Today I have opened my email and as usual I got my weekly newsletter from ACTS,my Daily Inspiration mail :) The title of this one was "Gift of Encounragement " and has a little story behind it , that I will share with you a few lines later. Now I want to ask you to stop from whatever you do and ask yourself : What is courage for you ? It is quite an easy question right ? Well it took me some time to answer to it , to find the key answer to a question I rarely find the exact time to answer. Lately I thought about my past a lot, about my childhood and about all the strangers or non-strangers that were/are in my life and all the moments I had , all the moments I create and live. I tried to identify when was I brave ? What does courage mean to me? Why ? Because now we are living in a world where conections , networks, branding yourself is a very important thing. People forget who they are and become who they need to be in a certain moment or enviroment, which is very sad...We are sad that we don't remember how we were when we were 2, 3, years old but we forget everyday who we are and become some names... Why people forget this ? Why is it hard to be natural, to be you , your own feelings ?...Coming back to what is courage, well for me is all the moments when I stepped up and started to be who I am , with all my feelings , with all I had and all I am. It was scary , but now I am happy of what I discover about me , through others around me , I accept and enjoy the fact that I am not perfect. A wake-up call? Din't had one , I just realized I am diferent than others and that I see this world in colours, no matter how black is it somedays , at least at the end of the day I have me not a stranger thinking of the future. As L.P says in one song : " Get wasted on love, get wasted on life, get wasted on anything that's right." And now the story I told you about:
"Gift of Encounragement"
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."Michael Josephson of Character Counts says that "Mark Gibson, a former gymnastics coach, tells a wonderful story about a 15-year-old girl I'll call Cindy. When Mark coached at a gym where several world-class gymnasts worked out, he said Cindy was the most important person in the gym. Cindy wasn't the best athlete—not even close. But when she was in the gym, everyone whined and complained less, worked harder and achieved more. She brought out the best in everyone. You see, Cindy was blind."When it was her turn to do the vault, her mother would run alongside her, saying, "We're getting close, we're closer," and when her mom said, "Vault!" Cindy, with complete trust in her mother and herself, would jump. It was awesome."Neither Cindy nor her mother allowed her sightlessness to confine her, so they soared like eagles for all to see. Cindy led in the most powerful way possible, not by fancy rhetoric but by example. All who watched her strive to be the best she could be realized how much more there is within themselves."
Another ordinary day,I was walking towards the office,people passing by me, a lot of new faces , teenagers running …and then I realized school has started , so it explains all the crowd. The sun is holding on, trying to worm us and bring a smile on our faces. The big city is now not so alone anymore, teenagers give a color to this dark and lonely city. I open my phone and I receive a message from a very good friend of mine from Romania,Z. He shared with me a moment from his life , thing that made me very happy, because rarely people share stuff and because he is not any friend for me , he is one of the persons I mostly care about . He was there for me and believed in me, listened and advised me , so I am happy he is happy . I miss you Z , you made my day. It has been a while since I last wrote here , a lot of things happened , places , people , emotions that words are not enough to reveal them . I was in a crazy trip to Vama Veche. I started from Sofia , went 7 hours with bus to Varna , arrived there in the evening , went to an Uriah H concert in the central square , got a good sleep and in the morning started again the rest of the trip, Varna- Golden Sands- Albena . Took a bus and in 2 hours I was passing the border in Romania J After 1 day and a half of travelling I was in the place that means a lot to me. I met there 2 of my best friends F and P. We spent 2 days , drinking , dancing , sleeping in the tent in the back yard of some lady, we go every year in the same place. We caught some big waves in the last day, and even if the place was completely changed, some parts were still the same, gave me the same emotions and shivers were taking control over my body. The night was coming over us and everything was becoming alive. In between all these days there I met a lot of people , I was happy to speak in Romanian, eat Romanian food , to finally understand the menu and having dinner with an old emotional friend , D. When I left Vama Veche , a place that will always remain a very intense feeling in my heart, I realized I love my country, I love Romanians with all their ups and downs , I realized I really care about what happens in this world as a friend , A, wrote about me in an article in a students newspaper in Sibiu. I had the feeling that somehow everything will be ok. Good things happen to good people, even if sometimes to good people happen bad days … After this experience I came back to Varna , again in Bulgaria , again 8 hours and back to Sofia, my third home . In a few days , a new conference came , it was mostly in Bulgarian , but I started to understand it , I learned the alphabet and improved my spelling , thing that brings me closer to the culture and people here. I had some interesting conversations about AIESEC , about training, about the impact we create and why and how. A, the president of AIESEC Bulgaria, is one person I really admire and look up to . Why ? It is very simple , he is very passionate about what he does , he is optimistic , smart and has a lot of overviews that made me think every time I had a conversation with him. It was a relaxing weekend for me which brought me closer to me and the answer to some questions I had. Time doesn’t stop so I had to move on. Decided suddenly to go back to Romania to a trainers meeting , in a great place in Romania , Paraul Rece. A lot of emotions here , games, new things , seeing again people I missed , spent a few days home also , I simply love my family , they are the greatest , I love you guys . My sister will give birth soon to a baby boy , so I will be an aunt again, happy me. After this , the road didn’t stop , very fast I was back in Sofia and a new experience came , a new journey , new people , new emotions, I so love this way of living my life. I went to Sandanski, 3 hours away from Sofia, in a 5 stars hotel, with people from different countries. It was an European Volunteer Service conference. The city was great, awsome people, a relaxing agenda. We had one day trip to some places that were full of freedom and peace. Drank a very good coffee in Melnik, a very beautiful city and had a special moment in time with an Irish guy from my group. We entered in a discussion, out of what I realized I know what makes me wake up in the morning and that I am happy and lucky. Somehow this place changed me , I can’t tell you exactly how, maybe some don’t even see , maybe is AIESEC , maybe people I met , maybe completely strangers with whom I had the greatest moments ever, maybe here I had time to open my eyes better and found a different world. Now , summer is over, everyone is talking about autumn , changes , effects , rainy weather , I like it by the way, and I like autumn because it brings me every time something new and unique. I wrote 2 articles , one about myself as a volunteer in a different country and one about training, They will appear soon in StudLife , in 3 cities in Romania, if you are curious to read them( Thanks Miha , for this). After such a summer, I can say that I know what makes me wake up in the morning, I know where I see myself in 5 years but I don’t know how I will get there , I don’t have a plan , it will be more exciting like this, I know that training is my passion and that I love to develop people, is such an intense experience, I know I love life with its ups and downs and that my dreams will always keep me alive , in the freedom of my life here in big city Sofia. I miss all the strangers and non strangers that passed by in my life. In the next period I am going to take again some new opportunities, I applied as trainer for a conference in Slovakia, applied as participant in a call for trainers conference in Romania , I am going to Sibiu at my master , going to the city where I am coach here in Bulgaria and create change, motivate people , come back in Sofia and join a new conference , and some other experiences I will write about later , after they will happen.
Postări
