[re]CONNECT MANIFESTO: How Multiple Sclerosis Triggered My Journey of Self-Discovery & The Need to Love Out Loud! | SMart Choice Lifestyle

I still remember the tunnel vision that sliced the room in two parts: my mind and the rest of the world. All the eyes that were on me after the room got quiet did not matter. All that was important at that moment were my mum slowly pulling out a chair and sitting down, and my shattered identity. The tears were racing towards my eyes, but I wanted… I needed to be strong. Not for me… for her! It did not matter that I was just given a life-long diagnosis. All that I could focus on is what would THEY do if I get worse? What would my loved ones do now that I had Multiple Sclerosis?

WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS?

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic (life-long) inflammatory autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system (the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves). Nerve cells are covered in an insulating cover called a myelin sheath (it wraps around the nerve, like a little doughnut). Autoimmune diseases mean that your own body begins to attack itself. In MS, the immune system confuses myelin sheaths with something harmful and thus destroys them.

This process is called demyelination, and it results in damaged nerves that cannot transmit impulses - resulting in a vast array of symptoms, ranging from pins and needles, numbness, to paralysis and, blindness and even death (in the more advanced and aggressive forms). Instead of keeping its integrity and acting like a unit, the body goes rogue on the brain, its command center. It’s main effect is disconnection.

All my life I’ve identified with what others thought and said about me. When their opinions and behaviors were bully-ish, aggressive and truly offensive, my self-image had to suffer. It got damaged, leading to low self-esteem and constant efforts to being liked and accepted by my peers. All this, sprinkled with emotionally internalizing all family conflicts (big or small), rose stress to an unbearable level, possibly triggering my body to attack itself.

It was the command I kept giving to my cells through actions, thoughts and emotions. Body postures that I kept, neuro-programming that came out of habitual negative behavior and hormonal / neurochemical imbalance, topped with being overweight and in spiritual disconnection with myself and God, all might have lead to developing Multiple Sclerosis. Or at least that’s my theory on the issue.

But that was the struggle part of my life. The best parts were my family and friends, people that raised, inspired and formed me in more ways than one. From them I have inherited a survivor attitude, the need to always rise back from where I fell and keep trying, keep living.

This innate resilience got coated with all the answers I looked and searched for during the past (almost) three years since receiving the diagnosis. I not only wanted to bounce back, but I wanted to THRIVE, to be my best version, to stay on top of all that was to come, while I adapted my lifestyle accordingly.

WHO WAS I REALLY - THE JOURNEY INWARDS

But then I realized that I was disconnected from my core self. Who was I and where was I going in life? I had lots of dreams, but… WHY did I want to pursue them in the first place? This chronic illness was now part of my body and I did not know who I was behind all those social masks that we all have! So I went deep inwards. VERY deep! And eventually I reached my core. I brought a light to the deepest, most inner corners of my body, mind and soul. I now understand and know myself. I have my guiding light. It was there all along. Jesus was waiting for me to learn through all the struggles my bad and self-harming choices had put me through.

I now have the feeling that I accumulated enough information, and did enough research and exploration (both inwards and outwards) to be able to make my voice heard in the world, in the areas that matter most: self-love, love for others, all in and through God.

I took the road less-travelled to journey inwards and discover, [re]CONNECT with myself and others through creative / expressive writing, art and blogging. Lots of key-areas to cover from now on, but mostly focused on brain, mental and spiritual health.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR SMart CHOICE LIFESTYLE?

I feel the need to express myself and help others along the way, inspire and empower them to [re]CONNECT to what’s important: to themselves, to others and to God. To be of service. To LOVE OUT LOUD and make pride less. I want to empower people on how to be true to their core selves and live a fulfilling life, while using and living a brand that creates the financial means for all that. [re]CONNECT around LOVE. Get back to themselves, go within, travel, explore, grow, become their best version.

I choose weekly blogging, because everyday I have to serve, I have to storytell and teach. We’ll take themes one at a time, have some  structure, but allow flexibility. Schedule and limit choices just to be at ease. Declutter and prioritize. And most of all, EASE INTO IT. Build your lifestyle around what you do, around your priorities. Share your lessons with the WORLD. Grow. All is coming.

My core theme is CONNECTION. It is about the way I see the world, the connection with yourself, with God, with others. Make a connection, interact, collaborate. When everything else wants to tear you apart, find the road back to relationships, back to connection.

It’s easy to show and give love to the ones we’re used to and are similar to us. But love is universal and should be given wholeheartedly to each and every human in need. A broken heart, fear and pain are just the same for all of us. No matter the color of our skin, no matter what we bow to and believe in.

God commanded us to love one another. Even in our darkest night, our deepest pain, LOVE has to be universal and given without making any differences.

 So, my next journey is towards self-love and giving it back to people. Are you with me? :)

Until next time, have a wonderful day!

Denisa

Why You Need to Follow Your Heart. Time Waits for No One

As I'm sitting here with my late-time cuppa, cloudy weather and writing in English, my inner reality couldn't be more different than what's really happening outside this room. But that's what dreamers and idealists do. Or at least that's what I have been told.

I always loved escaping into words and daydream. When I was a kid, it was all productive and such, as it was my job to have an imagination an develop interesting worlds and stories. The worlds I was constructing had strong visuals and fierce heroes. But that was back to the time of dinosaurs. Kids today are technology-bound, well adapted to a world of gadgets and science.

But what about one's soul? What about one' purpose?

My generation lived mostly in its head and thoughts. This generation lives more in its social media pages or apps. Things change and there's nothing wrong with that! It would be pretty hypocritical of me to criticize tech, as I'm writing this from a wireless-connected laptop, as I just finished a mini-browsing of my Facebook and Instagram.

All that I'm saying here is that we need a return to ourselves, to our inner beings, to our hearts. We are so connected, so informed, so skilled, so prepared nowadays, that we forget to stand still and often find ourselves on autopilot. Mostly like a machine.

It all comes back to the soul. To the heart. To the purpose.

For the past 7 years, my life has been like the one of a hamster on a treadmill. That's the typical image of a 30-something in this century. I was doing all of what society and peers were expecting of me, yet I wasn't fulfilled. "Things can't always be perfect!" I kept telling myself in order to soothe that restlessness I had inside. Over and over again.

Numbing life with life and getting smacked down by life.

Ironically enough, our minds are not the masters of the lives we have. We might... think we have control over what's happening, but if we don't take conscious choices, if we don't stand up and fight for what we believe in, it all happens to us. And then it leaves us with a lesson to learn and a question to answer: "Will you follow your heart?".

Again and again, life decided to give me some "subtle" pokes. 

As a storyteller, I dreamed of becoming a movie director, to be able to tell stories through image, sound and words. Life happened. Peer pressure made me give up because "There's too much competition! You'll lose precious time! Take the safe path!". Ended up studying Sociology for four years instead. 

Yeah! Like this proved to be the "safe path". Either way, it was my choice.

Finished Uni, got admitted to a Master's programe, got my first job as a Life Insurance Consultant (the irony of selling life protection when mine was going to be tumbled down!). 

Life happened. My mother got breast cancer

That marked my first meeting with chronic disease and full-on regret. Feeling sorry for all that I made wrong, for all that I should have or shouldn't have said made me realize that we always have a choice to how we act. We always have a choice to do or not to do something. I chose to be strong for her and look for stability. I wasn't living for myself. I was now living for her. 

So I changed jobs to a place that in other conditions I never would have looked at. 

But I ended staying there for two and a half years. I learned how mean and double-faced human nature can be, and how damaging stress can be. Looking back, this experience also taught me to be humble and serve others, despite of their behavior. I was beginning to learn life. 

At the end of those years, I chose me above all else, and quit. The pressure on my emotions was too big and wanted to brake free. I give my praise to God that my mother recovered and is still a part of my life. It made me begin to lose Ego.

Got another job in sales and vehicle management coordination, and felt at ease. I was beginning to get back to myself bit by bit. But after only seven months, and having the past experience of feeling trapped in a place I didn't belong, I chose to leave and pursue my own thing (once more) in graphic design. 

I had just finished a beginner's course and was preparing for my final exams, Steve Jobs just died and made me become aware of my own limited time. I compulsively watched his Stanford 2005 Commencement Speech until it became engraved inside my mind. 

Although it was a normal consequence of life, death still scared me and put some anxiety all over my actions. Do things now!

So I did! Got the best results at the Graphic Design exam, and went into planning mode to pursue my dream. The focus was mostly on myself and on what I would achieve.

In came life again. Because, you know, shit happens! My grandma died

At the beginning of that year, the woman who was one of the pillars of my personality and the one that I drew much of my inspiration from was gone. Leaving me with an inflamed Ego and a big regret that I wasn't more time there for her.

Time doesn't wait for anyone. Life goes on even without your input. I needed to choose once again. I thought of her, and what would she want me to do. 

I just started a Photography course, as it was the closer that I could get to telling visual stories. Given the death of a close family member, many would have stayed at home for some days, grieve and then go back to their activities. But I chose to be strong once more and go to my course. 

So, that night I stayed at her wake, went to sleep at 7 am, rested for 4-5 hours, and then went to class. Nobody knew, nobody saw anything on my face. I kept it to myself. Once more, I chose to be strong for my family and do the right thing. There's a whole other story about this experience, but I'm not going to cover this now, maybe in a later post.

All these experiences were bringing me back to God

I always been like this. I grew up an Ortodox-Christian, not actually a church-goer, but passionate about all those stories in the Bible and God's goodness and protection. In my deepest despair, He is the one I turn to, He is the one my soul needs. Nothing else. Even if I do it unconscious, when I get afraid, I pray.

That year I prayed to be happy. I let my soul in His hands and prayed for it to be soothed. 

And it was. That fall I began a relationship with my best friend, a guy I've met at my Graphic Design course and that quickly became my go-to person. He is similar to me in so many ways (good and bad), that I really couldn't have asked for a better match. I wouldn't had known what to ask for! Our relationship grew stronger as months went by. We had our ups and downs, but it was all fine in the end. 

Life resumed its course. I got a job as a Shop Manager for a telecom retail company, got passed some of my limits, learned a lot about me and people once again. But something felt off again. Stress was much higher than my inner feeling of fulfillment. It ended up putting great strain on me, and I came to work only to wait anxiously to get back home to my plans, peace and quiet. So I left. It didn't feel right. 

As I felt myself calming down, I began to see things clearly and once more planned starting my own thing. 

Guess what?! Once more it didn't happen right!

I planned to get a job in order to raise money to start my own photography business. Found a job in sales, advertising space and client relationship. All good, all stressful as always, but it was comfortable. Somehow, my dream got postponed, as I never felt quite ready. I was scared shitless, to be honest!

Life grew bored with my behavior and decided to give me one more "poke". Into my right eye. On a Friday.

The time when it happened was just right, as I once more grew to comfortable into being pushed and pulled by life and not listening to my intuition. Whenever that happened, fear took command and made me settle, going totally against my dreams of always going for what it feels right.

I told the story of my multiple sclerosis diagnosis here. The thing that I would like to add to it is that as I write this story, I understand that our lives are empty without doing something with purpose, without really using the gifts we have been given. 

I have always loved to write and tell stories. I was always able to leave myself aside in times of great distress and turn to helping others.

Now you tell me. What do you choose: a life that happens to you, or one designed by choice? 

Because things will always happen, go well, go bad, get stuck, or anything else. But what really matters is what you do with the cards that you have been dealt, and how you use them to serve others? 

For me, that's what life is all about: smart choices. God knows what He's doing. Always!

Liked this post? Subscribe HERE, to be sure we stay connected. Let me know if you’d want me to write a more extensive piece on this topic, or on smaller topics from it. Would love to hear your opinion on this! Leave your comments down below.

Sincerely yours,

Denisa

Creative Choices: Why Visual Storytelling Is So Important? (Shapes Studio - Visual Storytelling) | SMart Choice Lifestyle

The most important images are the ones infused with emotion. The ones that make us remember the day, the person, how we felt and what our thoughts were. Those are the images that tell our story.

How many times we looked at a beautiful image that we knew almost nothing about? It was just a beautiful image. When it’s infused with stories, it comes alive. It shines and speaks. It takes shape.

I was always surrounded by photography as legacy, as something to cherish and pass on, as a means to remember stories, people, feelings. A time machine. I constantly browsed through my parent’s wedding photos, through my grandma and great-grandma’s photo boxes and I came up with lots of love. Love for them, their stories and photography.

My maternal great-grandmother had portraits of her mum and dad, of her six daughters and of all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She cherished them all. On the walls, in the wooden box she had in one of her bedrooms. She loved keeping people, loved ones alive in her mind and in front of her eyes. She loved looking at us as we were her legacy, her creation and most cherished possession. She loved us and we loved her.

My maternal grandma, her daughter, had her walls filled with pictures of us - her own daughters and granddaughters. During my summer vacations, I remember frequently looking at them and thinking about how times were back then, how young we all were and most importantly, how loved. In her master bedroom she had a picture of my late grandfather, her husband. The picture portrayed him as a young man in his 20’s or 30’s, very well groomed and presentable.

Back then there were no sloppy photos, only posed and emotionless portraits, framed up the wall. I kept wondering what his life was like the day he went to take that picture, what was he feeling? Then there were the family photos, taken outside, picturing them having fun, sharing summer days, winter days and many other moments of happiness. And they all had a story.

There was also the shoe-box. The photographs-filled shoe-box. The stories in there made up for hours and hours of talking with and listening to my grandma revive times that had gone by, remembering herself, remembering my mother’s childhood, remembering me and all in between. The stories wouldn’t have been the same without pictures, without portraits. Having an actual image of the people she was telling me about gave life, color and shape to what I was imagining. It made it more real, more human, it brought it closer and helped make a connection.

I grew up with the knowledge that stories and images bring people together and create a bond that can’t ever be broken. Things in life change, people get old and die. It’s the way this world works. But the stories remain. The emotions stay alive. You can always remember something, but memories fade away, you forget details that made you happy, you forget colors and feelings. They fade away with time. A photograph brings those stories back up sharp and in full detail. You can fully remember. You feel it again. It’ all coming back.

The years went by and we didn’t take so many photographs. At least not of us as a family. I took many pictures of my grandma, but I’m not present in any of them. The only two pictures I have with the two of us are the ones we made back when I was one. The thing that I remember most vividly about her was that warm smile she had on whenever we were around. One evening, as I was going back home and saying goodbye, as she laid in bed, she looked at me with her bright blue eyes and said: “You’ll miss me when I’m gone, won’t you?”. And then we smiled at eachother and said goodbye. A few years ago, she passed away at 78. I will cherish those pictures for a lifetime. I had them printed and now they’re displayed on my walls. She filled my life with stories and now I’m going to help fill your lives with them too.

Shapes Studio - Visual Storytelling is bringing together what I love doing most: hearing/telling stories and taking pictures of people. Stories of you and your loved ones. Visual stories. Portrait photography.

I’ve spent my entire life listening to other’s stories and learning from them. We all have limited lives, with a limited set of choices. But we can learn a whole lot more if we just listen. Hear out other people’s stories so that we can have more choices and thus learn more, live more. Create visual stories that keep the lessons alive, the memories alive.

This is my “WHY”. I want to gift this kind of experiences to you. Time slips by and you’ll want to keep the people you love close to you forever. Portrait photography keeps memories alive, keeps loved ones alive in your heart. Family is important. Feelings are important. Relationships matter.

Exist in photos. Remember them and let them remember you. Every portrait has a story. Let me tell yours.

Sincerely yours,
Denisa

Thank you for taking time to read this post. Read the previous one in the Creative Choices series HERE and HERE.

The following months we'll go deeper into what it takes to become stronger: body, mind and spirit. To become the architect of your wished lifestyle.

Until then, I thank you for being here. Liked this post? Share it with friends. Want to receive more articles like this right into your inbox? Add your email to the SMart Choosers list HERE. You’ll receive every new article and a monthly Newsletter of wonderful resources and insight, to help you make the smart choices that best fit your lifestyle.

Creative Choices: Why Is My Portrait Photography Project Named SHAPES?

A creative choice is that decision to make something creative. It also involves your reasons, motivations and values. As I've said before in many articles on this blog, choices define who we are. It goes the other way round too: who we are defines the choices we make. It's all connected. Let me tell you more about my creative choice. Read on!

THREE YEARS AGO, IN DECEMBER

(Originally written on 16th of December 2013)

<<I often get faced with this simple question: "Why Shapes? Why did you name your project like that?". The answer is just as simple.

All around us is a shape of some sort. Trees, cars, animals, houses. All inside us has a metaphorical shape: our dreams, our plans, our memories, and even our feelings. We imagine and make plans following a pattern, a model, a scheme. Their visual expression on paper is a shape, a structure.

Given the fact that i chose to express myself via images and stories through images, the term "shapes" came naturally to me. Even since I was in primary school, I found myself very attracted to geometry, and what is geometry but the science of mathematical shapes!? I translated this concept in the way I would like to compose my images: with the use of shapes and forms.

In photography, the composition rules follow patterns, lines... geometry. Every image, if it is constructed via those rules, has a shape, an internal pattern that guides the eye through it (i.e. the rule of thirds, the Fibonacci number, etc).

In graphic design, geometry is self explanatory: vectors are grouped into groups that form objects, prints and so on. Ad a pinch of color and a whole world of shapes is born.

Last but not least, our whole world is made of shapes. I'm made of shapes, you're made of shapes. Thus my artistical concept is... a shape. A shape of my universe, of the way I create, of the way I represent the reality outside myself.>>

Thank you for taking time to read this post. Read the previous one in the Creative Choices series HERE.

The following months we'll go deeper into what it takes to become stronger: body, mind and spirit. To become the architect of your wished lifestyle. To become #strongerthanMS.

Until then, I thank you for being here. Liked this post? Share it with friends. Want to receive more articles like this right into your inbox? Add your email to the SMart Choosers list HERE. You’ll receive every new article and a monthly Newsletter of wonderful resources and insight, to help you make the smart choices that best fit your lifestyle.

Sincerely yours,

Denisa

Multiple Sclerosis Can Wake You Up To Follow Your Dreams (and Quit Postponing Them)

We think we have life planned already. We think that we know everything and most of the times postpone or discard our oldest dreams and passions as being "just a hobby", "just a dream". Well, it's "just life" that has the power to teach us a very important lesson: never let go of the things that make your soul feel happy and at peace. Life is passing anyway. Follow your dreams. Find a way to make them happen. Adapt. This is my story and what can you learn from it all.

THREE YEARS AGO

(Originally written on 3rd of April 2013)

"Let me tell you a story. A story about strength, creativity, challenges and most of all passion. It all happened one blizzardy Sunday, on the 22nd of December of 1985. The day I got into this world in the first place. 

Since I can remember I simply loved making up stories and characters. Normal stuff for a kid my age you would say. But this instinct never left me. I began by listening to my grandmother's childhood recollections, her stories about times that I had never experienced, and people I would never meet, and yet I found them fascinating. When my gran wasn't around, I had my mom filling up her role and reading me stories every night, as we laid in bed. I listened to her tales of Mahabharata, The Nibelunges, Tristan and Isolda, romanian fairytales, Grimm fairytales and many others. I remember she used to sing to me 'till I fell asleep, and went away into a world of fantasy and imagination as my dreams were magically created following so many stories. 

My school years followed the same pattern, just that I now followed my own stories that I developed in my mind after reading most of my grandmother's library. It was my escape from homework and other boring stuff you might hate being a kid. I found myself free whenever I played all the stories in my head and each time we had to do a composition or an essay for school. Playing around with my cousin imagining we were the best of all the superheroes that ever existed took its toll, and after years and years it still brings up nostalgic memories. 

All this urge to make up stories and give them back to the world found its match when I decided to study movie directing after finishing highschool. Unfortunately, given the circumstances, I never got to do that, and I'm now a licensed sociologist, with a major in Communication and Public Opinion. 

Since I graduated from University, the story bug never left me, and for a few years now it found it's expression in the form of photography and graphic design. These are the things I most enjoy doing, and although my daytime job doesn't allow me to do this full time, I am absolutely sure that I found my place in this world and that this is my path in life. Thus, on the 5th of November 2010, Shapes Photography was born.

A place in which all my ideas and stories could come to life, day by day, bit by bit... through image. Nonetheless, I never abandoned my writing skills, and since the beginning of 2012, Shapes was added the "storytelling" part. The whole project is now named Shapes Studio - Photography, Graphic Design and Storytelling. As 2013 came up, I began making lots of plans to put Shapes "to business", and hoping that this dear project to my soul will catch its wings and become what I want it to become: a place where imagination and stories come alive, a place where art shines bright and where people's life stories get to influence others. 

I'm not making a schedule of my posts or of what and when I'm going to post here, but I do promise that this year it's gonna be all about Shapes and it's will to create. My will to create beautiful images that tell interesting stories, my will to give the world a part of the beauty it has raised me up in... My will to make my late grandmother proud of me, and thus make her live again through my work and actions.

This April 10th commemorates one year since she has left this world. She was a powerful woman, that inspired my creativity from an early age. She had challenges and I'll have mine. I'll follow her example and follow my passion. I will never settle until I reach my goal. I'll make her proud."

AFTERMATH & FOLLOWUP

Time went by and I somehow left my dreams aside for the "real world", for "the real job", for "the job who will pay the bills". I was basically a machine, to put it lightly. I lived my life without being present and fully understanding and feeling what I was experiencing. I felt like a hamster on a spinning wheel. All this while watching my dreams and plans almost at my reach, but couldn't yet touch them.

And then, one year later, in 2014, multiple sclerosis touched me. In in fact kicked me into reality. Mentally and emotionally, I now had to face the uncertainty of an (excuse the redundancy) unpredictable illness, that threatened to take my body away from me. That was the slap on the face that my life and God gave me. I was to entrapped into living by the rules that most of the people around me lived, yet none of them seemed truly happy, truly living a purposeful life.

And then I slowly began to get back to myself, to the person I have always been and to the dreams that I always had. That's what I feel I need to do in this life: tell the stories of people and somehow help them find the best version of themselves, inside and out. Visual ones, written ones, all together. God will lead me there, I have no doubt about it. It's just about the choices I make.

Thank you for taking time to read this post.

The following months we'll go deeper into what it takes to become stronger: body, mind and spirit. To become the architect of your wished lifestyle. To become #strongerthanMS.

Until then, I thank you for being here. Liked this post? Share it with friends. Want to receive more articles like this right into your inbox? Add your email to the SMart Choosers list HERE. You’ll receive every new article and a monthly Newsletter of wonderful resources and insight, to help you make the smart choices that best fit your lifestyle.

Sincerely yours,

Denisa

Staying True To Yourself. Why I Write

We are all different in our capabilities and talents. We like and are good at different things, thus each one of us is special in his or her way. Society bounds us to a grid of rules and measurements, wanting to equalize each individual to the next. Creating uniformity makes us easier to quantify, supervise and control.

Backstory

Following the Industrial Revolution, our society became more and more mechanized and labour-focused. It saw people not so much as individualities, but as work-force, as elements of a system that was bound to make profit. And this system is here still. It grew from the factory in the Victorian era and evolved into the corporate world of the 21th century.

But what is there to do when you are a free spirited person? When you value more self expression and talent than following society’s rules? You become independent or you develop anxiety attacks and a feeling of lacking purpose.

I went through the second type of situation. The pressure to conform got so heavy, that I often found myself over stressed, more irritable, feeling boxed in, and like I was putting on a mask every single day, for the past seven years. And I just realised that it’s been that long.

So, for seven long years I went back and forth between corporate or semi-corporate jobs and my own self. And it’s been exhausting!

Imagine being at work, standing comfortably at your desk, having a spreadsheet open in front of you, and your mind wondering away, to the places and things you wanted to be doing instead. You might say that this happens to all of us once in a while. We get tired of work and start day-dreaming about relaxation and the following vacation that we’re going to in a month or two.

Now ask yourself: is this how things are supposed to be? Is this the right thing? Working to afford a life that you only can live fully a month a year? Speding time with your family for just 5-6 hours a day? Focusing on deadlines and sales targets rather than what makes you feel complete and your most productive self? Are you sure that’s how you want to live the rest of your life?

I surely wasn’t up for this challenge! I wanted something else. Some other challenge.

The Turning Point

This past year since my MS diagnosis, I came to realise what I value most. What are my core goals in life. And none of the corporate achievements was one of them. I remembered that I want to help people achieve their potential. I remembered that I love hearing life stories. I remembered who I was before entering the production line.

Deep feelings and emotions arose as I was getting back to myself. As I was rediscovering what made me human, and what made me… me. To some it may sound like woo-woo stuff, but getting back in touch with your own self is life changing.

You wouldn’t believe how much anger, frustration and fear can deposit inside you for years and years. And it’s all boxed in. Walled in. And you think you live the best life ever.

And then the void comes. That feeling of shallowness and lack of purpose. It will come, because you are working to fullfil someone else’s dream, and forgetting your own.

Spirituality and getting in touch with your core is not some hippie bull-sh!@. It’s the thing that makes you a human being. Eastern thinking has been knowing this for more than 5000 years.

Getting back to yourself doesn’t mean retreating from this world and live your life on a lotus flower listening to the waves. It means relearning who you are, what are your goals in life and act on them.

Have a purpose. Work daily on your idea. Find fullfillment and ease in doing what is right for you. It’s probably the most important thing you’ll ever do.

How I Came To Writting?

The answer is I did not came to it, as it was already here. It has always been a part of me. Since I was little, writing was my best form of self-expression.

Putting words on paper had and still has a deep cathartic effect on my mind. It exorcises my inner demons, so to speak. It emphasizes what is true, valuable and persistent in my life. It gives me clarity and is a keepsake of my memories.

It’s the way I communicate best. Mostly now, writing the SMart Choice blog. I made a commitment to myself. I need to write an article every single day, in order to grow as a person and as a writer. It is a form of practicing in public, like Jeff Goins says.

I write because I love to be able to express my thoughts,  I love to tell stories and I love the idea of maybe helping someone who gets to read these articles. Living in the digital era makes it even more exciting and fullfilling. I get to share my points of view and find other like-minded individuals with whom I can further communicate.

I cherish relationships and communication. We are social beings. We have always lived in tribes. Even in today’s times, we are all part of small groups, large groups, professional groups, leisure groups, you name it!

Each of these groups is a tribe that stands for something. A tribe focused on a common goal or interest. That’s what’s shaping our selves. We have multiple statuses, we play a multitude of roles, but the most important is to stay true to yourself.

Sincerely,

Alexandra

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