I used to dream as a little girl of this beautiful life, where my dreams are fulfilled and I had everything I wanted. As I grew older and started working I started dreaming less materialistically and more of things that seemed so simple yet so hard to get, like sleep, regular meals and just those few moments to myself.
Life became more of a vicious circle, where I would wake up, get out, work, get back, eat and sleep. It was not the life I dreamt of as I felt so unmotivated to get out of the bed every morning. I felt stuck in a routine that I couldn’t change, because despite the fact that I didn’t like it I had a good job, one that pays well and one that is very much respected by the society. However, the fact that my dreams were to travel the world, to do something challenging and different made me feel unhappy with that situation I found myself in.
Now thinking about it, I realise that I blamed everyone but the only person to blame-myself. I blamed my parents for letting me study what wasn’t my dream job, I blamed my friends for not understanding why I didn’t like it, I blamed the bosses for constantly motivating me with higher wages when I wanted a change. And the thing is I only needed to make a decision.
The thing is that I understand something huge now- being satisfied and happy comes from within. There is something you need to shift from inside in order to have that life of your dreams. A little button, which needs to be pressed from unhappy to happy and that is when the magic starts to happen.
I was still leading this 9-6 type of life when I became happy and started leading an amazing life. Why? Because I realised that life doesn’t happen online, life doesn’t happen when you sit at home and think about how unhappy you are, life happens when you start admiring these little details around you, on your everyday way to work, on your way back, on your lunch break, while you work…These little amazing things which you miss because you are to occupied not being happy with where you are and what you do.
I started by naming all the things I was grateful for every morning and evening. In the beginning those were little things like ” I feel so grateful for the amazing meal I had today, I am so grateful for getting a lift to work, and not getting wet in the rain…” Those affirmations started making me feel like Im really blessed. Soon I started asking universe for nothing, instead of asking for better life I started realising how great it already is, and started wishing good stuff for other people. This is when things started happening.
I remember a conversation which now seems like it happened years ago. I told my dad how people don’t take me seriously at work, because I dress up, they don’t take me authoritatively as I always smile and they confuse my kindness for weakness. I said how unhappy I was with my choices in life, and how I feel stuck like there is no way out. I kept saying this same thing to everyone else, and the more I kept repeating it, the more I was convinced that thats my life. I couldn’t even believe how much my life changed once I stopped talking about all the things I disliked and started admiring little things I was grateful for in my life.
Nothing was taken for granted, and all the blogging job opportunities that came my way, I made sure to be thankful for. The more grateful I was more things came my way. This huge gratitude not only made me feel better, but made my life better by sending amazing stuff my way.
All of sudden I realised there were more great things in my life than those bad things. I didn’t feel stuck and finally decided to make a change. I felt confident and brave enough to do anything I want because I knew that even if it doesn’t workout I will be grateful for the experience I had.
Yes, you read well, at that point I wasn’t grateful only for things that worked out well, but for things that dint work out at all.I started saying thank you for that fake friend that betrayed me, because she showed me her real colours and I didn’t have to be friends with someone like that anymore. Thank you for that break up because I could finally focus on my life and myself, thank you for losing those brand new shoes at the train station moments after buying them -because I realised I need to be more careful, attentive, and pay attention to the things that are happening around me.
Take charge of your life. Realise that if you are having a bad day, doesn’t mean you are having a bad life, you just need to look at all the beautiful aspects of it. There’s beauty to be found in simplicity. There are people who have nothing, live on the streets yet are happy. Don’t be scared to take risks, be grateful, appreciate every chance you get, smile on the street and love yourself. This is when life starts being really amazing.
My sister now calls me bon vivant, it means someone who knows how to live, someone who lives well, and yes its a skill. It has nothing to do with what you have, who you know or where you are. Its just an art of living, being happy no matter where, being satisfied from inside in order to start having changes on the outside. No one has a perfect life, we all have problems or bad days, but its up to us how we perceive them. I wish you all a lovely week ahead and don’t forget to look around to found those beautiful things that are going to make your life-truly amazing!
———————————————————————————————-
Secam se kada sam kao mala sanjala o savrsenom zivotu, gde bi mi svi snovi bili ispunjeni i imala bih sve sto zelim. Kako sam odrastala i pocela raditi zelela sam manje materijalnih stvari i vise nekih jednostavnijih sitnica koje sam smatrala da vise nego zasluzujem ali ne mogu imati, kao sto je vise sna i par trenutaka posvecenih samoj sebi.
Zivot je postao kao zacarani krug iz kojeg nisam mogla izaci. Ustajanje rano ujutru, posao, vracanje s posla, vecera i spavanje. To sigurno nije bio zivot o kom sam sanjala. Osecala sam se zaglavljeno u ovoj rutini koja mi nije pricinjavala nikakvo zadovoljstvo. Nisam mogla nista izmeniti jer sam imala dobro placen posao, i iako nisam imala motivaciju da ustanem iz kreveta svako jutro, znala sam da radim nesto sto je veoma cenjeno u mom okruzenju. Ipak, moji snovi da putujem svetom i da radim nesto izazovno podsecali su me svakodnevno koliko je stvarnost drugacija i koliko sam nezadovoljna sa njom.
Sada kada razmisljam o tome, shvatam da sam za svoje nezadovoljstvo krivila sve druge, osim jedinu osobu koju sam trebala kriviti-sebe. Krivila sam roditelje sto su mi dopustili da studiram ono sto nije moj san, krivila prijatelje sto ne razumeju,krivila sefove sto mi daju povisicu svaki put kada zelim da napustim taj posao. Sve sto je trebalo da uradim-jeste da donesem odluku.
Razlika izmedju tada i sada jeste da ma sta god radila u zivotu sada znam kako biti srecan. Tajna je da zadovoljstvo dolazi iznutra i nema veze sa spoljasnjim faktorima. Morate promeniti nesto u sebi da biste ziveli svoj zivot iz snova. Jedno malo dugme koje treba da pritisnete, da ukljucite zadovoljan a iskljucite nezadovoljan i tada magija pocne da se desava.
I dalje sam vodila ovaj 9-6 zivot kada su stvari pocele da se menjaju. Zasto? Zato sto sam shvatila da se zivot ne desava na internetu, zivot se ne desava dok sedite kod kuce i razmisljate koliko ste nesrecni, zivot se desava kada pocnete da primecujete sve te divne stvari oko vas i kada pocnete da se divite sitnicama koje do tada niste primecivali. U bilo koje doba dana ili noci, na putu do posla, ili na poslu… Sve te stvari koje propustate jer ste okupirani samim sobom i svojim nezadovoljstvom.
Pocela sam da nabrajam stvari za koje sam zahvalna svako jutro i vece. U pocetku su to bile sitnice kao “Jako sam zahvalna za ukusan rucak danas, zahvalna sam za prevoz do posla, te sto nisam pokisla…” Sve te pozitivne misli uticale su na to kako se osecam. Pocela sam da verujem da sam blagoslovena ovim malim stvarima koje mi univerzum salje. Vrlo brzo prestala sam da trazim i zelim bilo sta, bila sam pre zahvalna na svemu oko sebe i pocela da trazim stvari za ljude koji to nisu bili. Tek onda sam shvatila koliko imam na cemu da budem zahvalna. Tada su se i prave stvari pocele desavati u mom zivotu.
Secam se razgovora koji mi se cini kao da je bio pre mnogo godina, iako nije bio cak ni tako davno. Rekla sam tati kako me ljudi ne shvataju ozbiljno na poslu, jer mi je stalo kako izgledam, ne gledaju na mene kao na autoritet jer sam uvek ljubazna i nasmejana, brkaju moje dobro raspolozenje i slabost. Pricala sam mu koliko sam nezadovoljna sa izborima u zivotu, kako krivim izmedju ostalog i njega i kako sam zaglavljena negde odakle nemam izlaz. Isto to sam govorila i prijateljima, porodici i sto sam to vise ponavljala bila sam vise i vise ubedjena da je to moja jedina realnost. Ne mogu da verujem koliko se moj zivot promenio od kako sam prestala da se zalim i pocela da se divim svim onim divnim stvarima koje mi je zivot podario.
Odjednom sam shvatila da u mom zivotu ima mnogo vise lepih nego ruznih stvari. Nisam se osecala zaglavljenom u svojim odlukama, vec sam skupila hrabrost i donela odluku. Odluku za promenom, jer promene su jedine konsantne stvari koje se desavaju u nasem zivotu. Imala sam dovoljno samopouzdanja da uradim bilo sta, jer sam znala da cak i ako ne ispadne onako kako zelim, ja cu u toj promeni naci nesto za sta mogu da budem zahvalna.
Da, dobro ste procitali, u tom trenutku mog zivota naucila sam da budem zahvalna i na ruznim stvarima. Pocela sam da se zahvaljujem univerzumu i sto me je ta drugarica izneverila, jer vise nisam morala da trpim lazne prijatelje, zahvalna sam na prekidu veze, jer sam mogla da se posvetim sebi i onome sto volim da radim, zahvalna sam bila i na tome sto sam izgubila tek kupljene brendirane cizme na stanici u Parizu, jer sam shvatila da je to poruka da moram biti pazljivija, obazrivija i obracati vise paznje na stvari oko sebe kako se ne bih dovela u opasnost.
Uzmite kontrolu nad svojim zivotom. Shvatite da cak i ako imate los dan, ne znaci da imate los zivot, sve sto treba da uradite jeste fokusirate se na dobre stvari u njemu. Lepotu mozete naci u jednostavnim, malim stvarima. Ima ljudi koji nemaju nista, zive na ulicama ali su jako srecni. Nemojte se bojati rizika, budite zahvalni, cenite svaku priliku koju dobijete, smeskajte se ljudima na ulici i volite sami sebe. Tada zivot postaje fenomenalan.
Sestra me sada zove bon vivant, sto znaci neko ko zna kako da zivi, neko ko zivi dobro, i da, mislim da je u pitanju umece. Nema nikakve veze sa onim sto imate, koga znate ili gde se nalazite. U pitanju je umetnost zivljenja, znanje kako da budete srecni ma gde bili, jer zadovoljstvo mora postojati unutra da bi se vase okruzenje promenilo. Niko nema savrsen zivot, svi imamo probleme i lose dane, ali sve je do nas kako se sa njima nosimo. Zelim vam svima divnu nedelju i ne zaboravite da pogledate oko sebe i nadjete sve one divne stvari koje cine vas zivot-zaista neverovatnim.