Hi! My name is Rosien. Pronounced as Rosie with an extra n.
In a former life I was a library-bound, archive-dwelling aspiring academic (I have an MA in Military History). After graduation I set out to travel and worked for several years as a scuba dive instructor in Malaysia, Indonesia and Oman. To come back home, I cycled all the way from Iran to Spain. It took six months and was, I know this is a cliché, a truly epic trip.
In 2016 I eventually moved back to the Netherlands and settled down in my old hometown of Groningen, where to this day I still am.
For work, I work partly as a self-employed organization advisor and Holacracy Coach, bringing revolutionary change to cool organizations. If you want to read more about that, have a look at my professional site. The other half of my time (when I’m not playing outside, that is), is spend with the cool people over at Voys in Groningen.
In 2018 my partner and I cycled through Japan for three months, which was awesome.
In 2022 I did a solo thruhike across the Pyrenees in 42 days (including rest days). Time between these bigger trips is filled with smaller adventures near and far. I ran two marathons (Valencia ’19, Amsterdam ’21) and one 70km ultramarathon (’22). Not sure what’s next, hopefully another ultra in 2023?
Other things that might/might not be of interest: I have too many plants, say hi to every cat I meet, my favorite Doctor is the Tenth, my secret superpower is that I can nap pretty much anywhere.
About the title
The title of this blog is an excerpt from a quote:
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
This quote is often attributed to Marcus Aurelius but the actual origin is unclear.
Despite that, they’re still words to live by.
If you want to know what shenanigans I’m up to on a day-to-day basis, I tend to be quite active on mastodon, and if you’rse curious about what I do for work have a look at polywork.