady that I was going to eat at my grandma's during lunch, while I was actually going with that cool friend to the other side of town where I absolutely wasn't allowed to go... While biking to her house, we - of course, that's how karma works - ran into the lunch lady. Heavily disappointed in us. That same evening, my mother forced me to ring that woman’s doorbell to say sorry. And how EMBARRASSING it was. That was the first time I felt that sometimes it's better to just tell the truth.
5. Life is an adventure
Setting the alarm in the middle of the night to spot howler monkeys in the bushbush in Panama, touring on a motorcycle to Scotland, abseiling through the jungle in Costa Rica, my mother wants to experience everything at least once. Eating in a new restaurant every time. Continuously going to new places. Always staying curious. I love it.
6. If you don't feel great, at least make sure you look flawless
When I was nervous as hell for my final exams, my mother got me pearls of new heels. All my friends looked scruffy that week (big sweater, wild hair, no makeup, sneakers) because HELLO, there were exams, there was no time for looks, it was all about the grades. Normally, I would have walked into that exam room feeling insecure as hell, but because of that lip gloss, cute shirt, and those big heels, I suddenly felt like I could take on the world. And I rocked my exam grandly.
In short, dear Truudje, your life lessons have shaped me. Without you, I would never be the Kiki I am now. Happy Mother's Day.
