"My life never truly pauses, but my Lotgenootje weighted stuffed animal gives me rest I can't find anywhere else"
How deep pressure stimulation gives me a small sense of safety every day as someone with a chronic illness, and why softness is sometimes the strongest choice.
Most 21-year-olds dream about their future. So do I! Only my future isn't just shaped by my dreams, plans or ambitions. It's shaped by doctors, treatments, IV pumps, test results and a body that is severely and complexly ill. Sometimes the question of whether I even have a future at all takes over completely. That realization cuts so deep that I often don't dare let it fully sink in.
In June 2025 I underwent a life-saving operation. And although it was completely successful, I've been living on life-prolonging treatments ever since. I receive my nutrition through a direct line to my heart, yet I find incredible joy in life.
But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's a big difference between living and feeling safe in life.
My body demands vigilance every single day. Being alert isn't a choice for me, it's a necessity. A small change in my health can have enormous consequences. So I'm always somewhere in the background paying attention, sensing and assessing.
I came across Lotgenootje through social media. When I read more about the idea behind it, I felt an immediate recognition. Not because I thought a stuffed animal would change my whole situation or heal me. I'm realistic enough for that by now. But because I've learned just how important small things can be in life when you feel like you're losing all control.
1. Lotgenootje brings my nervous system just a little more to rest
When my stuffed animal arrived, I had just come out of a very long hospital stay. I quickly noticed that Lotgenootje is more than just a stuffed animal. Especially the deep pressure it provides sometimes brings my nervous system just a little more to rest. That might sound like a small observation. For me, with a body that's constantly switched on, it isn't.
I don't want to make big claims about it. But there's something in that deep pressure that sometimes lets my body settle, a little less alert and a little less switched on. And that's something I don't easily find anywhere else in my life.
🧘♀️ Deep pressure has a calming effect on the nervous system, even with chronic stress
😴 Helps me wind down faster, even after difficult days
🫶 Not a medicine, but something I have in my own hands
2. Lotgenootje gives me something to hold onto when pain, fear and uncertainty take over
There are moments when pain, fear and uncertainty sometimes take over everything. In those moments I don't always have someone with me. And even when I do, there are things you simply can't transfer to another person, no matter how much they want to help.
In those moments, Lotgenootje gives me something to literally hold onto. The deep pressure does something that's hard to describe, but that I feel every single time. Not because it takes away the pain or resolves the fear. But because it's simply there. And sometimes that's exactly enough.
🧸 Physical grounding in the hardest moments
🌙 Comfort that's just there, without having to explain anything
🫂 Something to hold onto when words fall short
3. Lotgenootje taught me that strength sometimes lies in allowing softness
People often think that strength means pushing through, fighting and holding on. I thought that too for a long time. But chronic illness taught me something different. Strength sometimes also lies in allowing softness. In accepting help. In finding something that offers comfort.
Lotgenootje fits exactly with that lesson. It's not a sign of weakness that I use it. It's a conscious choice to take care of myself on the days when that's hardest.
💛 Allowing softness is a form of self-care, not weakness
🧘♀️ Helps me consciously let rest in, in a life that rarely offers it naturally
🫶 A daily reminder that small things can make a big difference
4. Lotgenootje gives me a sense of safety I can't force
There's a big difference between living and feeling safe in life. I understand that distinction better than most. My body is vulnerable, that's a fact. But the feeling of safety, that small sense of calm from within, isn't something I can force with willpower or medication.
What I can do is look for small things that support that feeling. Lotgenootje is one of them. The deep pressure gives me a sense of security that I struggle to fully put into words, but that I feel every time I hold it.
🧸 A sense of security that works from the outside in
🫂 Feeling safe sometimes starts with something tangible around you
💤 Helps quiet the mind when thoughts keep circling
5. Lotgenootje proves every day that small things can make the biggest difference
People sometimes think that strength lies in pushing through, fighting and holding on. But I've learned that strength sometimes also lies in allowing softness. In accepting help. In finding something that offers comfort.
For me, that's exactly what Lotgenootje does. Not a cure or a miracle solution, but a small piece of rest in a life where rest is often hard to come by.
📈 Over 100,000 people have gone before you
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🤝 A community of people who truly understand
💬"I've learned how important small things can be when you feel like you're losing all control. For me, Lotgenootje is exactly that."
— Ilse Keuning, 21 years old
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