A Year and Counting…
A Year and Counting…

A Year and Counting…

I can’t believe I have been living abroad for one whole year!

Dear friends, family and others,

It has been 8 months since I have last opened up this website. This hiatus is not due to having nothing to write, or not wanting to write. In fact, I think about all the things I want to share with you almost on a daily basis. However, I just never felt like I could express myself properly, so I kept postponing it.

This month marks exactly one year since I set off on my adventure of a lifetime. It has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. So much has happened, so many people I’ve met, and so many lessons I’ve learned.

Let me get right into it.

One of the two most recent lessons I have learned, was that I wasn’t giving myself enough of my own attention, and therefore was focusing too much on other people’s needs. By learning this lesson, I am managing to say “no” more often, and not worry so much about the short term consequence of this.

My mind always goes to “but they will be so mad!”, and of course, in a week’s time, everyone has forgotten what I said no to. And I think that’s the beauty of life, that everything is truly temporary, so there is no time to waste on what could have been done, neither postponing time for myself.

This has been quite a recent lesson (a few weeks ago), so I am still finding ways to truly internalize it and make sure to live by it.

The second lesson goes hand in hand with the first, which is that I wasn’t loving myself enough. This is obviously a common problem for most people, as we seek validation from others to feel worthy of ourselves. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy, really. The more I do for others, the more they love me, but the less I do for myself. 

Having a mirror shoved in my face to these two realities has been disheartening, but also relieving, because now I feel like I can explain why I would feel down or unmotivated at times. My goal for the following few months is to genuinely start believing these truths, and acting accordingly. 

Let’s Go Back to the Beginning…

Even though I have not been writing to YOU guys, I have been writing a lot to myself. I wrote down some key moments and memories of the year, as well as things that I learned last year, and therefore want to work on this year. This will be a lengthy one, but hopefully it makes up for over half a year without contact.

The Lessons I’ve Learned in 2021:

1. You are the only one that can hold yourself accountable
2. Not everyone is inherently good 
3. You can’t give love to everyone; it’s sacred
4. No matter how much you think you know someone, they can still let you down
5. TRUST YOUR GUT
6. Don’t give anyone the chance to tell you “no” twice
7. Feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t make you special
8. If you actually want to change something, you need to go for it 100%, no exceptions
9. I learned how to set boundaries 
10. Living the simple life isn’t boring
11. It’s easy to take things for granted and just call it “adapting quickly”
12. Spending time alone is awesome
13. I am stronger and more brave than I thought
14. There should be moments that you keep only to yourself
15. Friends are from the heart, not distance

Besides these core lessons, I have always grown so much in my journey with confidence and self love, and grew to appreciate time alone even more. 

Some key accomplishments from this year…

– Working with Connectionville Malta, where I got to create and host the Mafia Games Night event! This was a great way to continue hosting events and meeting people, which one of my biggest passions.

– Getting promoted from Teacher to Team Leader before my 6-month probation was over. I truly feel appreciated in this job, and very much believe that I am making a difference.

– Getting a new flat with a great roommate, Klara. She is Swedish and lived above me in my new flat. I am now a mere 10-minute walk from a lovely beach.

– Raising money for Ukrainian refugees coming to Malta by doing what I love: musical performances.

Now, to get to my habits and lifestyle.

In January, I’ve reflected on how I used to do my habits last year, and came up with some new strategies. Since then, I have reviewed and adapted the way I go about my habits.

What didn’t work in 2021 was adding a habit every month. This was hard to maintain as they were not “natural”. This year, I started with simply being aware of what I’m doing daily (per month), and re-evaluate next month what I want to focus more on. For example, I wanted to stop biting my nails, but just by being aware of this bad habit and tracking it daily, I stopped. Therefore, I also started writing things that I WANTED to do but wasn’t doing, such as writing these blogs, filming vlogs or recording music.

Smart & Effective Planning:
I started doing the following technique last year, where I “time block” different tasks that need to be done throughout the day, but I make sure to always 1.5x the amount that it would take.

I don’t like getting everything done in as little time as possible because
a) it causes burn out and
b) you feel demotivated if you don’t complete the task (which is likely)

Recently, I have been introduced to the concept of a bullet journal, which I am planning to use as a replacement for my other 3 methods of planning (calendar, google calendar and regular journal). The premise of this type of journal is that you can have all your notes, ideas, calendars etc in one place, with a simple way to keep it organized.

So far I have been quite frustrated because I can’t seem to figure out the best way to format it (it is completely individualized, so it takes time to know what layout works best for you). However, I am also looking forward to finding the best way to stay productive and happy, all while realizing my full potential in all aspects of life.

If you related to any of this, please do reply and start a conversation with me. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for staying with me during this year, I hope to reach out again soon.

Yours Truly,
Nastia

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