“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

~ Mahatma Ghandi [1869 - 1948]

Me & my son in the center
of our hometown.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

This blog started out in 2012 as an ordinary blog, where I spoke my mind about, basically anything that occupied my mind. As of now, it’s part of my current venture, Daan van den Bergh: the author, the analyst, the observer and the visionary.

I have seen many different people, layers of society and forms of pain in my – relatively short – life.

Domestic Violence has played a significant role in my childhood and at a very young age I was (self-)assigned with the role of guardian within my family. This caused me to lead a very externally focussed childhood. I became a trained observer and problem solver and I never (!) got to know myself.

This self-neglect caused me to collapse at age 25, shortly after the birth of my son, Danell, where I was diagnosed with Dysthymia.

A friend once told me:

“Most people don’t see the things you talk about, until they’re sixty.”

Sometimes I feel sixty.

I recently finished my first book, in which I share my experience with Domestic Violence and how I overcame my Dysthymic Disorder. It’s currently only written in my native language – Dutch, but I hope to translate it to English sometime in the near future. However, trying to get the book published is currently my main focus.

About this blog

On this blog I store my poetry, short-stories and flash-fiction, which for some reason is all written in English — the poetic voices in my head speak English, obviously.

Besides that, I recently found a new voice, which I categorized under ‘Commentary‘. As a trained observer and problem solver, I vent my opinion on topics that I’m passionate about, such as the stigma around mental health, international affairs and society in all its ugliness.

If you’d like to get in touch with me, you can follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook and/or circle me on Google+. You can also drop me a line by using the contact-form.

For more information on Guest-blogging on Daan van den Bergh.com, click here.