Now writing this, it's 31.12. and the year 2022. is ending soon. These days I have been going through my memories trying to sum up what 2022. brought me. And it brought me so much.
I wanna share with you my lessons, maybe some of you can relate or can be inspired by them.
1. SETTING BOUNDARIES AND COMMUNICATION ARE ESSENTIAL SKILLS TO DEVELOP
You are maybe thinking everyone knows how to communicate, but do they really? What I mean by this is that it is VERY important HOW you communicate.
A lot of us struggle with boundaries. We let other people take advantage of us and our time. We often have these beliefs that we need to first do what is asked in order to be a good partner/friend/family member. But the truth is, we need to be our best friend and first take care of ourselves and then we have the capacity to deal with other people too.
Developing personal boundaries for me was hard. I didn't even realize I don't show respect for myself and that I keep letting people hurt me or drain my energy.
The strongest manifestation of this lesson was in my relationship. I let to be stepped on because I was scared to say no and then act upon my words. With time I realized what are boundaries. How to set them, how to communicate them, and then how to act upon them. There are always some situations where it is gonna be easier or harder to do it but it is a lifelong practice.
2. LEARN TO BE PRESENT AND TO BE CONSCIOUS
Throughout this year I tried and used many tools for this. It doesn't matter what tool you use as long as it works for you and you feel good and see progress. When you practice mindful moments, you feel more, grounded, calm, and connected, so everything flows easier.
One of my favorite ones is the gratitude journal. Each day take time to think about things you are grateful for. It can be the smallest like a new pen or cookie someone gave you or something bigger like having a healthy family or nice house. Shifting your focus on the positive is something you train with this, and believe me, very soon you can feel the benefits in your mood and overall emotional state.
3. BE GENTLE, TO YOURSELF AND TO YOUR FEELINGS
I finally learned what it really means to be gentle to yourself. Often I would criticize myself and if I felt sad or anxious I would be harsh towards myself. Especially if I could not understand the cause at that moment.
It is very important to learn to accept your feelings, soothe yourself, and then let go. We often suppress our feelings thinking we let them go but really we didn't and then it just piles up. I needed years to figure out wtf accepting your feelings means. But once you feel it and do it, you know you finally learned it.
4. CELEBRATE YOUR SUCCESSES
Coming back again to mindset change and being conscious about our focus. It was easy to criticize myself and feel like I am not good enough. This is a learned behavior. So you can unlearn it. Through training, I learned there are many successes that I accomplished. Success is also results, actions, insights, mistakes, and new questions. When you start writing all of your successes and you really take some time for it, you realize, WOW, I really didn't let myself celebrate all my successes.
5. BE PLAYFUL, TRY SOMETHING NEW
When looking back on 2022. I realized how much more playful, creative and open I have become. I have taken myself on a lot of dates, just me, which I would never do before.
When I felt I wanna go somewhere I didn't try to find company so I can go, I was my best company.
For the first time I went alone to the cinema and after for a walk as a real date and I had a blast people! Went to the TEDx talk event by myself and enjoyed it so much. Just being alone in the room where almost everyone came with someone and feeling the freedom to do whatever I wanted without having to wait for a friend for the toilet etc. It was a new joyful experience. And the biggest thing was going to Erasmus plus training in Bulgaria when I didn't know anyone going so I traveled alone (you can read about my Erasmus experience in a previous blog post :)
6. MAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF AND LISTEN TO YOUR INTUITION
It is important to find time to quiet the mind and talk to yourself, listen to yourself because there ly all the answers. I do it with breathing exercises, meditations, journaling, and long walks.
When you focus on yourself everything else aligns.
Every person is a masterpiece. Let go of the idea that you need to become someone because you are already a masterpiece - Osho card
If you want me to share with you the tools and exercises I am mentioning in this text that helped me to become a better version of myself, I have created a workshop to give you that knowledge and tools.
You can read about it in the next post or/and contact me :)
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