And you get a head
A head full of dreams
You can see the change you want to
Be what you want to be

A head full of dreams, Coldplay

My Peak Challenge
Last week I presented to you my new website; celebrateloveandlife.nl and I explained to you why I did it and what I wanted to do with it.
But before the site was presented to you I had a challenge. A big challenge; I had to do something I had never done before. Building a website and writing my stories. I can tell you that’s a BIG challenge.
Finding a name for it and finding a webhosting company to host me wasn’t the hardest part. Raoul Werger, owner of Oxilion, a big webhosting company in the Netherlands, offered to help me out. Thank you Raoul, for supporting me!
But being honest to myself and without shame I have to admit if it wasn’t for the global community; My Peak Challenge, I would probably never have started this in the first place.
And if I had not seen Outlander, I would never have googled on the cast of this wonderful series; Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe, Tobias Menzies, Graham McTavish, Duncan Lacroix, Steven Cree, Scott Kyle and all the other fine actors and actresses.
One thing led to another and through Sam Heughan I came to the website called; My Peak Challenge, and when I read the website I found My Peak Challenge.

‘A Global Community rooted in the belief that we can all effect positive change in our lives while helping others’.

I have always been raised in the belief that you have to help each other, and that’s exactly what I saw in your global community Mr. Heughan.
It was what I needed. The belief that I could make a positive change and still be helpful to others.
My Peak Challenge is about reaching out of your comfort zone, and find something that you don’t think you could do. Make it a challenge and achieve it.
And that’s exactly what inspired me to make my own website; celebrateloveandlife.nl and start a weblog. I still don’t know if I can do it but I don’t know if I haven’t tried it. Or like my father used to say: ‘You have to test everything and hold on to everything that’s good’.
I made a list of the things I wanted to achieve and I started.

Building the website
To be honest it took me quite a while to build the website. What do I want to post? I wrote some of the parts over and over again. Thought it was never good enough. If I was going to do this the whole world could read what I always kept to myself. It would make me vulnerable. But on the other hand it would make me stronger, much stronger. It would show that I would no longer be afraid of what others might think of me.
I posted pictures. Some of them I had to remove after posting because they were not sharp enough. Then I found this picture of Scotland. I made it in 2009 when I visited Glasgow. I put it in the header image and until a week ago I thought it was the picture to be. But deep down inside of me there was a little voice that told me there had to be something better.
You see it is a wonderful picture and I have good memories about it but it is also a dark picture. The picture could make you feel sad and my challenge was to celebrate love and life something I didn’t implicate with this picture.
Somewhere in my diary I even wrote; ‘I’m not a depressed middle aged women…Me always trying to be the positive one.. ‘
But until a week ago I couldn’t find me another header image, so I let it be.

The header image
While I sat outside on the terrace with my laptop, my love and the children were playing around with a camera. All kind of silly pictures were taking until my daughter said: ‘Mom how long will you go on before I can use the laptop?’
I told her that I needed a little while longer and then it was hers. I thought she had to finish something for school.
‘Will you not shut it down, I want to try something.’
I finished what I was doing and when I came back outside some time later, she had made a scene on the table with all kind of things I use for writing.
Suddenly I knew what she was doing, she was making me the picture I was looking for in my header image. It represented all of me.
At that moment all the pieces fell into its place and celebrateloveandlife.nl was born.
That evening I asked two people to look at it and tell me honestly if it was worth publishing.
When I got their answers it made me cry. I had done something I never thought I could do.
I challenged myself and I did well. My Peak Challenge was accomplished.
Celebrateloveandlife.nl was born and I DID IT.
There’s only one small thing left for me to do and that is to join My Peak Challenge. My request is on its way, My Peak Challenge…