Blast From The Past – The People We Are Meant To Meet

Do you sometimes wonder why you meet certain people? Well, I do. I also do believe quite strongly in encounters being lessons for you to learn. I strongly believe that you don’t “just” meet someone. Everyone has something to teach you. You might not see it in the beginning but you will eventually. So every encounter, good or bad, will leave you with a lesson. It will leave you with a tool you need in order to grow…

Blast From The Past – Raise Good Men…

Funny how it all comes back up to the surface just because having a conversation with a friend of mine. Because obviously things like this happen. They happen regularly. Which is in itself way too often. And it triggers me just the way it triggered me back then. Not as much for me. Because frankly: Nothing has happened to me and I can simply shake it off. But because of my daughter and what she may but hopefully won’t experience.

And more than ever I know one thing: It’s also my responsibility to make sure it stops happening. I can do my part. By speaking out. Which I did eventually in the below mentioned case. I had a chat with certain people about this man and we did approach it. But also by raising my son right. By making sure he will treat women right. By making sure he understands that this is simply a no go and why. Because I feel that once you understand why, you also understand not to do it. For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about here is the story as a Blast From The Past…

Blast From The Past – Faking It

I’m all for being real but there are moments in life where you just can’t help yourself faking it. I’m not speaking of pretending you are someone you are not but rather the giving the impression you have it all under control. Like the moments we really don’t know how to deal with a situation but need to pretend we know exactly what we are doing so our kids don’t think were idiots 😉

But then of course there are other moments. And I’d like to share some thoughts about it in a Blast From The Past…

Blast From The Past – Passport

I consider myself incredibly lucky to live in a safe country and even luckier to be a dual citizen. A dual citizen of two safe and beautiful countries.

I recently helped a friend of mine work on a memoire of someone who has an incredible story. And while going through all the info and writing it I often thought what an easy life I had so far, how lucky I am to bring up the kids in a country and a society we find in Australia. And to also have the option to live in Switzerland if we would want or need to.

I still remember the feeling I had when we received our Australian citizenship and how amazing it felt when our Aussie passport arrived and I could put it next to my Swiss one. So please let me share a little Blast From the Past about passports…

Blast From The Past – All The Hate On Social Media

People are really interesting… and most of the time fun to deal with. But some of them turn into really nasty creatures, when they can hide behind a keyboard or feel they are indestructible. Like certain people who like to tweet stupid stuff… like fires destroying homes.

It’s hard to believe the judgment and lack of empathy that are displayed in comment on posts on social media. Not that we should take it all to heart but we do. Because we started living our lives on social media. And unfortunately what strangers think of us seems to matter to us. Probably more than ever. So some dish out while others sit on the receiving end. And while the ones dishing out probably have a bit of fun doing so and walk away not giving it another thought because it really doesn’t matter to them, the one that was on the other end will probably not be able to let it go that easily. Even though it was a totally random person making a remark.

A person,  you will most likely never met in real life. A person, who also most likely would never ever make the same remark straight into your face. A person, who’s opinion really doesn’t matter at all. And yet it’s the ones that stick. Like the grumpy ones complaining in a sea of happy customers. It will always be that one that will stick to you for the rest of the day.

So don’t let it! Don’t let them take over. Don’t let them stick to you. Don’t let their opinion count. Important are the people that are in your close circle. The ones that are important to you. Most important of all is you. What are your values. What is right for you. Go with that. And let the haters hate…

Blast From The Past – Money vs Happiness

There are weeks where the potential lottery win is incredibly high. So high that I often wonder if you’d ever be able to spend all the money or if you would live a life without any financial worries… or if you’d actually manage to burn through it… It has happened. People manage to spend all of their incredible win. Amounts you’d think would last for generations. So while I’m wondering about the sum that one lucky winner might take home next and what they’d do with it, I remembered this post I’d like to share with you today as a Blast From The Past…

Blast From The Past – Ode To A Playground

We spent a wonderful evening with our friends last night and as we all are from overseas, we sometimes talk about our “motherland” and how we spent our childhood. Moments like those bring up memories and one of them is about a special place I used to spend time at.

I’d like to share a post about it as a Blast From The Past today. Do you have a place like this as well?

Not my spot, but pretty similar to it…

You’re gone. It will never be the same again. The magic I found in you will not return. The timing though could not be better. I wonder why it happened at that moment. Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe it happened so I could let go of you for good as everything was about to change anyway…

I’ve spent many hours sitting with you admiring the moss growing on your roots and imagining that little fairies would live inside and under you. The little creek that was softly flowing past you took my imagination even further. Maybe there would be water fairies too? Would the fairies get along? Would they need little boats too? How would they build their houses? Was the moss enough for them to keep warm? Were they hiding in pine cones?

I was a child. A child that took her horse for a ride and stopped on a regular base next to you to let the horse have a drink. Then I decided to actually stop and have a snack and let my imagination run wild. I child that picked up pine cones, pretending they were little forest people. A child that collected sticks to build little shelters for the pine cone people. A child that was looking forward to return, smell the fresh forest air, listen to the splish splash of the creek, watching sticks float by, caressing her horse while telling the forest people story to the beautiful mare. A child that eventually turned into a teenager, who still loved to escape the real world on her rides and take a breather, sitting on the cool moss, smelling the moss, the soil, the forest. A teenager that turned into a young adult, enjoying to take a break at that very spot and let the mind wander.

You provided me with many beautiful days. Hot summer days were spent in the shade of your branches. Crisp fall days were equally enjoyed. In winter though you were off limits as there was just no way to get to you. Every spring I was wondering if you would still look the same or if nature would have changed something. Of course you changed slightly. The loss of a branch, a new created little arm of the creek. They were small changes. What didn’t change was the calm you gave me. The little escape from whatever was going on in my life. The energy I found back to after taking a break under the branches.

I still visited you after growing up, even after losing my horse. And I was hoping for many moments spent admiring you with my children. But it was not meant to be.

We decided to move to Australia but that was not the biggest change. Nature changed. It changed everything.

It was a huge storm. A lot of rain. And the river that fed the creek carried too much water and too much debris to be handled. There was a massive flood that changed the entire area you grew in. Months after the storm, when it was safe to return and things were kind of cleaned up everything looked different. Gone was the creek. Gone was the gentle river bank. Gone were you.

Gone was my childhood.

It seemed like a clear end to a chapter of my life. It seemed like a sign that it was time to move on.

The interesting thing is that this area was what I would have missed the most. Now it’s no longer there. As much as I felt sad for it to be gone, it helped me to let go of what would no longer be there. My childhood, my horse and my life in Switzerland.

The memories though will stay with me forever.

Inspired by the Daily Post Daily Prompt – Ode To A Playground

Revisited – Old Or New

I posted this as a Blast From The Past before but felt so strongly about what I described in the post again that I simply can’t help myself sharing this post one more time. So often we find ourselves torn between the past, the present and the future. While I try to stay in the present, sometimes it needs something or someone to take me back from hanging out in the past or thinking about the future too much…

Blast From The Past – Yin To My Yang

Sometimes it just clicks. With people, with pets and with places. Like puzzle pieces coming together, matching and meant to be connected. Connections like this will lead to something special, something great if we let it happen.

Blast From The Past – Outer Layers

Some things never change… this is one of them. I’m not comfortable buying cloths because I feel lost. I don’t really know what to chase and when I’m out there I feel overwhelmed. I’d probably be the perfect customer for a personal stylist…