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| Thomas Saliot "New York Street Color" via Saatchi Art |
A few days ago, I called my dad and decided to share a very extensive list of 2017 resolutions. He interrupted me maybe 2 minutes into my monolog by saying: "Ania, I think it's enough to stop right there. Otherwise, it will be so hard to fulfill all of them." Of course, he was right. I am not a big fan of life-changing decisions that are proclaimed at midnight on December 31st. However, two years ago I made the decision right in the middle of the crazy 90's themed New Year's Eve party in Brooklyn, and the outcomes followed many months later. As you see, it works from time to time.
Recently, I read an article in a psychology magazine in which a very well-known therapist was saying that there was something about new year's resolutions which turned them into a very successful psychological phenomenon. It is generally well-known that people (or at least some of them) are better at keeping goals when they have a particular deadline in mind. There is also something comforting about thinking that so many people around the world decided to make a change at the same moment in time. My number one goal for 2017 is to write, as much as I can, so much more than I do, and not to over-criticize myself in the process.
In Poland, we have a saying: "Fear has big eyes." The same applies to change. Sometimes the greatest fear is associated with the beginning of something new. When I made a decision about moving back to Europe last summer, I did not let myself overthink it, and so far it has been working fine. New York made me in so many different ways, but I enjoy being as multi-layered as I can, and now it's time for a new layer.
There is no moving forward without taking into account what was left behind. Last year I departed with many people using an overwhelming amount of negative hashtags to say their personal farewells to 2016. I would like to sum it up with my favorite cultural findings. If you have not done it yet, please watch two Italian movies which really stirred my emotions: The Complexity of Happiness (mentioned in this blog in 2016) and "The Mother" by Nanni Moretti. When it comes to music, somehow I returned back to electronica with sad and haunting tunes of Australian producer turned musician Angus Dawson, a beautiful sadness of Hugh's album "Directions" and finally playful remixes of Aaron London.
It was a year of podcasts for me. I listened to them during my morning NY commute, in planes, trains, just before I went to sleep. I am not sure how it happened, but all the podcasts I listened to were created by amazing, strong women. The PanDolly Podcast, very interesting pop culture British humor fueled podcast by two The Sunday Times contributors: Pandora Sykes and Polly Alderton really made me laugh. Love, Alexi, by Alexi Wasser, who is a 21st-century renaissance woman, LA-based actress, producer, blogger, never shy to be brutally honest about her personal life as a thirty-something woman in a brutal world of show business. Her conversations with guests are so intimate, you forget that you are not at your friends' house drinking wine. Boy, she cares about feminism, women rights, creativity and being human in all that! "Girlboss Radio" by a creator of Nasty Gal, Sophia Amoruso, who tries to encourage women of all ages to start their businesses and spread the girl power, is my motivation never to give up on the idea of my own company. Finally, there is "Pardon My French" from Garance Dore, a superstar of fashion bloggers. I love it for her French accent, insights about NY life, to which I so relate and interviewing VIPs of the fashion world.
2016 was also a year of discoveries and travels. I visited Malta and Milan, and I am so going to return therre, now that everything is just a 2h flight away.
Recently I stumbled upon this quote from Louis CK, which goes so perfectly with new year resolutions and fear of what's next. I hope you will find it as comforting as I did.
"Also please remember that the turning over of one year to another is a mental construct that bears no more weight that the things that keep us apart and in competitive categories as human beings. Time is not moving. You are not losing or gaining ground. It's now, we're us, and this is here. If you are in pain, this too shall pass. If you are in luxury, this too shall pass. Ask an old lady how she is doing. The internet is not real. Draw a picture on a napkin." Louis CK
In Poland, we have a saying: "Fear has big eyes." The same applies to change. Sometimes the greatest fear is associated with the beginning of something new. When I made a decision about moving back to Europe last summer, I did not let myself overthink it, and so far it has been working fine. New York made me in so many different ways, but I enjoy being as multi-layered as I can, and now it's time for a new layer.
There is no moving forward without taking into account what was left behind. Last year I departed with many people using an overwhelming amount of negative hashtags to say their personal farewells to 2016. I would like to sum it up with my favorite cultural findings. If you have not done it yet, please watch two Italian movies which really stirred my emotions: The Complexity of Happiness (mentioned in this blog in 2016) and "The Mother" by Nanni Moretti. When it comes to music, somehow I returned back to electronica with sad and haunting tunes of Australian producer turned musician Angus Dawson, a beautiful sadness of Hugh's album "Directions" and finally playful remixes of Aaron London.
It was a year of podcasts for me. I listened to them during my morning NY commute, in planes, trains, just before I went to sleep. I am not sure how it happened, but all the podcasts I listened to were created by amazing, strong women. The PanDolly Podcast, very interesting pop culture British humor fueled podcast by two The Sunday Times contributors: Pandora Sykes and Polly Alderton really made me laugh. Love, Alexi, by Alexi Wasser, who is a 21st-century renaissance woman, LA-based actress, producer, blogger, never shy to be brutally honest about her personal life as a thirty-something woman in a brutal world of show business. Her conversations with guests are so intimate, you forget that you are not at your friends' house drinking wine. Boy, she cares about feminism, women rights, creativity and being human in all that! "Girlboss Radio" by a creator of Nasty Gal, Sophia Amoruso, who tries to encourage women of all ages to start their businesses and spread the girl power, is my motivation never to give up on the idea of my own company. Finally, there is "Pardon My French" from Garance Dore, a superstar of fashion bloggers. I love it for her French accent, insights about NY life, to which I so relate and interviewing VIPs of the fashion world.
2016 was also a year of discoveries and travels. I visited Malta and Milan, and I am so going to return therre, now that everything is just a 2h flight away.
Recently I stumbled upon this quote from Louis CK, which goes so perfectly with new year resolutions and fear of what's next. I hope you will find it as comforting as I did.
"Also please remember that the turning over of one year to another is a mental construct that bears no more weight that the things that keep us apart and in competitive categories as human beings. Time is not moving. You are not losing or gaining ground. It's now, we're us, and this is here. If you are in pain, this too shall pass. If you are in luxury, this too shall pass. Ask an old lady how she is doing. The internet is not real. Draw a picture on a napkin." Louis CK
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