Despite the increasingly controversial holiday the Americans are celebrating this week, I love the main perk of the Thanksgiving Day, and no, it’s not food. It’s the thanks-giving part. Something we don’t really do here in the Czech Republic, something we consider too “American”, too “positive” and are too proud to be inspired by. Something we could really do more of, instead of the complaint outbursts many foreigners often notice once they start living here.
I have recently come across a post on Instagram by a poet called Cleo Wade who says that “gratitude is the thing inside of all of us that gives us power to turn any situation from shitty to shiny.” I wouldn’t say it better. And boy, could we use more of that power in this country, this continent, this world today, as a growing number of us is baffled by the state our planet is in this year…
So yes, me too, I have decided to count my blessings. Simply because I wanna feel better about my life, I too have worries, feel sad, lonely and confused at times and writing down things I am grateful for has an incredible power over me, indeed. Why don’t you try it with me?
…after 12 years in the teaching profession I still love what I do and I am happy to dedicate a lot of my time to my work, my students and the teachers I work with
….I continually receive great feedback for my work and letters of appreciation where students and teachers express how I have changed their lives. Pretty bizarre and at the same time breathtaking, for someone who is just an English teacher!
….thanks to a better structure of my business and more good-quality teachers on my team I can now accept more students and open more courses without affecting their quality
…I have successfully changed my brand from EnglishBrno to Nina English. I have a new logo (which I have just put on badges to give out to my students for fun at the upcoming Christmas party) and I manage to run a new FB page which has attracted over 650 fans since March
….I have kicked myself to write three articles for my blog which have proved to be very useful for my students, one of them, 25 Best Websites For Learning English, even going viral, which resulted in more traffic to my website and more subscribers to my blog
…I have been courageous enough to say yes to doing two workshops at a big language conference for polyglots, something I’d never done before. Although I had been quite nervous, I ended up having a lot of fun running the workshops and got great reactions from the participants
….I have started cooperation with several new teachers who both me and the students really enjoy working with – namely Jarrot, Sarah and Cisel. And I am even more grateful for those who started teaching with me before 2015 and are still on the team
…I am not alone in all this anymore, my assistant Darja is a true angel and I couldn’t recommend her services enough
…my friend Anita is back in my life
…my daughter has been accepted to a great school, together with her best friend from kindergarden. I love the way they communicate with the children and the parents, how they assess the kids verbally instead of giving grades and surprisingly enough, we chose a school where they don´t use coursebooks 😉 And most importantly, they focus on each kid’s individual talents rather than their weaknesses. Mommy is happy 🙂
…although me and my daughter’s father have been separated for several years now, we remain good friends, we spend time together as family and it makes us all happy
…I have managed to eat much more healthily, with much less gluten and refined sugar in my daily diet and I feel more fit and light. And I lost some weight as a bonus, yay!
…I have managed to take more time to look after myself and be kind to myself – I relax more, go to bed earlier, read more, watch more films and series, go to sauna, concerts, short trips and bike as much as I can in Brno
…my back hasn´t hurt all year
…I live in peace with the important people in my life and I know who they are
…although I live in a single-parent household I am able to have food on our table every day and it´s warm in my house in winter
…me, my good friends and my parents are all enjoying good health
And ta daaaa…..
…I have fallen in love. Although it didn´t work out and I went through one of the biggest heartbreaks of my life, I have come out much stronger on the other side. And I understand myself much better. Which is always a good thing, right?
Love is why we are here and that´s all that matters,
Nina ♥
P.S. You can see more in pictures – on my Instagram page.