{"id":198513,"date":"2026-06-24T15:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=198513"},"modified":"2026-06-25T11:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:10:11","slug":"twisted-cheerleader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2026\/06\/24\/twisted-cheerleader\/","title":{"rendered":"Twisted cheerleader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGeisje van der Linden<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well, here we are. My last column for Erasmus Magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To think that all of this started as a private dare to myself when the competition to become the next columnist was announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing has always been a laborious task for me. Borderline painful sometimes. Each sentence exhausts your attention and energy to ensure all of them fit in harmony to deliver a concise, logical picture. Fully knowing this torture awaited me, I took on the dare anyway, because what better way to face a lion than head-on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, the dare didn\u2019t start with EM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A million years ago, my BSA dictated me to leave my double bachelor\u2019s degree. I stood at a crossroads: appeal to the examination board, switch to IBEB, or leave Erasmus University entirely. I chose IBEB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt like a big fat failure. No achievements, no direction, not even all my credits. Switching to IBEB felt like returning to campus with a huge neon sign on my forehead that said LOSER! I stepped into my second first year wrapped in fear that everyone would point and laugh at that label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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\n\t\t'Switching to IBEB felt like returning to campus with a huge neon sign on my forehead that said LOSER!'\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Turns out, that fear became my fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The haunting failure drove me to jump at every opportunity that sprouted along my path, daring me to push myself further each time, like joining committees and being a student ambassador. Every thought of ‘this is going to be painful’, became a stepping stone to where I sit today, writing my columns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each column published was its own challenge that came with a new milestone. Most of them felt like I exposed too much of my inner turmoils, as if I was sticking out raw flesh to be rubbed dry. But I dared myself to put it out there anyway, because holding back would be putting shame to the original dare I took in being a columnist for EM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they say, pressure turns coal into diamonds. I will not pretentiously self-proclaim as a diamond, but I admit that each time I have forced myself into discomfort, I have come out a better, sharper person. A different type of rock, if you will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear never became my friend, but it was never a foe either. After everything, I suppose it deserves to be called my twisted cheerleader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t