Who am I?

So, when we decided to start a blog a little while ago, my manager and I needed to schedule the blog posts, and decide on the subjects. Naturally, the first blog would be about who I am, and what I do. Thinking that this would be the most easy blog to write, I started on it, but soon I learned that writing about who I am, is not easy at all.... I didn't want to write a generic blog post about my life, and athletic career; but something more personal and fun, to learn about the person behind the skater.

So after countless google sessions, reading a ton of other blogs, and hours of late night youtube-ing, I came up with an plan to tackle this post; answer some random questions that I found during my deep web exploring on blogging 101.
So without further ado, lets get rolling;

What are your nicknames? What do you prefer to be called?
I seem to have a lot of nicknames, though some might not have been designed for me to actually take notice off.... Some that I hear a lot of are "Ty" or lovingly adopted in my marketing "Mister T" (I like that one); my sister calls me "Tyty" - and I call her Dede by the way.
I prefer to be called Tyler.

What books on your shelf are begging to be read?
I live for the books written by Simon Sinek! I am reading his "Leaders eat last" at the moment, and have "Start with Why" waiting on my shelf for when I finished this one. I am a strictly non-fiction-only-selfhelp-managing-strategy book reader; but I have a few fiction books which I LOVE as well (including the graciously written book "Il Gattopardo"- LOVEEE IT). Atlas Shrugged is capturing dust on my shelf, as I bought it 3 summers ago to read, but the amount of pages has really scared me, and moved me toward watching the movie instead... 

How many days could you last in solitary confinement? How would you do it?
ZERO DAYS!! 

Do you save old greeting cards and letters? Throw them away?
I am a hoarder of old cards and letters! I think that, with some exceptions, I still have all my Christmas and birthday cards. My grandmother sends me a lot of cards throughout the year for all kind of occasions (Easter, Sinterklaas - a Dutch holiday, before important competitions, after important competitions) - I try to save them all.

How many times a day do you look at yourself in the mirror?
​Uhh... let's just skip this question - A lot of times...

What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
I swear I once saw the Easter Bunny jump over the fence after visiting our place to hide some chocolate eggs.

What is one guilty pleasure you enjoy too much to give up?
Netflix-ing - Who doesn't?!

Which animals scare you most? Why?
Just insects in general. I hate everything that creeps and crawls around. Yuk!

Are you more likely to avoid conflict or engage it head-on?
EN-GAGE - I love discussions; the reason no one was surprised when I decided to study law.

What is something about yourself that you hope will change, but probably never will?
I am truly sucking at getting up early. Whenever I have classes in the morning, or have an early training session, it takes forever to get up. Numerous self help blogs later, and still no progress.... Seems like this will never change.

When was the last time you really pushed yourself to your physical limits?
I try to really push my limits every single time I have training or hit the gym. I am a firm believer in hard work when you really want to succeed. So every training, every time I am going to the gym, I try to be better then last time; If it is jumping a jump, skating a step sequence, or running on the treadmill. I ALWAYS want to improve!

Do you have a whole lot of acquaintances or just a few very close friends? 
Both I guess. Because of skating, you get to know a lot of people, but on a very flat level. - It does good for the Facebook Friends count, but you do not form a lot of deep relationships. - I have a few close friends.

What’s a strange occurrence you’ve experienced but have never (or rarely) shared with anyone?
One time, when I was a lot younger, 6 or 7 years old, I saw a midget/dwarf like figure in my room, during the night. I tried to hide under my blanket (as if that had been a great spot to hide....) and peeked from underneath to keep an eye on it. After a minute or ten I fell asleep, and never saw it again. - Up until today, I have no idea what it was

What do you think about more than anything else?
​Skating, obviously

What’s something that amazes you?
People who have been through the worst of times, who do not victimize themselves, but get up, and accomplish something amazing; like wining the olympics or found an amazing company.

Do you prefer that people shoot straight with you or temper their words? 
Straight shooting any time!

Where’s your favourite place to take an out-of-town guest?
The "Zaanse Schans" - Please send me a recording of you trying to say it! - 10 minutes from my home. It is a small village in Zaandam where they put all the old buildings and mills from the region together (yes they towed the mills and houses!!). They have a wooden shoe store, cheese factory, and many mills to visit. I always love going there with guests!

What are the top three qualities that draw you to someone new?
Passion, commitment, imagination

What do you consider unforgivable?
Betrayal of any kind

Have you forgiven yourself for past personal failures? Why or why not?
I try to learn as much from past failures as possible. I do not think it is about forgiving, it is more about accepting, analyzing, and moving on.

In what area of your life are you immature?
I am a sucker for Disney; when visiting one of the parks, I instantly turn into a 6 year old! I do all the dances of the shows, sing all the songs, want to take a picture with all the princesses, and watch the fireworks every night!! 

When do you find yourself singing?
While driving - my car instantly turns into a karaoke bar when I turn on the engine; oh and while doing chores

Which is worse: failing or never trying?
NEVER TRYING is absolutely worse!! The road to success is filled with failure; I fail everyday; that last set of pull ups, the second program run trough, a difficult cluster of steps. You must always give 200% - you will fail 9 out of 10 times, but it is the 10th time, the one time you succeed that counts. And you will not get to it, if you haven't tried it in the first place.