Hallo fellow learn-it-all 👋

Greetings from an attic in Voorschoten, Netherlands 🇳🇱

I hope my American friends are enjoying Independence Day!

Life lately for me looks a little different. I’ve been eating too much cheese, watching birds in duck ponds, running up until my shins burn a little, sweating under a blanket in an attic, and giggling with my baby cousins.

I feel like a maniac here. The days stretch past 10 p.m., and my mind is loud. I’m trying to give this Dutch dream a whirl, even though my fears keep tap dancing on my pillow at night.

Anywho, a couple of weeks ago I went to a wedding in Germany, where the groom’s godfather talked about wabi sabi—the idea of finding beauty in imperfection.

We live in a world like Krispy Kreme doughnuts, glazed all around with AI and perfectly spotless edges. But there’s something special about cracked plates and sweaty palms and a plan that unfolds as it’s lived.

Robots might aim for perfection. But I’m here to be human. With flaws or soft edges or some stretch marks. Chipped nails. A silly summer farmer’s tan. Probably a watch tan too.

With wabi-sabi in mind, my writing is far from perfect, so thank you for being here. :)

Letter 269 is here. Consider this a love letter to all my mess of June. Enjoy!

~~~

Starting this letter out with some of the film that just got developed, because why not?

🎞️ Film Shots of the month

❓Question to think about

If June were a person, what would I whisper to her at 3 a.m.?

🤔 Reflecting

Dear June,

You split me open and left me with peanut crumbs from 12-hour plane delays, glue from making lanterns, salty taste from raw herring, and red-tainted finger from strawberries from Dutch roadside stands.

From a tent in Thailand to a motorbike tour in Vietnam, a wedding in Germany, and now to slumber up steep steps to a cozy attic in Holland. You started with a run-in with a friend at a laundromat in Bangkok and ended with a day at the children’s farm petting a goat whose poo splattered onto you.

Ah what a delight.

🌹 Roses

What did I love about June?

wrapping my eight month of adventures in Southeast Asia
running into Nati at a Bangkok laundromat, plotting magic and silly letter prompts
peanuts as dinner during a 12-hour airport ghost town moment in Da Nang
making imperfect things in Hoi An: a thumb ring with suns, a yellow lantern reminding me of Yi Peng, clothes that hug me I love them
shopping like a warrior on a mission (who even am I?!)
the Ha Giang Loop on the bike of tutu, with my full-face helmet, and landscapes that felt like other planets
witnessing dad order his first Dutch croquette with smelly mustard from a gas station (and later regret it)
a wedding swirling between three languages
sweating it out with a running club in Den Haag, feeling my heart’s high beats again
Shiny Object Day with my parents — wandering and wondering
starting to create a business plan for something stewing behind the scenes (more to come soon) and ideas bouncing with the gentle humans in my corner
The journaling June calendar I would reference whenever I needed some inspiration in my journal
my four-year-old cousin singing in the woods “I believe I can Fly” lyrics by R Kelly, and my heart melting
origami frog races, a new olympic sport
honest conversations that made me think about what I really want
fish, greens, and the return to pescatarian plates
Gemini-style driven research rabbbitholes that supported all the project I started
my pinky zegelring, reminding me of those Dutch ancestors before me
my first kinderboerderij — tiny goats, tiny pops, tiny giggles
being able to walk around the church, where my great-grandfather was the dominee (or minister).

🥀 Thorns

What do I want to leave behind?

phone too close to my bed at night, scrolling away sleep
leaving books untouched, whispering from the corner
the pressure to craft a perfect story about Southeast Asia
messy inboxes
journal entries so short they look like unfinished haikus
dehydration (Sometimes I feel like a raisin)
mornings that I forget to checkin and say good morning to my own mind

🌳 Roots

What lessons did June slip into my pocket?

Double-check ChatGPT before trusting it with what the requirements are for a Visa to Vietnam. Sorry to my bank account
Eye masks don’t belong in checked bags. They must be in your backpack for when you need to sleep in Vietnam’s airport
Euros in Germany? Not without an epic quest or ugly conversion fees. Unlike in Southeast Asia, cash convesion is not the way here
Patience is the new black. Especially with Dutch immigration
Kindness in business. And in between too. Something that rubbed me the wrong way in Vietnam from my experience.

🌸 Buds

What am I hungry for as July rolls in like a sweaty disco ball?

launching my business (soon!)
sunlit mornings that allow me to sleep at a timely hour
running goals that taste like self-trust
making silly bracelets and origami frogs with my cousins until we dissolve into giggles
a summer playlist that keeps me grinning even when stressed
singing Guus into his fifth birthday
a London writer’s meetup
studying Dutch and aiming to complete my A1 level by end of August
dogsitting a French bulldog who might teach me how to chill a bit more
Transitions by William Bridges audiobook on busrides or walks
hugging friends and family like polaroids coming to life
a new vision board to carve out the last chapters of 2025
finally starting my mundane memorybook (also called a junk journal these days)

What did I consume that made me feel alive?

📖Reading

The Antisocial Century by Derek Thompson.

Here’s a quote that stood out about the sad contradiction of being hyper-connected but desperately lonely world:

“In a healthy world, people who spend lots of time alone would feel that ancient biological cue: I’m alone and sad; I should make some plans. But we live in a sideways world, where easy home entertainment, oversharing online, and stunted social skills spark a strangely popular response: I’m alone, anxious, and exhausted; thank God my plans were canceled.”

I listened to it twice on 1.1x speed during my 12 hour Da Nang airport purgatory. Couldn’t sleep, so I scribbled notes in my Supernote. I felt so nerdy and it was so fun. Here are my notes:

Thanks to Kai of Dense Discovery for sharing and recommending reading Thompson’s piece in full. I still think about what I read daily a month ago.

🎬 Watching

How to Train Your Dragon

My solo date in Vietnam. A movie, popcorn, tears. Hiccup and Toothless? Bestie goals forever. I cried like a mother at graduation.

🎧Listening

Dancing Queen by ABBA.

Karaoke in a hut in a mountain valley in Vietnam and two days later singing in a castle at a wedding in Germany. What a magically joyous tune.

Listening to Audiobook: 11 Minutes by Paulo Coelho.

The Alchemist is a book I’ve reread at least three time, and Spotify’s algorithm reccommends me another by Coelho. This book made me ask: How does pleasure live in me? Where does she hide?

🔍Word to define

Wabi Sabi:

Cracked mugs. Sweaty hugs. Messy journals. Beauty that doesn’t beg for approval.

According to Wikipedia:

In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘び寂び) centers on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It is often described as the appreciation of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art.

Wabi-sabi combines two interrelated concepts: wabi (侘) and sabi (寂). According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wabi may be translated as "subdued, austere beauty", and sabi as "rustic patina". Wabi-sabi derives from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印, sanbōin), which include impermanence (無常, mujō), suffering (苦, ku), and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空, kū).

Characteristics of wabi-sabi aesthetics and principles include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and the appreciation of natural objects and the forces of nature.