I’ve started a Facebook page: Tiny House Nederland. I’m regularly posting nice examples of Tiny Houses and other useful articles there to inspire people in the Netherlands interested in Tiny Houses. For whatever reason. The other day I got sort of blamed for posting only American houses on this page and that I shouldn’t have called it Tiny House Nederland then. And why I didn’t I post Dutch houses? And how the Tiny House movement in the Netherlands is completely different from that in the US.
Okay… it annoyed me. First of all because I do post information on small Dutch houses on my Facebook page. I try to post as much useful information and inspiring examples as possible and I personally don’t care where those are from. What I care about is that this page is a place where Dutch people can find info and since there are practically no Tiny Houses in the Netherlands (as far as I know), I use examples from the US and other countries. And everyone is welcome to post info about Dutch Tiny Houses!
But the core of my annoyance is this: again it’s made to be an issue of “who is included and who is not”. We should get rid of that! What is it anyway? Jealousy? Envy? Ego? Especially in this time of change as well as in this movement we shouldn’t measure each other’s worth by our own values. We should work together, share together and wish each other the best. What does it matter whether you build your Tiny House yourself or not? What does it matter whether it is in America or Germany? What does it matter whether you are completely or partially off grid? What does it matter whether it’s on wheels or not? What does it matter? The Tiny House movement in my opinion came from a need to go back to the basics, a life that’s less about stuff and waste and more about harmony with nature and each other. We should embrace that! How far you take that is different for everybody. And that’s okay! It’s a journey, a process and please let everyone go through that at their own pace. When people are striving to live more Eco-friendly, it does not stimulate them when you point out to them all the ways in which they are not yet Eco-friendly.
Is the Tiny House movement so different then in the Netherlands compared to America? I don’t think so. I think we are only at the beginning here. More and more people are hearing about Tiny Houses and are starting to dream. We just need a few dams to break and then the floods will come, when people see it is possible. That does not mean there are no Dutch people living in small houses, sometimes off grid, sometimes partially or completely self-sustaining, in yurts, trailers, caravans, small apartments, etc. It’s just that these people often don’t feel the need to go public and put photos of their houses on the internet, etc. And that’s fine. Are they part of the Tiny House movement? …
What does it matter?!! :)
Translation of the text in the picture: what will we do with competition when we find that we are all unique?
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