My second 365 days journey - Day 1. A new beginning

Dear diary,

   There comes a time when you realize life passes you by and the only things you left behind are some photos of meals you cooked and cute stuff you've seen. I'm right there. 

   Compared to all the past years, there's a wedding approaching in 2 months. My wedding. The one I always dreamt of planning and decorating in such a way to make all my dreams come true. I've always been passioned about weddings. I would LOVE to decorate weddings for a living... Mine is on its course. Almost everything's done and my main projects (2 albums I've been working on: one - 30 years of marriage for my parents and the other one - the second year of life for Carl and Aaron) are done as well. I feel I need a new challenge. Something to keep me on my toes. Something to make me open my eyes wide and look around searching for beauty. Something to make me talk to myself more and rediscover myself now, at almost 28 years of age....

   Minutes ago I was watching the wall above my computer. The one with many wonderful photos I took along the years that make me proud to have witnessed such amazing beauty and that I was lucky enough to capture it in pictures. And that's how I realized. I took all those photos long ago. And now I'm going on through life turning into a wife to be. One that is not even ready to have kids. One that desperately needs to find the artist within herself. So here I am. Starting another project. Another 365 days of daily photos and thoughts. And what day could be better chosen than 3 years and a half apart from the first project? :)

                Let's see what changed in all these years... Here's to a brand new journey!

Very excited,

D.

The art of traveling

Dear diary,

   I finished reading "Paper towns" at 6 in the morning and I had an aha moment. I realized life's an extraordinary journey (I said it various times before, but hear me out): every day is a new mile towards our destination. It's up to us if we take friends with or if we choose to be lone travelers. What's important is that we're daily given wonderful opportunities sightseeing and meeting people so if we wanna stay in the car at times we might lose a whole world out there. It all depends on us. 

   Also, when we start traveling we're not always fully prepared and it seems that we often encounter unexpected situations but the way we get out of them defines who we are and who we'll turn out to be at the end of the journey. Are we excited about traveling or ar we grumpy, saying "I wish I could just sleep today, it's pouring outside"?

   So, prepared or not, we're traveling so we should get in the right mood and start collecting memories! Some places will only be seen once if a lifetime and it would be a pity if we passed by them grumpily. 

Learning how to always smile,

D.

Lost and found

   Dear diary,

   We're losing ourselves daily in the midst of this beautiful journey. I learned that we often get lost trying to solve the big puzzle instead of starting with smaller ones. 

   We want to help, but we end up needing help ourselves. 

   We lose so much and find so little but somehow everything's okay in the end. 

   We get annoyed, frustrated, sad, broken. We lose. We find. 

   We open shiny doors and then we close them. By the time we visit them again they become ancient. Doors that didn't have a key but now they do. I learned that usually the good key is the last. That's why we always have to  be patient. 

   We get lost in the labyrinth we each created for ourselves. But isn't getting lost such a great adventure? All that adrenaline rushing and that slight fear of being forever lost that boosts us into trying to find the exit and in the same time gives us the reassuring feeling that there's still time. We wander around dark streets, closing our eyes and thinking nobody sees us, we breathe in, breathe out and then we smile. It's the best feeling in the world... Getting lost and then finding ourselves again. 

   

Forever lost... and found,

D.

I want you to know

   On this sunny October day I want you to know that life is never perfect, but it's always beautiful.

   That it goes on no matter how hard the journey might seem. You'll need your friends to ease that up, but you can make it.

    That you always have options. Even when you think you don't.

   That people don't change, their needs do. And sometimes there's nothing you can do to make them happy anymore. But that only means your job there is done and you have to go somewhere else and make other people happy.

   That when you're sure something will happen, life takes you by surprise and you have to move on with it... or you'll be left behind. 

   That things never last for a lifetime but they can be fixed. Or replaced.

   That people want you to listen and you want them to listen as well. Do that by taking turns or you'll end up in a mess you created yourself.

   That great effort is always rewarded. If not by others at least by yourself. You'll feel awesome!

   That you'll want your days to be longer but they'll always seem too short. Pick whatever will help you say "What an awesome day!" when you go to sleep.

   That you won't understand everything that happens to you. But you don't have to. Accept everything that comes in your life. There will be times when you'll be frustrated, but remember, there's a lesson for you at every corner.

    That you can always find a reason to be grateful. You just have to close your eyes and think.

   That there are hundreds or thousands of books written exactly for you that are waiting to be discovered. Look for them and they'll reveal themselves to you.

   That lost time doesn't come back so think about leaving something behind. Memories, photos, diaries. Record your life somewhere. You'll be thankful to rediscover it in some years.

   That money don't bring happiness. It's all in your head. You can craft or recycle instead of buying. Just use your imagination.

   That people need to be reminded how important they are to you. So let them know. 

   That if you want something, want it badly and it will come true. Be careful what you wish for, though. 

   That fear, guilt and anger will only bring bad consequences. Be at peace with yourself and with others. 

    That life is worth being explored, enjoyed, lived to the fullest. So do it! Do it now!:)

Day 365. The big day

   Today's the last day of my daily journey through my first year of adulthood, the year I started working. 

   It was a project I dived into because I wanted to fight the laziness that comes to us artists from time to time. A project to encourage me to take photos and write in spite of having little free time. It wasn't easy. I had to come up with new photos and new posts every day. Some days I had no idea what to write about because nothing special happened to me then but I still had to do my homework so I had to look deep down and find a piece of mind hidden on a forgotten shelf. Yes, a couple of days I thought about postponing or canceling the project but each time my inner voice told me I have to finish what I started. And here I am now.

   This experiment made me look at my life through a magnifying glass and find emotions and thoughts I didn't pay attention to all the time. 

   These past 365 days I had the chance to analyse myself, my reactions and my choices, my worries and my moments of happiness. It was a bildungsroman I got the chance to read while writing it.

   And like any other bildungsroman, I started with 0 work experience, a lot of theoretical information that I wasn't going to use in the kindergarten, questions, doubts and anxieties. 

I felt my hands were tied and my expectations were too high. I was down...

But I knew I loved kids more than anything.

Because when kids smile and they tell you they love you, it's all you need to move on.

I found little things that made my days beautiful and that made my inner photographer really proud.

I always did what I love. I cooked and I baked.

I read a lot. For me and for the exam I had to take this summer. There were books and movies I'll always remember. 

And a lot of movie like moments. 

I spent a lot of time in the middle of the nature. I saw sunrises, sunsets, gloomy clouds, rain and snow.

Autumn, winter, spring and summer. 

I celebrated Christmas, New Year's Eve and Easter. I finally had the Christmas tree of my dreams.

I gave and received gifts.

I spent precious time with my friends, family and my beloved boyfriend.

 I received an amazing birthday cake from my best friend, I went to my first color fight and I had my first textbook sleepover.

I made new friends. Dogs, cats and people who helped me rediscover my childhood and my adolescence. 

My feet went to a lot of places.

I was sick, sad and worried. I questioned life and existence. I complained.

But each time I fell down, I stood up and moved on stronger.

I learned I still need to work on being patient.

And accepting change.

I learned that I have to fight for what I believe in.

And always find a reason to smile.

That it's good to keep your spirit young especially if you're living an adult life.

Shoot for the stars,

And be creative. 

Love unconditionally,

Be yourself even if the world expects to see something different.

And keep close to whatever makes you happy:)

 It's been a wonderful journey. One that I'm planning to continue. Not daily but still, twice a week. On Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

Thanx for sticking around and reading my posts, supporting me and putting me on the right direction. It was all very helpful:) See you next Tuesday!:)

Day 283. The untiring search

   Life is a journey of an untiring search for what we want. We search and search and at some point we find something that makes us feel comfortable. So then we settle for it and stop searching. 

   Today I learnt that a beautiful place shouldn't be the first option to settle for. There's always a more beautiful place that I haven't seen and that's worth going the extra mile for. 

   

   My lesson for today:

  Don't settle for comfortable! Push your limits and search for something that makes you feel more than that! Something wow. Because there's a whole world out there that awaits to be discovered and enjoyed. So why settle for the the first comfortable thing?

Day 204. La vita e bella

   Today my heart melted at the sight of the little ones all dressed up to perform for a contest. They were soooo adorable before and while performing:) And the awesome part is that their story had such a good message. 

   There was this cute baby bird that went on a journey and asked all sorts of animals "why life is so beautiful" and they all replied "because we do good things" and each started to tell their role on this planet: the sun, the tree, the woodpecker, the earth worm, the bee and the butterflies (even the rain). The little baby bird didn't know its role on this planet but at the end of the journey she remembered she could sing and the animals were very impressed so she figured that was her role: to enchant the others with her song. So everything ends well:)

    It was so lovely and it made me realize how important it is to find our role in our community, country, planet:) This way we can maximize our potential and we can be happy and make others happy as well. Not to mention that's when "make the world a better place" can happen:) So when you find your role, life is beautiful:) Therefore, go out and explore, find your role and put it into practice!:) 

Day 178. It's all about the journey

   ... not the destination, they say:) Today my family and I made a new step in our family tradition journey:) We went in the search of spring. And we found her:)

   We chose a different spot this time. One that we visited 4 years ago. Interestingly, we remembered details that helped us arrive exactly where Spring was laying in the woods. But today we took a new road, different than last time. Are you afraid of the new? I am, too. But I trust my dad. He has a good spatial orientation:) So our team began its walk towards the lonely woods, towards patches of snow and mild wind. When entering the forest an intense feeling of peace and joy caught me completely. I felt I was there and then. And nothing else mattered. 

   We continued our journey while gazing around and enjoying the sun embracing us through the trees. In the end we arrived at the destination. Snowdrops were peaking at us from everywhere. They were here and there, in the valley and on the little hill. But they were shy. Still not prepared to fully blossom. We carefully picked some and then we took some photos of us. I promised I'd frame one of them because we should forever remember today. This perfect spring day that God bestowed upon us:) 

   The road home made me smile once more because I realized all this journey helped me find myself, the same feeling I have after visiting a church. I really felt I connected with everything around me. I breathed spring, I let her come around me and enter my lungs, my heart, my everything. I feel complete. Right here, right now.

Day 150. The thrill

   We're never satisfied for a long while. Even if we want something very much, after we receive it we enjoy it for some time, but then sooner or later boredom kicks in. 

   You won't settle down to wearing your whole life those jewels you just bought and you wouldn't want to spend the rest of your days watching tv shows no matter how much you want to do that now. At some point... you will be bored of it. And then you will want to feel the thrill again. You'll be looking for it in everything around you and that's going to be your next purpose in life because having everything you need doesn't necessarily involve being continuously satisfied. One day you'll want to feel the thrill again, just like me. And then you'll begin a restless journey and you won't stop until you'll find that moment, be it in doing something you haven't done for a long while or having a crush along with the characters of the book you're just reading. And after you find it you'll settle down for a while but then you'll want to begin another journey for life is a never ending series of moments when you felt the thrill. Those are the moments you'll want to share with your grandchildren. So, find the thrill and live it! Live it while you still can:)

Day 33. Traveling abroad in my own city

   I know, it makes NO sense whatsoever, but I will explain myself. Doesn't this photo look like Tuscany?:D It surely reminds me of those lands:) The lesson for today is: Don't wait to travel abroad to start traveling. Just look around and start your journey by traveling in your own country first. Get to know it better, discover its chest of treasures and appreciate it more and more each day:) I'm in love with Romania!<3