Time for Closure

December is a month of reflecting and of closure.

Last year I was in an extraordinary happy Christmas mood. Something I haven´t felt for decades. I enjoyed it a lot. This year it is back to "normal" ... unfortunately. The Grinch is back!

Well, I guess with the actual situation, still working from home, still being on my own for most of the time, there are not many chances to get into Christmas mood at all. What I do experience is that I can´t stand the Christmas decoration this year.

Is it "louder" than ever? Or does it just not fit into the year 2020?

Usually I loved to walk through Malta´s streets and look at the decoration. This year it is too colourful, too much and it is blinking everywhere! That makes me nauseous.

Though I still like the elegant lights, white, silver, gold ... even those are too much for me this year. 

But private households are overdoing it this year. Without any sense of beauty several different blinking ornaments and blinking garlands were put next to each other, into windows, doorframes, balconies and entrances. There are flats where it blinks blue and green in one window, red and yellow in the other window and in between there are blinking stars and reindeer sledges. Every single one is blinking in it´s own rhythm!

How can people bare that every evening?

That has nothing to do with Christmas anymore!

Even the street lights, I so loved before, are getting too much here in Malta. The main street next to my home is decorated with banners from one side to the other, every couple of metres, blinking in red, blue, yellow, the ornaments blinking rapidly and differently from the other lights.

Those blinking lights are stressing me enormous!

For sure 2020 was a very special year for all of us. 

Still I have to say that for me personal it was a positive and important year. The lockdown in the beginning helped me to focus on everything I wanted to get going before but always was too distracted to really hit it off. With the lockdown I automatically were presented with the real important things in life. And I was shown how much energy I put into things, I should not even give a second thought about. Suddenly there was enough space to create a new life and to enjoy the journey. 

So yes, me personally I am really grateful for 2020!

It felt like all the different topics, which became important to me over the years, suddenly fitted together perfectly. One thing leads to another and everything work out well together: 

- It started with overthinking what I am eating and drinking every day. 

There was this key moment when I cooked myself a colourful, vegan lasagne in the beginning of lockdown and I enjoyed eating it so much. It looked beautiful, it was delicious and the feeling of only eating natural and healthy ingredients was amazing. 

From that day on I was motivated to find natural solutions, to skip unhealthy food and to enjoy my meals as much as possible. 

- Well, of course, I lost some weight during that process.

And it happened really fast, though I didn´t even plan to "be on a diet" or to loose weight. And please keep in mind, in the beginning of lockdown I also didn´t get much exercise. Cause the only exercise I do is going for long walks. Which I didn´t do in March, April and May. But reducing sugar and salt obviously made my cells not store water anymore. So the results of loosing weight were seen in the mirror very fast. I can´t talk in kilos because I haven´t checked my weight for years, but when meeting people on the street and they say things like: "Wow, you lost some weight!" or "Hey, you are getting skinny!" - that´s even better than checking my weight.

- With buying as much natural products as possible I also put more thoughts into trash free and plastic free.

I´ve been doing that for a couple of years already, though I never took it that serious before. In certain fields I already was pretty happy with how I am handling it. In other fields I could do much better. One field was the "woman issue". I started to buy natural tampons years ago. Then I bought the menstrual cup, but unfortunately it didn´t work well for me. I gave it a try from time to time, but I didn´t feel good with it and it was leaking most of the time. In the beginning of lockdown I gave it another chance. Still leaking in the beginning I got more relaxed and comfortable by using it, which obviously was the right thing to do, because after the second cycle I made it without any tampons at all! So that field is checked as well! 

Then I found cosmetic products, natural and package free, because they come in refillable bottles and jars. And that´s how I started to check everything I bought for a most trash free and plastic free option. 

- Reducing my shopping to necessary things made my monthly finance check even become more positive than before.

So I started to think it over for what I want to spend my money. I still love to eat in restaurants or having a cup of coffee and some cake in a public place. This is my biggest pleasure. Having a day off and start it with breakfast or with lunch at one of my favourite restaurants is luxury for me. Sitting in a cosy spot, sipping coffee and enjoying some sweets while writing diary and watching people - something I really love to do! So for that I will always spend money. Period! Though I reduced the restaurants to places I really feel comfortable at. I have a handful of favourite restaurants where I regularly eat and from time to time I try something new. Otherwise I have my favourite brands for clothes, cosmetic and daily needs. Besides that I skipped everything I don´t really need or truly want. More pleasure than spending money for not necessary items is it for me to have gained "a plus" on the end of the month. A plus for future travels, when it is possible to travel again, or - I love that thought! - to be able to take a year off, when I am longing for it. I am not longing for that now. But the thought, I would be able to, makes me very happy ...

- While living that new natural and pure lifestyle "physically" I also longed for living it spiritually. 

Means I checked my thoughts and feelings very honestly. Where does the negative thoughts come from? What is the reason for a bad emotion? What does it need to change that? 

Well, I have to say, also in this field it is a joined reaction. One thing leads to another. Eating trash, makes you feel bad. Feeling bad yourself creates a lot of frustration and anger toward other people. Being stressed makes you craving for junk food. And the vicious circle is complete. 

On the other side: try to start rolling the ball into the other direction and it works the same way! 

When I started to only drink water, natural juices and tea, I felt great. Having only a light, plant based, meal a day puts me into a happy mood. Feeling happy already made me smile and chat with people, which didn´t give space for anger or frustration. Feeling good makes me put more effort into my appearance, which not only makes me feel like a queen, but gets me some compliments and more smiles from others ...! And all of that together made me become more confident and self-assured. I started to react more natural, which lead to some really great conversations and nice situations. 

- The more I focused on my personal needs the more I started to cleanse my deepest inner. And the journey became faster and faster! 

Now, for 2021 I have two projects on the way:

1. I created a Facebook page -- Heading Home -- , which hopefully makes it easier to connect with likeminded people. 

I love to write my blogs! But it´s a bit one sided. I would love to get some input from other people as well. Sharing my experiences also makes we long for the experiences from others, for inspiration and for motivation. I would love to have a dialog with a group of inspiring people.

So please, join me on that project! I would love to see you at Heading Home on Facebook.

2. I want to go even more trash free and plastic free.

So 2021 will be a year of finding new solutions and for documenting my progress in charts. I already did a trial run in November and I guess I found a good way to keep it up for a whole year.
Not too complicated, not too time consuming. Just to get a better overview where I still need some improvements. 

I will share this with you on my Facebook page -- Heading Home -- . 

Why do I want to share those things with you?

Because I think the most important thing is that everybody finds his or her own way to make his or her life happy and joyful! 

I want to inspire people to find out what is good for them and what doesn´t fit into their life.

Unfortunately we are so externally controlled nowadays by media, by fashion, by advertising, by industry. We lost our own happiness on the way by fitting into society. Sadly we don´t even know that we are unhappy most of the time.

It´s time to focus on our self!
It´s time to find out what we really want!
It´s time for a better future - for all of us!

And you know what?

All of the facts I was writing down I created very selfish. I wanted to feel better. MY life should be natural and pure. It is ME whom I pamper. 

I do those things only for MYSELF!

But at the same time I do the best for the environment. I protect nature as much as I can. I support brands and companies I really believe in. I connect more positive with Universe, with people, animals, plants. By that I live a sustainable life. I will leave a positive footprint behind. 

Now, isn´t that something? 

I will NOT write: Let´s make 2021 a special year! - because I wrote that in the end of 2019 about 2020 - and boy, was that a "special year"! 

This year, while reflecting about 2020 and bringing it to an end, I will write:

LET´S START OUR JOURNEY INTO A BLISSFULL FUTURE! LET`S HEADING HOME!