BOOM! I’m turning 27 today and it seems so weird! Few years ago, turning 27 would mean that my life has basically ended and what’s left ahead is only long, dreary, uninteresting adulthood. I still have not done so many things and there’s so little time left!
Now, when this is happening, I can’t understand why I thought so at one point. Maybe that’s because I was quite lost when I was younger and couldn’t make up my mind whether to follow my own heart or the advice of the others, “more experienced” ones? I also believed at one point that it’s not possible to break out of the socially accepted framework even if it means living against myself.
Now, for the past few months, I’ve somehow managed to actually break out of those standards and life has never tasted better. I am working hard to lay solid foundations to live a life in agreement with my core values and not with what society wants me to do. It costs a lot of work, quite a bit of brainstorming, some stress, but I am absolutely sure it’s worth all the effort. I have some big changes to come next year. Sorry for being so enigmatic right now, I will make the big announcement in January 2017.
Before that comes, however, I want to share some thoughts with you today. It’s not really travel related, but these are the things that I grew up to realise in the past years and introduced in my life to a much larger extent than before in the past months.
There is one thing that is ONLY mine and this thing is not renewable. It’s time – the most precious of all resources we all have. I’ve learnt to use my time wisely by letting go of people who do not care about relationship with me as much as I do. If it’s always me who has to send the email first, I don’t see the point of dragging such a one-sided relationship. My circle of friends has become a bit smaller, but there’s more space and air for those who are dear to me and reciprocate my feelings.
I love travelling. I love travelling solo even more and if I don’t do that often enough, I feel faded, wasted. There are people who need a new set of furniture to their flat, I need the spontaneity of travel.
I am an introvert who loves spending time with people. I love being in the centre of events, but there comes a moment when I must step back and recharge my internal batteries. And I must do it alone, preferably in the woods or in the nature. That’s how it works and I’ve learnt to accept that and takce care of providing myself with enough of self-time.
Chciałabym mieć więcej czasu na takie wyjazdy. This year, I’ve also reminded myself how important and pleasant it is to also travel with someone I love and break out of the routine of daily life. Take time to talk and focus on the other person instead of on what still needs to be done at home, on email or other Internet distractions. I wish I had more time for that.
My money is my business and everyone has his or her own priorities. Someone might save money for a new table to a flat or a car, I am saving money for a new trip or a new lens to my camera. Asking where I take money from is tactless, but I will tell you: I work hard and save. Instead of buying new clothes, I buy tickets.
Alcohol is overrated. I prefer a productive day when I have a lot of creative energy to a half-day long hangover after a drinking party.
Following my own intuition is the best thing I can actually do, because no one else knows better than me how I feel about certain things, what makes me happy and what frustrates me. When you’re young, it’s easy to trust in the opinions of others, who claim to be “more experienced and wiser”. They might have good intentions, but they perceive the world through their own experiences and what works for them might not work for you. I had an episode when I traded my own intuition for the opinions of others but it didn’t do me any good. I’d rather make my own mistakes and write my own stories.
Breakfast really IS the most important meal of the day and it’s also the most pleasant part of the day. I prefer to get up 30 minutes earlier and have time for the morning ritual of preparing and eating breakfast than sleep longer and rush to work hungry.
It’s crucial to have an aim in life and strive to achieve it. Aimless life is comparable to vegetable’s life. You might just as well call yourself a table not a human if you don’t have an aim in life.
It’s high time to take proper care of myself. Buy meat from a local farmer rather than from a super market. Choose the slightly more expensive but natural eggs. Buy better quality beauty products. It all matters, because we’re not getting younger.
High intensity interwal trainings are always better than cardio. Hip thrusts are the best to get a round booty. Round booties are better than flat ones.
You always look better than you think you do. Apart from that, no one actually cares what you look like because everyone is focused on their own looks, their own problems.
I must finally learn how to negotiate.
Dreams without a deadline are waste of time. Dreams work only if you plan then and do whatever it takes to make them true.
If I meet someone whose only interest is him or herself and who directs all conversation topics to him/herself, I am no longer scrupulous to break the conversation and just leave. Like I wrote at the beginning of this post, I don’t want to waste my time on listening to someone’s monologues, since I prefer honest and meaningful dialogues instead.
No one has the right to valuate someone else’s experiences, needs, fears, desires. No one has the right to say whose needs are more important, because a small think might mean a universe for one person and nothing at all for someone else. It all depends on the perspective.
“Real life” doesn’t start after you have had kids. I understand that kinds can be in the centre of someone’s life, but I don’t think that having kids gives anyone green light to behave like a martyr or demand more rights as opposed to those who don’t have kids.
Female friendship is really unique and valuable, but sometimes it’s difficult to sustain it. Meetings with females only have a truly unique atmosphere but it sometimes vanishes as soon as a male enters and the female solidarity shatters to pieces. This should not be like that. This year, I’ve made some good female friends and I value that a lot.
Health cannot be taken for granted! That’s the biggest surprise I’ve come to realise this year. It’s really worth taking proper care of oneself by means of eating healthily, working out, having enough sleep, because health once lost is very difficult to retrieve. Life looses its taste once you’re sick.
But still, against all odds, life is GREAT.
The featured image was taken by Anita. <3
