It's 2019!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We can’t believe it’s already 2019! Time surely does fly!
Since the idea of Alps and Abroad has been born last summer, and the blog finally having gone live in October, we have come quite a long way; even though it technically hasn’t been that long. Nevertheless, we thought that the start of the new year should be a possibility to look back, even for us. For both of us it has been an incredible journey and we can’t believe how far we’ve come – and all this in just 2 months! The blog has been a motivation and chance for us the explore and create things and we both want to share how much and in what ways this has changed us and made us grateful.
For me, Sophie, this is the first time in years that I am writing a New Year’s post for a blog that is not Sophienderella. I used to call these “A Letter to Myself.” And I remember really enjoying writing these. All through the first half of 2018, I was contemplating letting this old blog of mine go, to make space for something new and better; something I would enjoy again and where I could be myself. I asked Natascha to be part of this new journey and I am so grateful that I did! She keeps me going and inspired and is super understanding when things might not be going super well. What a great friend!
So, for old times’ sake, let’s do this again, shall we?
Dear Sophie,
What a year it has been! You can be proud of yourself for achieving so many great things, making incredible memories, and mastering quite a few challenges this past year.
You took some time for yourself, to figure out what it is that you want and need, how to get there and how to maintain it. You are on the road of getting better. Better at time management, better at social situations and friends, better at being happy with yourself, better at being happy in general, and better at being healthy, both mentally and physically. You have started looking after yourself, and you deserve that. I am proud of you!
I am also proud of you being such a great and engaged student. You have found what you want to do later on in life and this is something amazing. You have made incredible progress when it comes to learning Russian, and you have even started learning Arabic.
Another thing that needs to be mentioned: your amazing group of friends! You made so many incredible memories this past year that will be with you for the rest of your life. And this is really something to be grateful for.
Let’s keep this up in 2019 and all of the years to come. Let’s continue being a positive, open-minded person. Let’s continue going on adventures and spending lots of time with the people (and dogs) you love. Let’s continue trying new things and growing every single day. Let’s continue this incredible journey of life and don’t ever let yourself feel less than you are. Let’s continue being happy.
Lots of Love,
Me
I, Natascha, can’t believe how much has changed in the last months. I have always enjoyed doing things, but I always needed someone to force me a little to get started; and most of the time, I was too lazy to do so. Starting this blog has really been a motor to tell myself “just do it” and I’m sometimes amazed how much energy I have and how I try to fit even the slightest adventure into my schedule. It started as “doing something for the blog” but became an addiction to try out new things and stop spending a cozy weekend at home. Also, being more active it has been a boost for my self-confidence.
Doing something I truly enjoy, and more importantly, doing it in a way I can really be proud of, has helped me to stop thinking “what will others say” and really motivated me to sometimes do things not only despite, but sometimes even because of others not agreeing with me. Of course, it’s not easy to ignore some people’s opinion, but in the end I just realized - they are opinions. Nothing more and nothing less. I’ll never be able to satisfy everyone so why bother trying? I rather do what I enjoy and it’s been amazing showing people what I am capable of and I surprised even myself from time to time.
It has been a real challenge to tell some friends what we’ve been doing, not because of fear to share my ideas with them, but because I value their opinion so much, it would really have made me worry if they had thought it wasn’t a good idea. Therefore, I am so incredibly happy for all the support we have got, from close friends as well as from people we never thought would be interested in reading what we have to say. In the end, these are the only opinions that matter to me.
Of course, I also have to thank Sophie for daring to create this blog with me. I’ve always loved writing and storytelling, but I never had the courage to publish something I wrote and having someone with a bit of experience by my side really helped me a lot and I haven’t regretted it ever since. Writing down my experiences is a great way to re-live them and be grateful for everything I’ve been able to do in my young life.
Right now I am happier than I have been for such a long time as I have goals to work for, enjoy my studying, am satisfied with the situation I am in and the feeling as if for every goal I accomplish there’s something else waiting for me to be explored - in a good way! In the long run, little, disturbing things do not matter that much and regarding the upcoming year, the only thing I can wish for is it to continue the way 2018 has ended!
We hope you liked this rather unusual and personal post and want to know what you are grateful for. Most of the time people use New Year’s Eve to focus on the future and what’s coming next, but we think that sometimes it’s also important to look back on how much has changed within a year.
Have a great start into 2019! May it be an even better one than any year before and may all of your dreams come true!
Your Sophie and Natascha
