About insecurity.....

For some strange reason, many people are really seriously believing that if they are not constantly happy, strong, shining, successful, perfect and absolutely pleasing YES-sayers, they are no good.....to anyone. 


....and why is it that, normally, the people who feel like this are in the eyes of others the most intelligent, beautiful, strong and wonderful people, who we think can move mountains?


Could it be that these people have faced more than enough challenges in their lives so they have lost sight of the fact that they have already won? Are they so used to constantly battle and convince others that they don't know how to exist when this pressure is off? Do they see this lack of struggle as unhappiness or uselessness as for them, taking their guard down means not feeling alive or, I don't know, not being worthy perhaps?


It is as if everyone else is convinced of how amazing you are and the only one left to be convinced is yourself and this is the one single person who will never ever let you win....so why bother? 


It is a basic rule of the world to just agree that the majority wins as if we have to always wait for complete consensus, nothing moves forward. Well, if you are one of the people who feel as I described above, let's make a pact, shall we? We all think you are AMAZING and we completely outnumber you, so we win and the last person (meaning you) will need to learn to go with the flow....admit defeat.....and who knows? Maybe one day, you'll learn, not only to accept yourself, but to love yourself - just like we do and you will have won either way...... You are unbeatable if you let yourself be ;)


xox

What a week.....

The past week was sooooo crazy busy! Not only in terms of number of things to do, but also including countless of hours spent travelling to both Milan and Schaffhausen back and forth......and this is probably also why my creativity outside of work right now is around zero! 


Meaning, for once, I have nothing to say to you besides "Hello! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend? Please bare with me while I'm trying to get some energy back!" ;)) 


In the mean time, I'm trying to look at this from a positive angle, a bit like the lady in this picture.....and with that said, I'm going to get myself another piece of chocolate..........
xox

Mountain Biking: A beginners tale

If you have been following this blog, you will know that a few months ago, I bought myself a Mountain bike. Am I an experienced Mountain biker? Nooooo! You see, before I came to Switzerland I barely even knew this existed as a sport. You see, I come from the middle of Sweden where we barely even have mountains and then, riding a bike is simply something that takes you from point A to B.....and mostly only used as a back-up if for some reason, you can not take the car ;))


The reason I bought a bike was actually not a pleasant story in itself. I hurt my foot playing soccer and slowly realized that biking was the only sport that didn't hurt during the healing process......it was that and quite some convincing from my Mountain-bike-adoring-boy(man)friend and I am SOOOOO happy I made this "investment". 


A few weeks ago, a friend and I also signed up for a beginners Mountain bike course and that was such great fun!! Before this course, I would have never imagined in a million years that I would ever ride down a set of stairs.....or ride down a steap hill.......or jump with the bike for that matter....but after this day, we both did. Ah...but just to clarify - I'm not talking about major stunt things or extremely cool tricks, just simple technique exercises that, from an unexperienced Mountain bikers point of view looks MUCH harder than they are.


If you're thinking about starting or if you recently started Mountain biking or just want to feel safer on your Mountain bike in general and if you live in (or around) Schaffhausen, I give my highest recommendations to take this course!! We used Saltamontes.ch Mountainbike Schule. The teacher, Marco, was really great (the poor guy even had to study bike terminology in English, just because of me! Now THAT'S service!!) and the whole course (which was basically a full day with a lunch break in between) was really a lot of fun, easy-going and very very useful!! We also got some needed help with the general configuration of our bikes, which was also great.


Here are some photos from our day! Yeah yeah, some of you may laugh, but remember that everyone was a beginner once ;))

xox

An update....

Dearest readers,
I hope you are all having a lovely weekend so far? I'm back in Schaffhausen for the weekend and the weather here is amazing!! 28 degrees and full sunshine! Unfortunately, I did not spend this day by the Rhein, but instead had to do some shopping and also spend some quality time in the gym... I'm not sad about this though! In fact, I feel great! 


The first 6 working days are behind me! A mix of joy, confusion and excitement ;)) It is not easy to give a proper judgement after such a short time, but must say that my first impression is GREAT! The people are so friendly and everyone looks so peaceful.....not exactly what I'm used to ;) Hopefully, once I get to know my job better, I can feel as peaceful on the inside as they all look on the outside. 


I had completely forgotten what it is like to be a beginner and I keep battling in my head between "trying to find shortcuts to learn things faster a'la Matrix style" and "to just go with the flow and not be bothered by not knowing everything"...I know the latter is the sounder way.......but as you can hear, even after 32, I'm still learning ;))

Our new coffee maker from Spanish maker "Ascaso"

Currently, I'm:

Happy about: My new job, my new colleagues (who all seem so great and also a lot of fun) our new apartment, the new region in which we will be living and last but not least, about our new coffee machine from Ascaso (it's gorgeous!) ;))

Disappointed about: Myself a bit.... I need to learn that, at least sometimes, silence is golden! Ha ha ha! Can't go into too many details here unfortunately......

Looking forward to: Meeting the team in Milan (Italy) next week!! .....and right this minute, I'm also VERY MUCH looking forward to soon eating the thai-curry that Chris is cooking downstairs! He makes a killer thai-curry ;)) Am also looking forward to having brunch with Chris's family tomorrow morning.

Listening to: Lissie's Catching a Tiger album in the background. Still a favorite!

Hoping: Sincerely hoping that the fact that our new home is the next door neighbor of a cat shelter won't be a problem......as in terrifying cat meowing noises in the middle of the night =o/

Laptop bag "Audra" by Tory Burch

Wondering: What my niece looks like now!! I haven't seen her for months......she must have grown tremendously!
Thinking about: Buying myself a new laptop bag. I found one from Tory Burch called "Audra" that I'm loving but am not sure if I should go for it yet....... What do you think?

Planning: Ooooohhhh! Many fun things!! First of all, we are planning our moving out/farewell party in October. We will have a Nautical theme and I'm really excited about that! Am also planning a potential trip to the US with a friend (exactly when and where is still TBD). We should also soon finalize the plans of going home to Sweden before, during, or after Christmas.

Smiling about: Having signed Chris up to compete in a running competition on behalf of my new company ;))

Inspired by: The beauty of the Romandie.....it is truly like a fairytale land.... Walking around in those surroundings make me feel so full of bliss and it also relaxes me...

Wishing: That the weekend was a little longer than just a couple of days..... It's not exactly joyful to spend the evenings during the week alone. Am really counting down the days!!

A new favorite from Betsey Johnson!!

Sad about: Not having had enough time to write "Thank you" notes to all my ex-colleagues who gave me some beautiful goodbye gifts and cards!! Also a bit "sad" about having had to spend over 4 hours in the car yesterday, driving back here. I ended up in the middle of the traffic jam..... 

Thankful for: All the positive, inspiring people in my life!!

Wanting: To buy this necklace from Betsey Johnson ASAP!! Gorgeous, no?!!

Feeling: Fabulous!! As if I'm BACK again!!!

Cheerio

xox