KAREN VAN RUITEN
‘It comes and goes in waves.’
KAREN VAN RUITEN is Program Director at Alles is gezondheid and the Institute for Positive Health. She focuses on innovations in care and health. She talks with Tamara Swart, initiator of the Mental Health Art Tour, about resilience and how to learn to look at things differently.
Cradle
Where you are born largely determines your health prospects. It influences numerous factors such as education or income, and therefore also how healthy you are. In a prosperous country like the Netherlands, that can make a difference of as much as eight years in life expectancy. I realize that if my cradle had been somewhere else, I would have had different opportunities.
had. I believe we must keep that humanity in mind and help each other. No individualization, but solidarity, also in the field of health.
Expert by experience
If you feel or understand the situation someone is in, it is easy to connect. That is why I enjoy working with experts by experience. Advice from one young mother to another young mother works much better than that from a much older doctor, so to speak. I have a friend who has diabetes, just like me. We
They don't have much to explain to each other about that.
Ebb and flow
'It comes and goes in waves.' We all respect that there is ebb and flow. But life, too, comes in waves. I trust that when you find yourself at the lowest point and sitting in the dark, it will rise again.
tomorrow becomes and the sun rises. That realization makes life bearable. Not having to tell that because you are the same
experiencing this makes us feel supported, connected, and understood.
Holistic
In my work, I do not approach health solely physically. After all, I am not concerned with perfect blood sugar levels. If, within the medical domain, we continue to look only at the diagnosis, at what is 'wrong' with
If someone is missing something, we are missing an essential component. A sense of purpose and the ability to participate in society are just as important. I want to work towards a healthy generation where we take a holistic view of health.
Paracetamol
During the pandemic, I worked a lot from home at the computer. When I felt a headache coming on, I took a paracetamol. But I noticed that I was taking them relatively more often than was good for me. I was suppressing the headache.
but didn't address the core issue. With a few haptonomy sessions, I learned to sense my own needs and emotions. By creating calm and space, you learn to feel what is bothering you. Now, if I feel a headache coming on, I try to go outside or reschedule something in my agenda. That helps.
To-do list
I always have a lot of to-do lists. Sometimes I lie awake because of them. I could start prioritizing, but that doesn't work. It is actually a matter of 'from head to heart.' You can rationalize the question 'what do I really need to do right now,' but if you listen to what your heart tells you, only two or three things actually remain on that to-do list. The rest can really wait until tomorrow or be done by someone else.
Gut feeling
I don't want to look back on my life with regret later. Sometimes you have to seize opportunities and change course, as I did by changing jobs. I was reminded of Pippi Longstocking and her friends Tommy and Annika. They are well-behaved children who neatly walk the right path. But Pippi is the one who flutters through it all.
experiences adventures. I chose adventure and trusted my gut feeling. There is a lot of wisdom in your gut. And things always turn out fine.
Challenge
Life is not just easy or fun for anyone. Everyone faces challenges. It is not about weighing suffering. It is about what you do with it, because grief is the same. Sometimes adversity is also good for something and can be enriching.
