Another week has already flown by since I entered the hospital. And today, I get to go home. As has been the case every single time so far, this fills me not only with joy, but also with anxiety. The white world of the hospital offers routine, quiet, and protection. Whatever goes wrong—breathlessness or a sweat-soaked bed—with the push of a button, the cavalry comes rushing in. Should I suddenly take a turn for the worse, I don't have to call an ambulance; I am already in the

I wrote the piece below a week ago. Little did I know then that this was merely the calm before the storm... Once again, I am completely off track. Or rather, my body is acting strange. After a perfectly fine week, it suddenly decided to go into full rebellion. Zero energy, flu-like symptoms, a headache, aching all over. My Garmin watch confirms this: body battery almost empty, take some rest! What do you think I’ve been doing for the past 48 hours?! I’ve been flat on my back

It began with a dream that felt almost too big to touch. A vision of young South Africans gathered on the vast plains of the Karoo, a massive, desert-like expanse in the heart of South Africa. Future leaders from every corner of society, transcending the boundaries of color and background to truly see one another. That was the ambition behind The Initiative. I’ve written before about how this plan first came to be. And there we were, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mo

I’ve bumped into a virus again. The last time this happened, I could blame myself. I had been careless, ignored my own rules, and ventured unprotected into danger zones. This time, it came out of thin air. Literally. It’s always difficult to pinpoint exactly where it happens, as the incubation period is usually about four days. So, I have to look back in my calendar to find that one dangerous moment. This time, I was just in Cape Town, and the weather was beautiful, warm, and

The sun sinks behind the horizon of the West Coast, the sky still glowing in layers of deep orange and dark blue. I am driving along the R27, the road that leads me back from Langebaan to the city. Directly ahead, in the first true darkness, the familiar guides emerge: the Southern Cross and the Centaurus. Stars that point the way south. And then, in the distance, I see the contours emerge that always make my heart beat faster. The contours of Table Mountain. A massive, dark

When I first set off for South Africa, it was with the begrudging permission of the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, "my" hospital. They sent me off with a small package of emergency pills. Just in case… Because Africa is far away, dark, and scary. It is the land of traditional healers, herbalists, and dangerous diseases. "Stay away from there" was the underlying message. But I had been to Cape Town many times before and loved the crisp skies and the blue sea. To me, it fel

I have always had dogs in my life. It began when I was eight years old with my dachshund, Winky, and ended a few years ago when mother Bonnie and daughter Bubbels moved on to the eternal pooping fields. In between lie many precious memories of dear four-legged housemates. The void left after the Labradors passed away was vast. Especially Bubbels—who was a "special" little dog and struggled to truly bond—had managed to do just that in the end. We miss her terribly. Here in Cap

The Mountain and the Dream: The Birth of The Initiative About five years ago, I had a dream. One of those crystal-clear dreams that lingers in your memory for days. In that dream, I was the instigator of an ‘academy’ situated on a mountain - a school for the next generation of earthlings. It was an inspiring environment where young people from all over the world met and, like a rolling snowball, jointly developed a platform for ethics and leadership. An incubator for positive

On my previous blog, I used to publish so-called "quarterly reports": short summaries of what has been happening in my life lately. Although this new blog isn’t strictly intended to document my daily routines, I often get asked "how things are going." So, I’ve decided to revive the tradition. To do this properly, I need to look back a bit further than just three months. Let’s start with Italy. As you might have seen in the interview with Ivo Niehe, we are working on a beautif

With this blog, I hope to open up the conversation about topics we often avoid. Everything. About being ill, daring to say you have cancer, daring to talk about death, daring to say you no longer work—that you can no longer work. Daring to talk about intimacy, about sex, and about poop. It makes it all more bearable, life more beautiful, and it adds a whole new layer of depth. In my book, I sought to do this as much as possible. To expose the raw reality, stripped of the veil

This morning, my newest employee was born. His name is Harry Knorry, and he lives on a rented Linux server. He speaks every language under the sun and is quite handy at tackling digital chores. I communicate with him via Telegram. The latest AI hype hasn’t passed me by. For about two weeks now, every channel has been exploding over a new bot platform that has already changed its name twice in that short time. First it was Clawdbot, then Moltbot, and now it’s OpenClaw. A "bot"

"You’ve looked death in the eye. What did you learn from that? Is everything different now?" It’s a question I’m asked often. I’ve always found it difficult to give an honest answer. There’s an expectation hanging in the air that everything has radically changed—that I’ve been granted access to immortal wisdom. How can you possibly give a satisfying answer to that? Have I become a better person because of this experience? Do I leap out of bed every morning, bursting with enth

It's January again, the month of good intentions. Healthy living, less alcohol, more balance, and of course: shedding those pounds! Three months in Italy have left me with a questionable extra supply of "self." I've been living like a god, adhering to the daily mantra of "antipasto-primo-secondo-dolce". But as effortlessly as the pasta seems to flow through Italian bodies, it clings just as stubbornly to my Northern European one. The craving for winter provisions and thick la

Many of you read my previous blog. It was born on the very first day I ended up in the hospital with acute leukemia. I wrote at breakneck speed about everything I was going through, capturing every thought and feeling that raced through my mind. You read along, in ever-growing numbers. At first, perhaps, out of a fear of my demise; later, out of curiosity about how I was faring. I kept writing, but with less and less conviction and at a drastically lower frequency. I started