summer snippets / a life update

Summer 19 has just begun and already I have experienced a large amount of change in different areas of my life. Welcome to summer snippets.

Meeting a fellow blogger

One thing I have been dying to tell all of you is that I met the person behind one of my favourite blogs out there; Arshia from Words From Adaria. A while back, she messaged me and told me she was planning a Europe trip with her family and that one of their stops would be in Vienna, Austria (where I live). She asked if I could give her some recommendations regarding sights and anything else I could think of. Naturally, being my excited self and all, I bombarded her with a ton of sights and suggestions.

A few months later I saw that she had already begun her Europe trip (on Instagram). When she finally got to Vienna, I started thinking about asking her to meet up. The problem with this was that I had a pretty packed week with uni, so finding a time would be hard. Arshia then messaged me the evening before we met up and asked to meet. Coincidentally my class got rescheduled so it felt like destiny – I was finally going to meet her!

It was the day of and I was feeling excited and a little nervous. When I am nervous I start thinking about small and random details…. a lot. Which I learnt she does as well; oh god, it still feels so weird to say that I actually met her. I mean, we live pretty far away from each other (India > Austria) – when you get a chance like this you have to take it, no matter what.

Anyway, I feel like I have been building this up far more than necessary – we met. Shocker, I know. Bet you didn’t see that one coming, hah. We met and it was like two awkward beans just nervously smiling at each other, wanting to say so much but coming up with… so little. As the nervousness wore off, we started to talk. Pretty much non-stop from there on out. We went to a pasta place for dinner and I swear it took us at least an hour to finish our food because we kept talking. We talked about our lives, experiences, funny stories, blogging and about every 10 minutes one of us was like “oh god, this feels so surreal”.

When it was finally time to say goodbye, the awkwardness came back (because we’re both really shitty at saying goodbye). We stood in one spot for a while, just talking, taking embarrassing selfies and avoiding saying goodbye. But alas, it had to be done.

I wonder if this is the first and last time I will have met Arshia or if we will somehow see each other again. I definitely hope so. *prays* I found Arshia to be one of the funniest, most awkward and random people I have ever met. She is such a ray of sunshine – something that radiates from her in person and transfers into her writing as well.

Getting to meet someone whose words I have been reading (and enjoying) for a long time is an experience I will never forget. It made me realize just how much words can tell you about a person. I knew that we would get along because in a way, I felt like I knew her, or at least a fraction of her, from following her blog and talking to her through the comment sections. I will forever be thankful for having this opportunity; if this has taught me anything it is that connections can be formed, regardless of distance.

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Starting a 4-month internship

July 1st marked a big day for me – it was the start of a 4-month internship. Now, after two weeks have passed, I can officially say that I love it. I work in the marketing department of an established company that has three main branches: (art) auctions, jewelry (both new and old) and antiquities. The building itself is beautiful – so much so that I love just walking around and taking everything in. Which, thankfully my job actually allows me to do because I mainly do all things social media for the jewellery- and gallery- side of things.

Something I have really come to like is the fact that I am very flexible – as long as I meet my weekly hours, I can plan my working hours of my own accord. Another thing I love is the creativity involved with a job in social media. Seeing as I already run a blog, I kind of already knew that I liked this kind of work but getting to experience it in an office-environment is something entirely different again. My co-workers are all extremely friendly and welcoming, and I love their openness to my ideas and thoughts.

What just two weeks of this internship has taught me is that I am the type of person who needs a job that I deem as fun, worthwhile and enjoyable in order to feel fulfilled and content. Of course it is still work, but I LOVE this kind of work, so I don’t mind it. I am someone who has a constant need to create, which is why this line of work works so well for me – it demands just that. And that I have plenty of.

What my internship has also shown me is that there is always room to grow, but that you should also not discredit your own abilities and things you can already do in the process. The atmosphere in the office is very much a “learning by doing” and “supporting and helping each other the best we can” one, which has been wonderful for me because it never makes me feel stupid for asking a question and even gives me the feeling that I have something to offer as well. I was amazed that I was able to help one of my co-workers with some functions in Photoshop – I normally feel pretty insecure about my Photoshop skills, so seeing that I was able to help was a pretty good feeling and made me realize that I tend to devalue my own skills – skills I should be acknowledging as more than “nothing“.

I am so excited to see what this internship will teach me in the months to come. One thing is clear – I could not be more stoked to be working where I work now. I feel good about this. I really do.

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Happy.

I would like to end this post by letting all of you know that as of now, I am happy. Happy with my life and with myself. A few months ago, I was feeling a little low due to the fact that this is one of the longest times I have been single. Those who know me know that I am usually absolutely fine with being single, it’s not something I tend to think a lot about. But somehow it got to me for the first time in ages and made me feel like I was missing out on something.

…Until a friend of mine made me realise that the only thing I was missing out on was being happy. Who cares if I’m single or not? Right now I am navigating though life, figuring out what it means to be an adult and making some incredible memories. Do I feel lonely sometimes? Sure. But I think we all do every now and again, regardless of our relationship status. What matters is that I have an incredible support system of friends and family, people whom I trust and love so, so much.

And, to be honest, I think being single for a longer time period has taught me a lot about who I am. We are, of course, constantly evolving, but right now, I dare to say that I know who I am. And maybe even more importantly, I like who I am. I am proud of myself. This I say with confidence and not fearing that it will come across as self-centered. I refuse to be ashamed of feeling good about who I am at the moment.

And I hope that if you have taken away anything at all from this post, it is that it is okay to be proud of your accomplishments. In fact, it is healthy. Give yourself some credit – because you deserve it.