If I cannot change the world around me, I might become better in the way I react to it. This is one thing I want to make progress on this year, it took me a while to figure out what and how I could achieve that.

As usually, a new year starts a bit slower, then the speed increases and the effect of the holidays seem to fade out real quick.

Bicycle in the light, relaxing atmosphere.
First of January, taking our time.

Here is our state at the very beginning of the year, we did not party, we did an early walk on the first of January. Quiet and beautiful, it was mesmerizing.

Also, as every year, there are a lot of suggestions what you could improve, your weight, leave bad habits behind. It was refreshing not responding to all those well-meant suggestions.

The idea is to start small, change indeed things, but generally not what is suggested around me. How to stay calm even if things do not work out as we want them to. Try to stay relaxed by increasing the challenges only step by step and try to adjust accordingly.

First, I booked a course at the VHS that presented various relaxing techniques. That was very helpful, especially if stressed, those strategies are key to not get dragged in a state of stress. Humor it appears helps a lot, too.

Then, first birthday party invitation came in and snow was back end of the month. Another round of walking with the slide, checking out a bigger hill for sliding down, it was fun.

Eggplant stuffed with walnut and pomegranate in a heart.
Taking our time at home, preparing nice stuff.

We started new recipes and did more stuff ourself, breaking nuts, getting the kernels out of the pomegranate, it ended up as one of the most delicious versions of eggplant I have prepared and eaten. It is similar to what we did last year, using the things that gave a good feeling and doing more of that. It helps enormously in times of stress if you counterbalance sufficiently.

So if travelling by myself stresses me, I try to meet new people, meet my family to counterbalance. If one activity cannot be done, I search for another one. As I might be relaxed, my surrounding needs to be, too.

Scene from Carnival, sweets thrown from a carriage.
My biggest challenge from the first two months, carnival restart.

So what if you go to a party, the music is not your style, it might be not very well suited with a kid and you try to enjoy it even though? This is what we did recently, listening to music I do not usually listen to. It was loud, it was dirty, I did not dress or drink appropriately. Had fun even though, people missed it very much and I wanted my kid to see it as we live in that city that is pretty famous for the wild parties around carnival for adults it appears.

I understood much more what makes living here special. I try to respect people even if their ideas of having fun are quite different from mine.