End of a year is a very special for me – while I was living in Netherlands, Christmas time spent abroad was very difficult for us. By us I mean whole family – especially my wife and kids. Today I would like to share with you a piece of a thoughts which were bustling in my head at the end of 2016. This might explain as well, what was my motivation behind moving back to Poland. There will be much less of the advices than in my regular posts, but definitely more motivation and positive energy. At the end, you will also find my personal wishes for you. I hope that despite the fact, that this post will be quite personal, you will like it anyway. Have a look on bulleted list with subjects covered in this article:

Last 3 years in the Dutch

Let’s start 6 years ago. At the end of 2014, we stared thinking about buying own home in Netherlands. I also need to say, that we were close to achieving this is in 2015, when finally, after long searching, we were able to find the house we fell in love with. Luckily for us, my good Dutch friend went with us through construction inspection. He found out that the pillars of the house were rotten, and the building needs major renovation. Obviously, we did not buy it and gave up for a while with buying any property.

End of 2015 was a period, when I had a tough time at my work, and I felt terrible in there. The decision about changing job was taken, therefor I was actively looking for a new opportunity. I was also busy with additional trainings and certifications. I wanted to jump into security systems, so I managed to get: “Certificate of technical security employees in the scope of administration, design and assembly of electronic devices and alarm systems”. This is actually very long name of certification.

As you can expect, my candidacy on a position of alarm systems installer was rejected multiple times, due to “not enough experience with alarm systems”. Blind Cirlce. Fortunately, headhunter from another company found me and offered job in a corporation related with things, where I had already “hands-on” experience. Despite the fact, that I failed with security systems, I received an opportunity for a job where I could have fix and maintain medical equipment. I started in mid of 2016 and guess what! My experience there was great. In general – this job was fun!

Second half of 2016 – key events

Second half of 2016 was full of complications related with family matters in Poland. This was a series of misfortunes, where among the others, my grandma died, my brother twisted ankle and my dog, which I raised from a puppy, died as well. In addition, we had this feeling that we were loosing something. We missed many family meetings and events, as birthdays, Imieniny and wedding parties.

You can imagine, that it would be very complicated to drive 2400 km twice a month, just to visit your brother who has a birthday at the beginning of the month and your grandma, who has a birthday at the end of the same month. Technically it is possible, but costs and time spent on a travelling would have eat us. Anyway, we felt very much that we supposed to be back in Poland with our family.

At the end of 2016, I started with looking for a job in Poland. This time it went pretty quick, since period of notice in new “cool” company was short. I worked there only 9 months. It was more about decision, which had to be made, which means: leaving over 6 years spent in Dutch behind. Leaving behind not only job which I liked, but also all people who we met there and life which was already stable, financially predictable, and easy. The decision was made in our heads already. We were preparing ourselves for moving us and all our stuff from Netherlands to Poland.

I also knew that if I would have come back to Poland, then I want to live in Kraków. Since my wife was ok with it, we were looking for a place and work in capitol of Lesser Poland. From last days of February 2017, I could officially say, that we successfully moved back to Poland. We are happy in here. There is only 100 km away from place of our origin and our family. Also, only 100 km away from Polish mountains. We found a place where we want to stay and where we feel good.

Year 2017 – starting from the beginning

It doesn’t change the fact, that we had to take few steps back, as we talk about building up our mortgage capacity, stabilizing position at work or setting up local network of contacts. We used our experience gained with multiple removals which we had in the past. This time, we knew where to pay attention and we spoke already local language 😊. Finally, with my wife at the end of 2017 we started organizing the mortgage for house which we found in Poland. And this time, we managed to move in during last days of February 2018. This part of the mission was accomplished.

At the end of 2018 we started planning again. My wife has very good experience as nail stylist, so we thought about “her own” business. As everything was planned and we had a general idea how we want to deal with, we started pushing our plan to “go Live” phase and took actions on it in the first half of 2019. After choosing proper business premises, dealing with all renovations and paperwork, we managed to open her “nail styling salon” in June 2019.

Once again, we used second half of the year to take a rest and reset a little bit. I need to mention here that each single renovation made by us, or realizing plan from the end of a year, cost us enormous amount of energy. Also nights when we sleep only few hours per day and other time-related sacrifices. This was the reason why, we were getting rest until end of 2020. When we came up with new idea about nail stylist trainings and running bigger styling salon. But…

Year of COVID

I remember first information’s in November 2019 about “mysterious disease” in China. First memes on the internet. No one thought that this may spread all over the world. No one thought back than about consequences. I also need to say honestly, that I didn’t take this into the consideration, while we were busy with opening new location of our styling salon. Why would I? Everything happens in Wuhan, over 10 000 km away from Kraków.

In February 2020, we heard about first officially confirmed cases in Europe. Patients “Zero”. There was a panic related with each single new case. Markets reacted worse than in case of crisis in 2008. Many people lost work, and many other people lost businesses. Companies which could work remote, sent employees home. You remember this, as at the end, all of this officially started in December 2019, just after “The 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan.

Nowadays, majority of us went through this disgusting infection with bigger or smaller symptoms. Or maybe even without any symptoms? We also know people, who died because of it. Some of them could be our friends or family. If this is your case, please accept my condolences. This year was tough.

But actually, how tough was this year?

From my point of view, this was the worst year, as we talk about economical aspect (crisis in 2008 did not really affect me so much), lockdowns, wrong decisions of government and deaths or health issues in my family. But last quarter of 2016 made definitely bigger emotional impact on me. Before I will get to summary, I would like to share with you one thing which I found on the internet, which might change your perspective.

Imagine you were born 1900. On your 14th birthday, World War I begins. (…) 22 million people perish in that war. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it (…). On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. (…) When you turn 39, World War II starts. (…) 75 million people die in the war. (…) How do you survive all of that? (…) Imagine people you may have known in your lifetime survived through everything outlined above.

Perspective is an amazing way to frame how you process and apply value or fear to things. Let us try and keep things in perspective.

Link to original page

What is the point?

Firstly, wider perspective may help you to understand that things can always get more complicated. Therefore, you should not give up or lose your focus. History of human beings is far from colors of the rainbow. It is defintely more black and white. But remeber, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

And secondly, on the base of my own example mentioned above of “buying home in Netherlands” or “finding job as Security Systems installer”. Treat this type of failures as an experience. Keep trying and don’t give up. If something didn’t work out this year, do not despair. Many things failed for me as well. It might not be the “right time” yet. Maybe you missed something, and you need to go through your plan once again. Also, it might be the beginning of completely new adventure, so as Ned Stark would have said: “Brace yourself, (…)”

And thirdly, sometimes, the most emotional events, which make the biggest impact on you, might be redirected in a specific way. Use this as your fuel. End of 2016 was a trigger for me, to make very important decisions in my life. As I am sitting right now at the front of my laptop, writing this text, I know that I made a good decision. If I wouldn’t act back then, I would have miss much more and regret many more important things, which I experienced in Poland via last 3 years.

Last thing here, before I will get to my wishes for you. Do not waste this time. There are still many things to do. Read the books, for which you never had a time. Learn and absorb knowledge – internet is full of it. Master new skills. Plan your actions on a SMART way. Spend the time with your kids or relatives. Call your mum, dad, brother or cousin, with whom you didn’t talk for months already. Hug your wife, GF, husband, or BF. Take a mask and go for a walk. I cannot say how much more will it take, but it will end. History shows that people can handle much more than this.

My wishes for you

My congratulations if you got so far. This means a lot for me. And now, in relation with Christmas and New Year Eve, without further delay, allow me to wish you:

  • Health – especially nowadays. Take care about your stamina, think about the things which you eat, move a little bit. Help your body to counteract threats as much as possible.
  • Be brave and believe in yourself, realize your plans and do not get discouraged by failures. Smaller or bigger failures happen all the time to everyone. Treat them as another step for achieving your goal.
  • Enjoy your life and share your smile with your surroundings. This will come back as a boomerang.
  • Don’t give up… – once again: It’s always darkest before the dawn.
  • …but ask for help when needed. Simple thing which cost a mixture of humility and daring. Some of the problems require help of 3rd person. Also, it allows to see wider perspective.
  • Be a good person and treat people, as you would like to be treated. It is mentioned already “the boomerang rule”.
  • Get rest and relax, since with a new year, new challenges will come. So we need energy to face it 😊 Charge your batteries

At the end, very generic but still fashionable: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Would you like to read more publications about “Everyday life” on my blog? Just click the highlighted text to find all posts related.

kloudreadiness.com/; wikipedia.com

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