I woke up to a lot of activity in my LinkedIn inbox.

What happened? I thought.

“Is it my birthday? Are we in June already?”

Not my birthday.

My 5-year work anniversary.

I feel stunned. Really? Has it been that long???

I feel proud. I’m still here!

And yes, I feel frustrated.

You may be surprised to see me write that.

1. I’m the eternal optimist
2. Aren’t we only supposed to mention our successes when we communicate?

The second one really gets me. It looks like no one struggles. Everyone is successful. Then when someone suddenly makes a change we are surprised. What happened? They were doing so well…?

But – you know – I’m Dutch. We don’t do diplomacy very well. For better or for worse.

I do have to admit I feel frustrated that I’m not further yet.

• I’m nowhere close to where I thought I was headed when I started out
• I don’t feel like I have achieved much professional success in the space of 5 years as I would have wanted to
• I feel like I’ve made too ...