From time to time I need to leave. I need to leave the city where I live, the people I am with every day. And just travel. Even if I spend only a few days outside, I come back home calmer, I smile more and I am happy to see my lovely home town.
Last time when I was out of our borders was back in September. That is why my desire to leave was so strong, although January is probably not the best time for making trips. But for me, no problem.The answer to the question “where am I going” couldn´t be easier. I always have some travel dreams and there was always a reason behind it. I usually want to see some new place, but not in this case.
I have spent half a year of my studies in the capital city of Poland – Warsaw. I really had a great time there, felt in love with the country, the atmosphere and the situations which I experienced. It was last winter and I have planned to come back in the summer, autumn or in december, but one of the reasons why I didn´t do it was that I still missed these great times and didn´t know how I would feel there, especially without friends I have met during these times who are not there anymore.
Now, a few days ago, after one year, I visited the streets and places which are connected to my best memories. The first day I was walking these streets alone and I felt a little bit nostalgic, but mostly happy and thankful. I realized how important it is to learn from every meeting, to enjoy every moment and realized that the fact that people are leaving from your life is normal. I realized that there´s nothing more important in my life than people. The ones I am not in touch with anymore and the ones who are still in my life and maybe always will be. The same place would never be the same if it wasn´t connected with some original situation and original people.
I visited places which were part of my everyday life and I felt like It was yesterday. I have met people I haven´t seen for a year and felt that nothing changed and we continue in the same conversation we had before. I have only realized how I have changed. Or maybe not me, but my plans and dreams. During those times I have met more people than I have met during my whole life and they all formed me. I always thought that you can make strong friendships only when you have a lot fo time to do it, but this experience helped me to understand that time is not important.
From time to time I need to sit in a bus with the headphones on and think about my life, I need to meet people with different lives and dreams to become my inspiration.
From time to time I need to look at the past and appreciate that everything that had ever happened in my life has its own reason.
I would like to introduce you to the new look of my blog. The idea came from my boyfriend Simon. I remember we were sitting in a pub, drinking beer and I was talking about my idea to start blog. I asked him to draw a banner for me. He took a piece of paper, drew a sketch and he captured the essence of the blog title on the first try.
His friend Ondrej (check out his blog) digitally coloured this banner. I am happy to have such creative people around me.
Sometimes we have the feeling that we don´t spend our time effectively and we waste it. But we usually realize it when it´s too late.
I have recently graduated from university and when I am looking back at my studies time, I know that I didn´t enjoy it as much as I could have. I could have learned more, worked harder, made more for my future, developed my skills. Even if I have always had some free time activities such as guitar or photography lessons and part time jobs, I still feel that I have not spent this time effectively enough.
I cannot change the past even if I wanted to. But I can change my future, in order not to regret anything again. Here are some of my tips.
1. Learn languages. I like reading books, especially in the slovak, my mother tongue. It´s easy and that´s also the reason why i do it, but it is much more effective to read books in foreign languages. You can have a rest by reading and you can improve your skills at the same time. You just need to get used to it and it will be easy for you. I also love to write in my mother tongue, but I gave priority to english. Maybe you don´t need to use languages at this moment, but you never know when your skills could help you.
2. Watch documentaries. Almost everyone likes to relax by watching TV after coming back from work or school. There is nothing wrong with that, but watching TV shows all day doesn´t teach you anything new. Interesting and also more useful could be watching documentaries. There are plenty of them, so you can choose what you are interested in or maybe something that is completely new for you.Or if you really prefer to watch TV shows, it could also be useful to watch them in a foreign language. I like to watch TV in a those languages that I am actually learning – that means german, polish or english :).
3. Activities with friends. When I meet up with my friends, we usually go for a beer or coffee. And I love it! It´s the best way of relaxing, but why not to try something else? Find a friend who can play some musical instrument, so you can play or sing together. Find some model or you can be a model for your friend who likes taking pictures. You can produce handmade jewellery together, write a shared blog, make a discussion group about movies or books or create something completely new! You just need to be creative.Your friendship will become stronger, you will have a nice time and you will spend your free time effectively :).
4. Use your imagination. When you are relaxing, try to think about your dreams and imagine how your ideal life would look like. Try to imagine what you appreciate in your life. Just close your eyes, relax a let your mood become positive. And why do I think that it´s effective? Because I believe that our thoughts and what we imagine has an impact on our future.
Do you sometimes have a feeling that you are wasting your time? What does “spending free time effectively” mean for you ? 🙂
Next time I will write how to spend free time without spending any money!
I am not usually a neat person (anyone who had ever shared a room with me knows it), but I am always looking forward to do the Christmas cleaning . What I like about it is throwing away the old things and making changes in my room. I feel like I am getting rid of an old energy and making place for a new, better one.
This year I have dumped out three full bags of useless stuff. And I am proud of it. When I was younger, I used to keep my childhood memories and doing these cleanings wasn´t so easy for me.
Now it´s much much better, but I still wasn´t able to get rid of some of the old useless things. So, I decided to give them a new meaning and use them again, but differently.
I have two guitars at home – one of them is quite new and I use to play it and the other one is old and I don´t play it anymore. Now it is hanging on the wall instead of a frame and I think it makes my room special.
The other idea I am proud of was to use an old skateboard as a shelf. I got it from a friend a few years ago and I have never used it before.
My earings are hanging on an old T-shirt on cloth-hanger. But to be honest, it wasn´t my idea, my friend did it first in her room. I am a very messy person and when I am in a hurry, I have a problem to find all the necessary things. Finding the right earrings is not a problem anymore.
To make small changes doesn´t take too much time, but that feeling after realizing your ideas is priceless :).
Have you ever done something similar in your room?
každým dňom
som o rok mladšia,
no myslím si to zrejme
iba ja
rátajú mi roky,
vraj starnem
a robiť chyby
sa už vôbec nepatrí
vraj nie som najmladšia,
no moja kalkulačka
ráta celkom naopak
som mladšia ako všetci tí,
čo hľadajú mi vrásky
a na tie svoje
použijú photoshop
…..
(photo by Miloš Miko)
sedíme v kaviarni
a kecáme o ničom,
kým chladne nám šálka kávy
počúvam viac než pozorne
príbeh bez konca
i pointy
ten bol s tým
a ja ich nepoznám
no viem o nich
nedobrovoľne veľa
z úst sa paria len bubliny,
prázdne bez výplne
no ja aj tak neodídem
………
po ťažkom dni v práci
i to po tom ľahkom,
každý občas potrebuje
rozprávať o ničom
Je druhý január a ja som sa konečne (asi po prvý krát v živote) odhodlala zapísať si svoje novoročné predsavzatia. Nedávam si ich, lebo šanca, že ich nesplním je u mňa až príliš vysoká.
Rozlúčila som sa so starým rokom, ktorý bol zatiaľ pre mňa rokom najväčších zmien. Pozitívnych bolo asi toľko čo negatívnych, ale ja sa nesťažujem, všetko je presne tak ako má byť.
Teším sa, že opäť prichádza niečo nové a verím, že to nebude len zmenou čísla v roku. Ak sa zmeny nebudú diať samy od seba, dopomôžem si (dúfam) dodržiavaním týchto predsavzatí :
1. Fotenie portrétov bolo vždy mojou obľúbenou oblasťou fotografie, no v poslednej dobe sa tomu venujem čoraz menej. Chýba mi to stretávanie ľudí, spoločné vymýšľanie a preto fotenie portrétov zaraďujem na prvé miesto mojich predsavzatí.
2. Mám doma zopár starých analógových fotoaparátov, ktoré sa už dlhšie chystám vytiahnuť a používať. Moja zrkadlovka si zaslúži trochu oddychu a zároveň sa chcem konečne pustiť do vyvolávania fotografií v mojej tmavej komore.
3. Chodiť viac do prírody, užívať si prechádzku a fotiť, fotiť, fotiť!
4. Neraz som svoj fotoaparát zobrala na prechádzku večerným mestom a fotenie kde ako zdroj svetla použijem nočnú lampu, sa mi zapáčilo. Chcem rozšíriť svoju zbierku a nosiť svoj fotoaparát stále pri sebe.
5. Veľa sa rozprávať s ľuďmi, obnoviť staré priateľstvá, udržiavať si tie aktuálne a možno aj vďaka cestovaniu mať možnosť spoznať nových ľudí.
Máte aj vy nejaké predsavzatia?
It´s the third day of the year and I have finally decided (for the first time in my life) to write my New Year´s resolutions. I don´t usually do it, because it´s very likely that I don´t stick to them.
The old year is gone. By now it has been the year of the biggest changes. There were as much postitive as negative. I am not complaining, everything is as it should be.
I am looking forward to something new and I hope that the year is not the only thing that will change. If changes don´t come by itself, I will (I hope) help myself by following these resolutions:
1. Making portraits was always my favourite part of photography, but I don´t spend with that so much time than before. I miss meeting people, creating our common ideas and that´s why I put these resolution in the first place.
2. I own a few old analog cameras that are waiting for their comeback. My DSLR will rest a little bit and I will finally have possibility to develop films at home.
3. Spend more time in nature, enjoy walks and taking pictures!
4. Sometimes I take my camera for an evening walk and use a night lamp as a source of light. I want to expand my collection and have my camera always by me day and night.
5. Talk a lot with people, renovate my old friendships, take care of current ones and thanks to travelling have possibility to meet new people.
Do you also have some New Year´s resolutions?
Phototown 