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My name is Larissa and I’m an addict. 

There. I said it.

For those who don’t know me yet, I’m addicted to many many things. Some of which I’ll quickly share below.

 Coffee.
The really good, strong one made from high quality beans. Espresso, cappuccino or latte. All fine by me! If anyone ever invents an iv drip with whoch you can get coffee straight jnto your body, all day long, I’ll be the first line!

 Flowers and plants.
I have a real need to be surrounded by fresh flowers and tropical plants. Without it, I feel incomplete. As if a piece of me is missing.

 Shoes.
Omg! If you know me just a little bit, you know I’m obsessed with shoes. Preferably Louboutins. It’s quite the special addiction I’ve got going here. This is a deep rooted love!

 Food.
Oh I love food!!! Perhaps it has to do with being half Indonesian. I grew up being surrounded by food. Got people coming over, whether you know this or not? There’s ALWAYS food to be shared. And not staying for dinner is actually just not accepted according to Indonesian customs.

But the worst addiction, seriously the Worst. Addiction. Ever….

Is SUGAR.

🍬

It’s actually quite a disgusting addiction. I might even have to call it a love- hate relationship. Telling me I have a sweet tooth, isn’t going to do it. It’s way worse.

To be honest, I have always loved all things sugary. And I don’t even care if it’s cake, candy, ice cream, sweetened drinks, whatever. As long as it’s sweet, I want it. I need it. I love it. 

But yeah, somehow my body has figured out a way of putting an end to this. Or well… It’s TRYING to put an end to this. It’s been doing that since 2012 already.

 Yay for fibromyalgia flares being triggered by refined sugar. 

But I just can’t stop it!!

Even with my body in so much pain that I have to crawl up our stairs….

With so much pain that all I can do, is lay down wherever I possibly can…

And with so much pain again that – lately – I can’t even undress myself…

Still…
I just can’t stop it…

So guess its save to say that it’s an addiction. Right?! 

And I know so many people – if not most – have the exact same addiction. Whether they know it or not.

 Yes, I see you too!!! 

Trying to act as if eating (or drinking) that much sugar is “normal”. And “it’s really not that bad!”. Or “there’s nothing wrong with eating an entire bar of chocate!”.

A few months ago, I was watching a tv show in which women were given makeovers. Cool!

One woman had lost 65kg – I just looked it up – all on her own without ANY help or surgery. That’s getting rid of ME and 10kg extra… So cool that she was able to do this! 

She shared her story of how she did it. And what it basically came down to, was cutting all the sugar out of her diet. Add in some more veggies and fruit, and a little exercise too, and that’s how she did it.

Losing 65kg by changing your eating habits. Clean eating and moving your body. I’m truly fascinated by her story! 

Sure, her sugar intake was higher than most of us would consider healthy (couple of cans of energy drink a day, a bottle of coke per day, a box of chocolates as a morning snack, cookies in the afternoon, followed by fries and more snacks for dinner). But for her? This was her normal back then! She didn’t know any better. And this was her way of comforting herself.

You see, I know that most of us aren’t taught how important our food really is. What it really does to our body. Not just with regards to weight, but so much more. 

In my journey to get rid of my fibro pain, i learned that sugar acts as a trigger for pain. I learned how our intestines help in producing hormones that can make you feel not so good, unhappy and negative if you feed your body the wrong types of food. 

But I also learned that the human body is capable of so much more than most of us realize. It can regenerate itself. Most parts of the body regenerate itself all the time. And by giving it proper food, healthy food, you can speed up the process. 

So…
Yes, I’m highly addicted to sugar. Quite possibly, YOU are too. But it’s up to you to decide what you want to do with it.

For me?
The one thing that really helps in quitting sugar again? That’s a juicing cleanse. Period.

It acts like rebooting my body, and allows for all the toxins to leave my body. So that I can start over fresh, pain free and energized. 

Because…
Isn’t that what we all want?!

P.s. come and join my 5 day cleanse next week!

I’ll be doing a cleanse TOGETHER with you, and I’ll share all my knowledge and expertise on this. For FREE!

It’s going to be amazing. The energy and excitement from those who already joined, is NEXT LEVEL. It’s going to be so much fun, and absolutely fantastic to share with others.

So…
Join me. Now!

Leave a comment and I’ll send you the details.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on this amazing “inner journey” for a long time.

🌟 knowing there was more.
🌟 knowing I’m destined for more.
🌟 knowing I’m here for a reason, my purpose.

But yeah… What could that be??? And why can’t anyone here on earth just freaking tell me what I should actually do?! 😤

How about you? Sounds familiar?

Maybe you’re still in the middle of this internal fight. Stuck in a job that you do on a daily basis, but of which you KNOW you can do so much more than that. But what?!

Or maybe you’re in the middle of a different kind of personal crisis. Burn-out, depression, or maybe even money struggles. And you ask yourself, “What exactly is the reason for all this drama?”

😱😱😱

What’s the reason YOU have to go through this?
WHY YOU?!

I believe that everything we experience in our life, happens for a reason. You grow through it, you learn from it. And what else?

Well, it makes you – with everything you’ve been through and learned – a true source of inspiration for another.

🌊🌊🌊

Maybe you don’t even know this. Maybe you don’t even know how wise you are. Knowing things that seem totally normal for you. Life lessons you’ve learned a long long time ago.

But for someone else? It could be the exact thing that someone else needs. <3

🚫 Hold up! Stop right there!!!

Are you still looking up at the big players online while thinking to yourself:

I need to do the exact same as they’re doing.
I need to promote my online business and products the same way.
I need to act just like them.
I need to be just like them….

… Because that’s the way it is done, so that must be the ONLY WAY TO SUCCESS!

Nope!
Wrong!
Wrong!
Totally wrong!!!

 
#ecommerce #onlinemarketing #socialmediamarketing #marketing #onlinebusiness #onlinestore #advantage #relationships #connection #showyourself #betruetoyourself #mindset #businesscoach #mentor #motivation #inspiration

That moment that you realize that you’re not building just 1 new online store, but 4 

Call us crazy.
Call us unreal.
Call us dreamers.

Choose positive thoughts
Choose to see the good
In everything and everyone
And even in yourself

There’s something that has to be said. Something that I feel needs to be shared. Something that a lot of us know, but refuse to see.

MONDAY DOESN’T SUCK!

Monday is just a day! A day just as any other day. And the fact that it’s named “Monday” doesn’t mean shit. That’s just a name made up by people, so that we would know what day of the week it is. But still, it’s just a day.

So how did you wake up this morning? Dreading Monday again? Like so many others do? Every week? For months or even years on end?

“Oh shit, the new week has started. Oh crap, I need to go to work. Again…. Please let me stay in bed. I don’t want to go.”

I remember those days. Clearly. Oh the things that I tried to keep my mind of the idea of going to work. Snoozing the alarm, as many times as I possibly could. Then, when finally getting out of bed, dreading to even get dressed. And once I had breakfast, I would just find whatever chore possible to stay at home just a litlle bit longer. Cleaning the kitchen? No problem, I’ll just do that now. Folding laundry? Ok, let’s do that now too. Yup. All those silly household tasks that I would normaly dread, gave me instant joy.

And then the drive to the office. Oh boy! Being relieved that you would get stuck in a huge traffic jam. Yes, that’s one hour less of being stuck in the office! Woohoo!

Finally reaching the office, and then instantly getting this heavy feeling. You having to force yourself to get out of the car. Force yourself to walk into the office. And then tell yourself it’s all OK. You’ll probably just need some coffee first and then you’ll feel better. Ready for this new Monday.

But the thing is:
It’s not about Monday. Monday doesn’t suck. Monday never sucked. And Monday will never suck.
It’s not about Monday and it will never be about Monday.

It’s something else that causes this feeling, and you damn well know what it is.

It’s your job. It’s the things you do to earn a living. And if you currently don’t have a job, it’s the things you do daily just to keep busy.

 IT’S BORING!

It’s boring you.
It’s boring your brain.
It’s boring your soul.
It’s boring and you know it!

Whoops. Did I just say that? Did I just mention the elephant in the room? Sure did! And you know it’s true.

The things you do on Monday, or any other day of the week, are boring you. If you were having fun….

Loving your job….
Loving the way you make money….
Loving the way you live life even…

Then you would not be dreading Monday. You would LOVE it! A new week with new exciting things to do. A new week filled with adventures. A new week filled with crazy fun things that you’ve got planned. You would wake up – considering you’ve had a good night sleep – feeling ready to kick ass and start working again.

You can refuse to see it this way. Fine by me. Just means that you’ll stay stuck in this “Damn-I-Hate-Monday-Feeling”.

Or… Silly me for saying this!

You can make a change. Find something that excites you and do that instead. Just go ahead and give your brain things it’s excited about. That way you no longer dread Monday. It really is that simple. So stop making it so damn hard on yourself!

Let’s talk about darkness. Real darkness.
The darkness that is part of you. Of me. Of us.
The darkness that resides in all of us.

There’s such a huge taboo on real darkness.
On sadness. On depression. And above all, on suicidal thoughts. Like we can’t talk about this in a normal way. That there has to be shame, blame and guilt around it all.

Because…
Who the hell are you to feel sad, depressed or even suicidal? Who the hell do you think you are to think about ending your life? You were given this life, so better live it. It’s precious. It’s a gift. It’s a miracle. So don’t you dare feel sad, depressed or even suicidal.

Right?

Uhm…no!

HELL NO!

Yes, I know. It frequently has to do with religion too. Being posessed by evil spirits, the devil himself. Whatever you want to call it. All so called reasons why you are not allowed to be like that. To have such dark feelings. But still…

HELL NO!

It’s about damn time that we admit it. Darkness is part of all of us. You can try to ignore it, think you don’t have it in you. But that’s a whole lot of BS right there. We all have at least the tiniest bit of darkness inside of us. Everyone.

You sometimes feel angry? You feel hurt? Or you feel sad?

Well hello!!! That is part of this darkness!

It’s part of who we are. We can’t live our life without it. We just can’t. It’s part of all of us. Including you!

But for some…
Perhaps for more than you might realize…
Perhaps even for you…

This darkness gets too overwhelming. It’s too much to bare. It’s all just too much…

You just want it to stop. It’s too much. You see no way out of the darkness, the emptiness and the pain. Oh, the constant pain…

Please make it stop!
Please make an end to this.
Please make it all go away.
Or better yet, make me go away.

Away from it all.
Away from the pain.
Away from the pain.
Away from the sadness.
Away from the hurt.
Away from the lonliness.
Away from the emptiness.
Away from it all.

Do you know what it’s like? The constant internal struggle with yourself. The things that you tell yourself. Or tell God or whoever or whatever you believe in. Do you know???

First it starts with asking. Then begging. And then? Then you start contemplating on how you could do it yourself. It doens’t matter anymore. Nothing matters anymore. It’s all too dark now.

But then it get’s crazy. Really crazy. Because then society buts in. Family, friends, people you know, people you don’t know, the way society perceives this…
Everyone sharing their thoughts on this, whether you asked for it or not. Mostly not, obviously.

Saying that you’re crazy. Telling you to be ashamed. That you should feel guilty. All because you see NO WAY OUT!

How dare you think these thoughts!
How dare you contemplate such things!
How dare you be willing to leave behind everyone that you love!
How dare you take matters into your own hands!
How dare you play God!
HOW.
DARE.
YOU!

And this is exactly what makes it such a taboo to talk about. Could we not please make an end to this taboo? Not being able to talk about it only makes it worse.

And when you do? When you finally find the courage to open up and talk about it?

You get told all these things. Why? WHY?
It clearly doesn’t do it any good…

Yes, I’ve been there.

I am one of these persons. I am one of you.
I know what it’s like to see no way out. To ask for an ending to it all. To even beg for a deadly accident to happen. To play with aspirins to see how many it would take. I have been on that side of darkness. For a long, long time.

But I did open up. I did chose to talk about it. Share my thoughts. Get the help I needed. Seek the light within me.

Yes, I got these crazy responses too. Didn’t do me any good. It only made it worse.

Being told – straight to my face, after opening up – that I “clearly have psychological PROBLEMS!”

That hurts. A lot. All this shame, blame and guilt makes the hurt worse than it already is.

So here’s to those standing beside someone going through this:

Please, please, please, PLEASE STOP THIS!

Please stop…
Saying these hurtful things to the one you love. It is not helping in any way, shape or form. It only makes it worse. Adding to the already existing feelings of shame, blame and guilt, is not helping your loved one. It’s not.

Please stop…
Giving advice, if you haven’t gone through this yourself. If you do not know what it’s like to feel depressed or suicidal, don’t give unsollicited advice. Just don’t. You don’t know what it’s like, so you can’t give advice.

Please stop…
Making your loved one feel it’s not OK to talk openly about this. Listen, talk, be there. But don’t shut him or her down. It only makes it worse.

Want to help?
Please start by doing things that work. Give love, undivided attention. Listen to this person, really listen. Just be there and perhaps even ask what he or she needs from you.

We want help. But mostly? Mostly we’re just afraid of asking, because we’re afraid of the response you’ll give.

So please!
Please know that this darkness is part of all of us. For some it’s just too much right now. And that’s OK to talk about. 💕

There… I said it. Think of me what you want. Think of me as irresponsible. Unprofessional. Stupid. Whatever…

WHAAAAT EVERRRRRRRR!

All these stories going on about how Facebook keeps making it difficult for entrepreneurs to do their business here. The algorithm thing. The bait clicking thing. Now the post/video from Mr. Mark himself. It’s all too much.

Boys and girls, all you entrepreneurs out there….
Facebook is Facebook. Nothing has changed. Still not. It’s still the same damn thing.

Just think of how Facebook started of. It was a platform on which you could stay connected to people. It wanted to strenghten connections BETWEEN PEOPLE.

That’s what Facebook was created for, right? OK, and let’s not forget the fact that Mark probably saw it as an opportunity to make him some him money too. But hey…. we all want that.

Now, if you have an online shop like I have, just think of why people buy from you. Sure, they like your products. But that’s not all. It never was. They buy from you because you offer them something valuable. A solution to a problem. And they buy it from you. Yes, YOU!

They don’t buy something from this thing that we call a company. They don’t buy it from some fancy made up name. They buy a solution from a human being. A person. You!

People want real connections. Meaningful connections.
In real life, but also online. It’s all the same!

So is with choosing a company to buy goods from. Human beings are ALWAYS more attracted to real connections. It’s part of our internal system, our brain, our DNA, our genetics.

Think of it like this:
You need to buy something online. Now you get to choose where you to buy it.

A:
There’s this person… You feel like you know him or her. Even though you have never even met in real life. You know this person. His or her humor, the things he/she likes and even dislikes. You even know really personal things about this person. You feel like you actually KNOW this person. Even if it’s just from Facebook. And now we’re at it… You even like this person!

B:
There’s this huge company that sells a lot of different products. Yes, also the thing you need. You don’t the person behind the company. There’s no familiar face to this company. It’s just that…. A company. A name. In your mind you try to envision a building where the company is located. People working there. But you don’t know, do you? Because you don’t know anything about this company.

Now tell me:
Where will you buy the thing you need???

I just KNOW that you’ll go for the person you know. Or feel like you know. It’s that connection thing. You feel a CONNECTION with this person. And yes, that person happens to have a company that sells the thing you want.

Makes perfect sense right?!

Then why can’t you see how Facebook works for entrepeneurs? WHY???

It’s all about creating a connection. A real connection. People want real connections. Customers want real connections. And they want to buy from REAL PEOPLE.

So just show up as you. Be you. The real you. The interesting you.

The good.
The bad.
The ugly.
The funny.
The emotional.
The dark.
The light.
The real.
The one and only YOU!

That’s all that matters. Really.

I’m in a foul mood. Am I seriously going to write about that today? Hell yes, I am. Because if I have learned one thing from my mentor, is that you show up. Always. No matter how you feel, no matter if you feel like it or not. You just show up and let the message come out, no matter what. So here I am…

So what it is that I will be writing about to you?

Well, I have been crying this morning. Something happened, well… a lot of things happened actually. And then I just need to release all of it. It’s just the way it is. Just the way I work.

Sure, it all started with my throat being sore, my tonsils swollen, my nose stuffed. Didn’t sleep well either. And we all know what a bad night of sleep does, right?!

But I also know that a bad night, brings me to feeling a lot of things. Lots of emotions bubbling up. And that leads to epic writing. It always does. Thus I just show up and unleash the message from within….

As I said before, I was crying this morning. Now don’t go feeling sad for me. No need to do that! It’s all OK now.

It’s just this thing that keeps coming up. As a gentle reminder. Or perhaps not so gentle at all.

It’s lying. People lying to me. I can’t handle that. Still can’t. Still won’t.

I’ve been lied to countless times. Yes, I know, it happens to everyone. Yes, I know it hurts. Yes, I know it’s not fair. And that you don’t like it either. But it’s part of human beings right? Lying is normal, right? Everyone tells some lies from time to time, right?

NO!
Hell no!

I don’t know where you’re from, but in my world, in my vision of the world, telling a lie is never OK. Never.

Perhaps this has to do with my past. Being lied to was part of a mind-fuck that my mother was playing on me. On our entire family even. And not just that…. She even fooled everyone she encountered, with her lies. It was part of her being. Guess that’s why I hate lies. It was done too often too me. It was a part of my life for way too long. Became a part of me, even.

I mean, being lied to that often that you start to feel as if you are the crazy one? That it feels as if you are making things up? That you start to doubt your own sanity? That you no longer trust your own judgement? That you start to second-guess your own ability to remember things that happened?

Because perhaps…
Maybe the one telling the lies and making you believe the lies, was in fact right. Maybe the one doing this to you, knows more. Maybe you are in fact really insane, crazy, wrong. Maybe the lies are in fact true. And maybe… Just maybe… You’re the one seeing things wrong, even though you clearly know it’s all lies. But that doesn’t matter. You must be wrong. If someone tells you often enough that you’re wrong, crazy, insane… That must be true then.

There’s this crazy thing with a human brain. Tell it enough lies, and it will start believing the lies. Or at least doubting reality. You can do this with your own mind. You do this already, even if you’re not aware of it.
If you do it in a positive way, it’s mindset work. You simply trick your mind into believing positive things you tell yourself. Works like a charm! Or you tell yourself enough negative things and soon you’ll start believing these negative things to be true. Whatever works best for you, right?

But did you know…
Did you know that others can use these tricks on you too?

Sure you know. We all know how others can manipulate you into believing things, into seeing things a specific way.

But did you know?
Did you know that some people, perhaps even quite a lot of people, know how to use this power against people? It’s called gaslighting and is often done as a mind-game by manipulators and mentally unhealthy people.

All to make you doubt your own sanity. All to make you look like a fool. A fool who’s clearly wrong about everything, and the person doing this to you is always right. Duh…

Mind-fuckery at its best!

So yeah… I don’t do well with lies being told. Me being lied to. Even if, like this morning, I thought my son was telling a lie. Nothing big! I mean, he’s a kid and was just a bit worried that I would get angry at him over something he did. Guess he was wrong…. I’m more OK with him being a kid and doing crazy kid-stuff, than being lied to. Yes, this even goes for my kids. Lying about things? Not OK. Never.

Better be completely open and honest, and speak up. That’s what I value. That’s what I love. That’s what works best for me. And with me even.

So are you speaking up? Speaking your own truth? Being you? The real you! No holding back, no lying. Not to others, and clearly also not to yourself.