I dream of a place where we look at each other so much more as partners rather than us and them and where we take the time to understand each other and the part we play in designing the experiences that shape the kids we love.
Author: Cǎtǎ Gǎrdescu
I am a connector, a lover of all things beautiful and a fighter when things get hard. I try each day to live truthfully, learn as much as I possibly can and push myself in the right directions. I am learning to trust my gut and my instincts and embrace uncertainty.
What I have learned in my first year of working and living abroad, in the land of hygge and happy.
Because nothing seems to have a purpose unless we find the answer to “what is this here to teach me” about it, I reflected for a bit on the few but powerful lessons my first year in Denmark, the land of hygge and happy, taught me.
I am not broken. I am a goddamn cheetah.
Between stimulus and response there lies a pause. (…) And in that pause, breathe in to tame the fire in you, especially when it was fed by biases, injustice, manipulation, gaslighting, lies … . Breathe and before you act, ask yourself: is it SAFE for me to show my heart and emotions here?
From a woman labeled “angry” and “too emotional “ to her younger, caged, self: you are ok!
As I grew up, in a family that was no stranger to hardship and quite strong twists of fate, there were two phrases I would hear from my caretakers (parents, grandparents, extended family, teachers, neighbors) that have shaped my reactions in my later professional and personal life.
No one can harm us unless we let them.
I asked within, how am I helping? What is going on inside of me that creating a monster out of a disagreement? As it often happens, the answer seemed to have been prepared for a long time just waiting to be invited to the table.
Diamonds in the mouths of pigs (no offense to pigs, they just can’t recognize a diamond when they see it …)
People I thought would realize the special space I had welcomed them in and appreciate the act for what it was, used my words, my vulnerability and my struggles as weapons to attack me when something in my behavior did not suit their needs.
Connect 