About Me

Hi, I'm Marieke!
An optimistic, adventurous marketing manager, illustrator, creative, do-gooder, and a happy dreamer of course!… Until suddenly I wasn't all that anymore. In the summer of 2015 – just when I had my dream job and was really happy with my husband in Australia - I fell into a cloud of anxiety, fear and panic. The situation was so urgent we felt we had to move back to the Netherlands.
There I was, with anxiety, a deep depression, burnout, or whatever you’d like to call it, and without any hope or idea of how I would ever get out if this mess. I was absolutely certain I would never feel better again. Was it the end of an adventure? The end of Marieke? Or was it in fact a new beginning?
It was! I did many things, and slowly but surely I started feeling better. When I felt fully recovered I made this book, so that if I ever went =through a similar situation again I would have a step-by-step guide to help me out of the situation. After receiving a huge amount of positive feedback, I decided to make copies of the book so that others could use it as well. And now it’s here for you, fully re-drawn and rewritten in English. My wish for you is that it will help you as it helped me.
Lars and I published the book ourselves, in the same loving way as the book was made: straight from the heart. Although we took a risk, it was exciting and a very special project. And as Pippi Longstocking is supposed to have said, "I’ve never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that."
Lots of love, Marieke
