Gott nytt år!

"Gott nytt år" is the Swedish way of saying Happy New Year and means directly translated “Good new year”. I choose this phrase for today`s post because besides wishing you all the best for the months ahead of us I want to share my thoughts about new year resolutions. Because even though we can use the fresh start and positive and motivating energy around us, it can also result into a feeling of pressure and stress. It is different for everyone, and of that we all should be aware of.

But, let’s start with the little update. I spent Christmas and the week afterwards in Germany with my family and it was just perfect! It snowed, I got so see my closest family and friends, had way too much delicious food, and just kind of took the week off from everything. After the last four months of exploring, working a lot (I love it!), and not really resting it felt right to just be with my loved ones and relax. Although I love doing different stuff and experiencing new things, it comes the time when everyone needs to stop for a while and just be.

I went home to Sweden on the 31st and all of us volunteers celebrated new year’s together in Gävle. It was a great night and the perfect ending and start at the same time. The weekend afterwards we enjoyed our last two days before work in Sweden`s winter wonderland: Some of us walked to a little hill in Gävle to go slighting and afterwards we had Fika in a little ski-café. We had a lot of fun in the snow and it felt like I was on winter vacation! After coming back home we cooked some delicious food and had a movie marathon. On the next day we went on a walk on the lake here in Sandviken. It is actually solid frozen by now and there were cars driving on it as well – so crazy! We got to walk to the island in the middle of the lake and saw places for ice fishing and ice skating! It was such an weird but amazing feeling and I decided to go cross country skiing at the same place the next day in the morning.

Going skiing through the frozen landscape all by myself gave me also time to reflect. The last year was quite crazy with many milestones, lots of new experiences, challenges and opportunities. Most of the time I was so full of energy and excitement to just do thinks that I didn`t want to take time to stop. And that was actually perfect because I chose to life like that and I love it every day. But now I got confronted with lots of questions about my plans for the future and also saw so many other people reflecting their year and talking about their plan for 2022. And of course, that made me start thinking as well.

I don`t say that it is the right way for everyone to take time to reflect themselves between the years but for me it was really helpful to structure all my plans and ideas, especially when it comes to thinking about how I want to use my time here in Sweden. I have some points on my bucket list that I really want to do and already started to organize, but otherwise I just want to enjoy my time, working hard to contribute my best to Rapatac, and get surprised by the opportunities. This works best for me, although I still get questions from many people what my plans are for afterwards. But I decided to not stress about it, because that is just how I am. I`m not the person that plans her whole life, I don`t really have a long term goal yet and maybe I don`t know where I want to go, but that is okay. I`m more the day-by-day person and want to have fun with everything I do, as well as using all the opportunities I can get. I understand that this is not for everyone and many people don`t get it, but we all should have the awareness that everyone has different ways of living their life.

I wanted to share my thoughts about this topic in today`s post because we often get the feeling that we are doing something wrong when not having a fixed plan for the future. I caught myself getting stressed out about all those questions, especially at the beginning of a new year or semester. Where do you want to go? What is your goal for the next years? Why do you take so much time off? But all those questions are just ideas from some people how to live the “right way”! I do support the idea that it is significant to do something with our life, to collect experiences and use the opportunities for education. It is really important to challenge ourselves, set goals and be productive. But how we do it is our own choice. It is our life and it only matters that we are satisfied and happy with the decisions we make.

So, I hope you all understand what I want to say with this post. No one should feel like just because a new year started we need to have a five-year-plan, change our lives completely and start into a “perfect” routine, whatever that is anyways. Just make sure to not waste your time but be proud of your own way. Either you want to sit down and reflect your year and make resolutions and plans for the future, or you do not, it doesn`t matter! Don`t pressure yourself just because of others! Right now is the time where everyone wants to be better and I love this positive energy and new motivation. But sometimes we forget that everyone is different and that all this thinking can be stressful for others. We need to be aware of that. And if this way of living is not the right way for you, have the courage then to make your own, maybe different, choices!

Sharing this with you was really important for me because while seeing all this how-to-become-your-perfect-self we often forget that there are so many different perfects. We are not supposed to pressure but support each other in order to be happy. So, either you now organize your mind a little or you just go one with your life and find joy in that, I hope you have an amazing day with lots of happiness!