The turning point

There comes a time in life when you need to face reality, or at least be ready to confront what is about to come. It wasn’t different for me. Fortunately, I’ve always lived a good life, surrounded by really special people that gave me the all base and support I needed to be ready when this time came. To be honest, it needs to be much more than just confronting reality, because it is not only about facing it, but wanting to do it, and having the willingness to learn from the whole experience. And that’s the exact time we notice that we are growing up, and consequently, maturing. Adult life is not easy, but who doesn’t like a challenge? To serve an internship will be hard, it will take up a lot of time, but that’s part of the process of life and I’m more than ready for what is waiting for me! “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”.

My sweet childhood

When I think about my childhood, lots of sweet memories come to mind. It is difficult to choose the most special, because all of them were essential to building my character. When I stop and look back, everythink I am nowadays reminds me of my first school, where I grew up and had some of the memories which I will keep forever. This school, specifically, marked me because it was a harmonious place and I felt at home when I was there. I can remember every single detail. When it comes to talk about my childhood, there isn’t one single sad memory I can recall, only those envolving happinnes, joy and a lot of love, and that is why they are so special to me, and I will keep them forever in my heart.

Hitting it off X Drifting apart

During life, our paths cross the paths of others, but there are always the ones with whom we hit it off straightaway, which have a special place in our hearts. As we grow up, we start to have a bigger and better vision of what life is, and this demands that we become easy going so we can take life lightly. As we are progressing, in the middle of the way we will have fall outs, but if we are brave and smart enough, we will take this as a life lesson. 

"Com o tempo, você vai percebendo que para ser feliz com uma outra pessoa, você precisa, em primeiro lugar, não precisar dela.

Percebe também que aquele alguém que você ama (ou acha que ama) e que não quer nada com você, definitivamente não é o "alguém" da sua vida.

Você aprende a gostar de você, a cuidar de você e, principalmente, a gostar de quem também gosta de você.

O segredo é não correr atrás das borboletas... é cuidar do jardim para que elas venham até você.
No final das contas, você vai achar não quem você estava procurando, mas quem estava procurando por você!" (Mario Quintana)

This is a poem that I deeply love and it has a strong message about the secret of life, which is not chasing butterflies, but taking care of our gardens so they attract the butterflies. 

Tiny tweaks = Big changes

Can you fake until you make it? Or even better, can you fake it, so you can make it and actually become it? 

Nowadays life demands that we show our qualities, especially to show them with confidence, but, most of the times we feel pressured by people in control. With this, we put in our minds that we are smaller and powerless, when actually we should be feeling powerful and expanding ourselves so we can really show our content. 

“The mind is everything, what you think, you become”, this famous Buddha quote is quite interesting because for us to cause a good first impression, we need to have a mind prepared for the challenge, even though it is prepared to fake it. 

Express yourself, show not only to others, but to yourself that you are capable of doing it, spread your wings and learn how to fly. Of course it will be scary, but face it and that’s how you will grow. Tiny tweaks lead us to big changes and with our body language is how we will be able to show this to the world and maybe have the most amazing experiences of our lives. 

The power of image

Have you ever stopped to think how image is powerful and how it manipulates our lives? Nowadays, we are moved by how we look and how we dress, because for people in the 21^st century, and especially the young, what really matters is the first impression, not what actually is inside. Image has the power to change the way others think about you and it lets them pre judge how you are and what might happen in your life. But, what should really matter is what we have inside. It is much more important to have content rather than a perfect look, but we only learn this as we become more mature and as we live life and meet people that share those same ideals. Image is superficial, but at the same time it has the power to control what others see in you. Some people will live forever caring about what others think, but some will be so detached that their inner beauty will speak and shine much more than what is on the outside.

Time, a precious but ungrateful gift

            Time passes by really fast. With a blink of an eye everything changes and the teenager you used to be is now a grown-up, with a strong personality and lots of stories to tell. Even though time is something figured, it’s one of the most precious things someone can have, as it passes really fast and one opportunity has the power to change your whole life. Time makes us grow, change, mature and become responsible. In the same way that it gives, it takes too – it’s ungrateful. It gives us experience, but it takes away a moment very fast. Enjoy it as much as you can, live life to the fullest, laugh, break rules, have fun until the last possible second, because tomorrow might be too late.

Humor to change traditions

Even though we are in the 21th Century, we, as women, are in a position that we need to follow role models if we want to fit in with society. If we want to be seen, we need to dress perfectly just as others expect us to, otherwise we will be judged. We are always taught to be perfect, to act like a lady, to wear pink, to wear high heels and have straight hair. The funny thing is that we are responsible for imposing this on each other.

Liza Donnelly in her speech told the public in brief words that she uses humor to change this tradition. She draws cartoons and behind these, she tries to pass messages on to other women, to inspire them and wake them up to see that the world is much more than clothes and shoes. Liza believes that, as women are in charged of protecting the family, they should do something to show that there is much more behind a beautiful girly saintly face.

First of all, women should impose themselves and show the world that we don’t need to meet others’ expectations in order to show our values. Women don’t need to follow society’s rules to fit in and to be respected. Things need to change and a smart way of showing this is by using humor. As well as unwinding, humor can carry a beautiful and strong message, a message that everyone should not only understand, but follow too. The message that every women should carry around with them is: be yourselves and don’t be afraid to show the world the real you. Anyone who likes you, will stand by you, and the ones that don’t, don’t deserve your company and time.

The world is much more than appearances and stereotypes. Life is ampler than people make it. Relax, laugh, have fun, and most important of all: be yourself, be it wearing pink or not. Your true value is more precious than the image people have of you.

Mind control

Feeling stressed is very common among people and this feeling that makes our blood boil can be caused by a million different reasons, especially nowadays when everything, everyone, everywhere and in every situation stresses us. That one important test you need to get a high grade, your unbearable brother/sister that irritates you, the problems you have in your relationship and even the restrictions your parents put on you are some of the  examples that make your blood boil, sometimes not only boil, but explode, little by little.

Even though it is really common to feel stressed, it is not a good habit to have. When you are stressed, you don't think rationally and therefore, you say things we don't mean, you think pessimistically and in negatively, and you do things we do things unintentionally, causing even more problems , which consequently will result in more stress, turning it into a vicious cycle. 

The first thing to do when you see you are going to be in a stressful situation is to take a deep breath. While breathing,  allow your mind to work based on reason rather than emotion.. Then, set a destination and go for it, thinking about the present moment and concentrating on this, withoutletting anything interrupt this little moment of peace of mind. 

The next and and probably the most important step to fight against stress is to have power to control the mind. Controlling your mind is really important because otherwise it will control you and turn a situation that is easily contoured into a really unlikeable one. 

After gaining complete control of yourself, it will be possible to think positively and optimistically, allowing you  to destroy what is destroying and bothering you. Whatever you do is somehow influenced by what your brain processes, so, when you have the power to control your mind, you have a clear vision of the situation and you can decide rationally what to do. 

Controlling your mind and being in complete mastery of yourself is the key to succeed in life, professionally, emotionally and most of all, personally, making you a better person. Once you think positively, you attract good vibrations , making your life better, turning stress into peace, turning boiling blood into calm blood.

Why bother leaving the house

Nowadays, with all the technology that our world has ,  with just one click many activities and a lot of hard work can be done at home. If you need to buy clothes, you have the possibility to access a store's website, select the items you'd like to have, proceed to checkout and pay. If you need to submit an important project, you can send it by email instead of doing it personally. If you need to eat, you can ask for a delivery service. If you need to buy accessories for the house, school materials and anything else you might be thinking about, you can have it delivered to your house withjust a click.

As society has achieved a certain level of technological facilities, one particular question emerges: Why should we bother leaving the house if we can have everything we need and anything we want without making any effort of moving ourselves to other places? The answer is not as easy as it seems.

Even though technology has improved our way of living and helped facilitate our lives, it can't simply replace human interaction. Interaction is the reciprocal action of two or more things, be it people with their surroundings or even a person with another person or other people, constructionof  habitats and groups. The technological instruments break this interaction and the online possibilities we have, act as an intervention to this cycle, interrupting this really important process.

Even though it seems faster, easier and better, the sensation of not leaving the house is completely opposite to the sensation when we leave. When we leave the house, we are able to feel the moment, feel what we are doing alive and in color and experience things that not leaving the house takes away from us. When we step out of our houss, we come into contact with the environment that is not just ours anymore, but everybody's, and that is what makes it so special.

A picture on the internet, is just a picture that was taken from an ordinary camera, but what you see from your  eyes, nobody else will be able to see, and that is why we should bother leaving the house, because it is particular and unique. We are made of memories and at the end of the day, that's all we have. So, will you remain seated  at home and waiti for the world to pass you by or will you leave  and live what life has planned for you?

Discovering the Storm

During life, we go through many experiences and one of these in specific is the many storms our journey brings us. What is this storm inside you? What is that one little thing in your head that torments all your thoughts? It's not difficult to figure out what is bothering you, the real problem is figuring out how to overcome it.

Storms are common and even more common is going through a lot of them during different moments of life and about different things. To first thing to do in a storm is to keep calm, because there are many ways to discover  and overcome them in a manner that drive you crazy. Personally, I've been through many storms and the last thing I did was keep calm! This made my problems even worse than they actually were. After making a storm because of a glass of water, being exhausted of going crazy and in the end having my problems solved, I've learned that patience is your best friend during storms. 

After that, organizing your ideas and thinking clearly about what is that one thing you want to achieve is a really important part of the process. In that way, if you really want this something, you will have go after it no matter how hard the storm appears. 

However, sometimes we won't get a fast answer to what  that goal is and we feel completely lost and clueless of what we want. When it happens, don't freak out!. What is essential is to persevere, go after this answer and extract as much information as possible about your storm. As an example, I will use myself. I didn't know what to do in university, I was in doubt between some careers. The one thing that really helped me was to deepen my knowledge about each one career so I could come to the final conclusion that nowadays  makes me extremely happy and personally realized.

With this information, we can come to a conclusion that in life the key while discovering a storm is knowing where you will be after it if you are brave enough to overcome it. But, that doesn't mean you have to sit and wait for it to pass. You need to move and go after what you want. Fighting for something is the only way to get it. 

No one can avoid storms, they are part of life and no matter how hard people try to run away from them, they will appear. So, be ready, because life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, life is about learning how to dance in the rain.