365 days project 2. Day 79. Life is like soup

   Life is like soup. You might not always have the finest ingredients to make the most delicious soup on the planet, but as long as you can make a good base (out of carrots, onion and celery), I guarantee you'll be happy with that soup! 

   Similarly, if your basic needs are covered in life, you'll always be happy. And I'm not talking about food, drink and sleep. Sounds easy? It is! Just think about it. What are the most important things you want in your life? While you might choose family, love and a decent job to be happy, others need thrill, adventure and friendship. And we can all be happy in this beautiful world if we fulfill those basic needs. 

   I know, it still sounds too easy. Family can involve arguments and grudges, love is hard to find and jobs... well, you gotta work a lot to reach your biggest dream. I agree, but what's stopping you from putting everything in order? YOU! If your family doesn't agree with the way you act or with your choices, choose not to let that affect you. If love is hard to find, does that mean you have to stop believing in it? It will come to you when you are ready for it. And if your dream job seems far away, why not start small and then slowly go up? 

   Believe me. Life is like soup. And soups might seem hard to make, but if you put a bit of effort, you'll surprise yourself. You can do more than you think you can. Don't wait for tomorrow to have a happy life! Start today! :)

The happy song

Dear diary,

   I've never been so happy in my life and it's so sad to see that some people think I might be faking it. I couldn't be happier, really. 

   Every day I wake up feeling more and more thankful and more and more in love with my life: I have my dream job, I'm loved and I love, I'll get to travel (finally! I picked up my first passport ever yesterday) and sooo many beautiful things happened to me this year and will surely happen from now on! I feel like I'm at the peak of my life. I didn't think it's possible to be happier every day, but I'm living it right now so I gotta believe it.

   There are many times lately when I find myself daydreaming and smiling randomly or saying "life's amazing". How could I be unhappy when I have everything I ever wished for? I just hope everyone reaches this point. All they gotta do is find what they love and lead their life around that, be it a job, a hobby, some beautiful people or anything else. When you're doing what you love you inevitably attract happy memories and happy people around you because... you are Happy! 

   So, dear diary, more exciting things ahead! I'm the luckiest and the happiest girl alive!

(Still) In love with life,

D.

Day 333. Believe

   Today was one of those really happy days for me:) Because I got the exam result and it was astronomical. Wow! I knew the music teacher (our exam supervisor) did an awesome job psychologically preparing us for the exam, that I loved the subjects (they were exactly what I wished for) and that I had an interesting idea for one of the subjects and all that made me very proud and confident while writing the exam, but giving the last year's experience when I thought I did good and seemingly I didn't, I didn't know what to expect this year. So in the end, looks like I overestimated the difficulty of the exam and I was wrong to stop believing in myself when I got the last year's result. 

   So what I learned today is that whenever you want to do something and you want it bad, believe in yourself. Believe you can and stretch all your resources to get where you want and remember that no matter how difficult the target might look like, it's always achievable if you believe in yourself. Trust that you can reach all your goals no matter how utopian they might look like. Know that the feeling of confidence will boost everything else in the right direction. Sure, there's competition and the resources might be scarce but know that you can. You can achieve anything you set for yourself, be it an awesome job, an amazing boyfriend, vacation destinations or anything else:) 

   Also, what I learned is that whenever you are confident you can move the mountains and nobody can take that feeling from you:) So hold on tight to it! You Will move the mountains if you believe!:)

Day 250. Left behind

   These days I've been running around like a headless chicken. It's the registration period for the teachers' annual exam and just like every year, nobody seems to know exactly what documents we need in the file we register with. So we all run around and try to solve this issue the best we can. 

   I guess it's a general trait for Romania. You thought the US is the country of all possibilities, huh? Well guess what! Romania surely surpasses the US! Here you never really know what lies ahead of you. Nobody tells you how to study during school, if the university you want to attend is useful or not and which are the odds of being hired after graduating. Nobody tells you how to search for a job or how to do your job, they just want it done by the deadline. Of course, they say you can ask and you shall been given answers, but we weren't raised like this. 

   The system teaches us to swallow a lot of information that teachers give us and take it for granted, so when we graduate highschool we feel like we're left behind. No critical thinking, no perspectives, no nothing. So that's when we wake up from the childhood dream and we realize we're grown up chicks that have to fly. But where to? And then we start asking around, just like socials being we are. And answers are given. 

Day 213. Quarter of a century

   I am Dana and I am now 25. I was always a good child. Obeying my parents, following the rules, not the one risking or making compromises. 

   I studied hard to be the best in my class and I succeeded. I went to Olympics in Romanian language, Geography, Religion and Latin, always studying in order to be able to change from a fragile caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. 

   I was a good teenager too. I was interested in my relationship with God. I liked to read and write literature. I was often daydreaming about that perfect love I'd find one day. I didn't like clubs and rude people. Instead, I loved spending time with my family by having walks in the nature. 

   I thought I was ugly because I was the only one in my class not having a boyfriend when I was in the 8th grade. I changed my mind afterwards. 

   I made a lot of friends. Some stayed, many left. I loved meeting new people online but I didn't have a computer until 6th grade and internet access began only while I was in the 8th grade. I had my first cell phone when I was in the 10th grade and life was still awesome. 

   During high school I met my best friend and we're inseparable ever since even though we took different roads. 

    I used to fall in love easily, always hoping that the one I found would be the one to save me, but none of them weren't. I found love and I lost it. I suffered for years. And then I moved on. I am now living a 4 year long love story that will hopefully lead to something strong and beautiful. 

   I graduated the faculty I wanted even though my father would have loved me to be a chemist. I was really, really uncertain about my future, but somehow I found my way back on track and now I have my dream job. It's been 7 months since I started. I love to help people around me and take photos.

   I had dreams and I accomplished them. I have a camera, I went abroad, I saw the seaside twice in the past 2 years. 

  Now I want to be a good mom and a good wife. I want to have my own family, a dog and a house of my own. I want to leave something behind. Something more than just a child. I still have to figure out how. 

   I am Dana and I am 25. I am the happiest I've ever been:) It's been an awfully long way up here but it was all worth it. To many more years of happiness!

Day 139. Theory vs Practice

   Today I remembered how good everything seems in theory and how different it feels in practice.

   I helped a teacher with a project regarding some psychological cases. It was rather easy finding the diagnosis and the solutions but, now, compared to the years when I was a mere student, everything really looks different than I thought it would. 

   Working as a psychologist is nothing like we picture it in university. I bet it's the same for every job you prepare for and then face later on in life. It doesn't mean I don't like my job, God forbid, it's just that... I had unrealistic expectations, ok? I thought I will make it or break it and frankly, it's really not the case. In the kindergarten the psychologist is more of a teacher's help, a support that strives to protect the well being of the kids. You can't talk to the kids about their irrational beliefs or have them understand the adult talks they prepare you for in university and there are so many factors involved in every case that you can't be sure you DO have a strong beneficial influence in that kid's future:) Oh well, I guess facing reality can have both good and bad consequences: our pink glasses are stolen from us and we have to face the real world by ourselves, make serious decisions that influence our whole future but still get to be happy if we make the right ones.

   Dear students, just know that your job won't be as you expect it to be but that it's still gonna be AWESOME if you make it that way:) Finding reasons to love your job means finding sense and significance in your life and that, my friends, is what we all need in order to have a healthy life:)

Day 104. The other me

   Today I replaced a teacher in the kindergarten for some hours so it was like "a different job day" trying to see if this suits me. Well, I knew I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher since 11th grade but I let myself go with the flow and took the psychology path. Today I remembered how much I would have loved that job too:) To be the one teaching the kids all sorts of things, the one that dances with them, plays with them, colors and sings with them, that's just wonderful:) I enjoyed every moment and I even got two "I love you, Dana!"s and a "wow, she's not shouting at us, she's actually letting us play!" so I guess I did my "job" right:D 

   The day ended with watching "The night before Christmas" and while I was watching them... I felt at peace. That very moment I felt the pieces were in the right place. I'm happy I had the chance to be their teacher:)

Day 47. Highschool memories

   Today was the second time I met the 3rd graders from my ex highschool (see photo) for a course about emotional development. It's nice to see we're bonding:) I found out they like drawing and they're in love and not afraid to say it. They are so different from what my generation used to be in the 3rd grade. It's all about the technological development. 

   Wandering around the halls of the building that was once my highschool brought back happy memories:) I met the teacher that started my love for psychology and made me want to follow this path. My favourite teacher. She, unlike the 3rd graders, is the same. Smiling and vibrant as always and that's what I loved about her the most. You could tell when somebody's in love with their job. That's what I wanted to reach and here I am now, living it:) 

Tip of the day: When you know what you want, the process of getting it seems a lot less confusing:)