4 lessons I learned in 2019

2019 was a year of changes for me and learning lessons. At the end of each year I like to take the time to reflect a bit about everything that happened: the good and the less good. Moving to the US was a dreamed come true but none of the good things in life come with only perfect sides. Moving to the US was no different. Today I wanted to share with you four things that I learned in 2019. Some of them I had it already in my mind others became even stronger in the past year.

1. Be a learning person, ALWAYS

When I told me friends and family I wanted to go back to university none of them support me. None of them understood the need to go back to school and stop working when I was already making a fair good amount of money. When I became so obsess with the subject, my very close girlfriends started supporting me. Only my very very close ones know how much I saved up, how much I studied and how much I desired my school. However, little I knew about the journey I was about to start. Returning to university has been much more than getting a master’s degree, it has been a journey of rediscovering myself as a better person.

I arrived sure of myself and very full of my past life. But learning a new skill has the capacity to put you in the back of room just little a little kid. With age, we avoid learning new things because we get scare to fail and disappoint ourselves and our love ones. We get so full of ourselves that we almost believe we know everything. Learning takes pride and I urge all of you to continue doing it throughout your life. Learning makes you humble in a way I ever never image I could become. It makes you feel you are such a little one with so much yet to know about life. And it is also that humility that takes you to the next level in life. To become a much wiser person, a better student/teacher and excellent human being.

2. Be grateful

I know is popular nowadays to use this word in social media but I really wanted you to understand how much the state of “being grateful’ changed my way of seeing life this year. In June 2019, I was in Mexico on vacation alone when I decided to buy a book called: “Magic” from Rhonda Byrne. This book led me to a journey of really appreciating what I have in life instead of constantly asking for more. Ever since I read that book, I started my day with 10 things I am grateful in life. They do not have to be big things but valuing each one of them daily has given me the capacity to see how lucky I am in life: for who I am becoming, who I have in my life; where I am; what I do. When I am about to complain about something or my friends are about to complain about something, I always have in mind: ‘there is always someone in a worse situation than me’ ‘There is always something to be grateful for’. Keep it in mind next something goes wrong. 😛

3. Be positive

This one did not come naturally to me. I grew up in a family where my dad was always calm and positive and my mom was always stress and negative. They balanced each other very well, I would say. I am an incredible stressed and worried person overall and, for many years, a quite negative one. With time, mediation and exercise, I have become a much more positive one. I can write more about this subject in the future but I think it is important to understand that being positive and happy is a daily life commitment that people sometimes forget. Everyone has bad days. I have days that I really wished I did not have to see or do anything. I have days that seeing someone else face get into my nerves (believe me). Everyone has those days and it is OK! But I commit myself everyday to send positive energies to the world/ to others. Years ago when I left my job in France the CEO told me on my last day: ‘We will miss your smile and your joy of living’. No matter what, always try to be positive – More opportunity will come to your way (I promise you). Today, I work with 3 amazing girls at university and we meet almost everyday to work. Towards the end of the quarter, we are always very tired and most of the time we do not sleep as many hours as we wish. There is not one morning that I meet them that I do not have the smile on my face. Not one morning that I am not full of energy. WHY? Because I know we need that POSITIVISM to keep going, to get things done; to succeed.

4. Be yourself

Being myself has been one of the hardest tasks for me in life because there are many things I wish were different inside and outside of me. With this being said, now let me tell you a story that happened to me in the beginning of the year.

When I joined my master I easily got along with people and form my little group of friends. I was quite happy with my new group of people when suddenly the plan of a trip to Mexico became a disaster and led to an argument between me and one of the guys in the group. I was so scared! I had just started my master’s and had already gain an enemy (ohh yeah, the guy stopped talking to me and made sure everyone noticed there was a problem between us). I was so scared people would stop talking to me and make big assumptions about my personality. So I took space and found other people with who I connected very much. With time, I became more involved with my studies but also very active in a lot of activities at university. I started running a club, I created friendships in other master programs and I strengthen relationships with staff from university. With time I also received the renegotiation from friends, professors and staff members: “how pleased there were to work with me”; “how much I brought to the students community”; “how hard working student I was”. The take way lesson was really: Always be yourself. Not everyone has to like you and you do not have to try to prove to others who you are. In time, the good ones will come to your way, just like it happened to me. Finally, you are the one that has to like yourself before and foremost.

Next week I have a very exciting post about american boys. Stay around and let me know what were your big lessons for 2019. I am curious to know about them. 😀

Beijinho,

Daniela