All posts tagged: life

When Doctors Told Me Not to Run

  “Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”― Michael Jordan Even though it was two years ago, I still have tears in my eyes when I think about that 5 km run on a chilly May day in Stockholm. *** The story began many years ago in my mother country, Russia, when my doctor cautioned me to not run or partake in any physical training. For an active kid like me it was quite harsh to accept. Even my parents, for my own good, took away my bike and roller blades! I remember that day clearly, so clear that I still see that bright white medical coat with the name badge reading ”Surgeon Ivanov.” “You will never run”, – I heard again and again. At the age of eleven, I developed a strange disease called phlebeurysm on my right leg. It looked so awful that I wouldn’t wear shorts or skirts for the following nine years, and I constantly wore bandages on my one leg to reduce pain.  At age …

If you would have only 2 years left

If you would have only 2 years left….

Lately I’ve been asking my friends if they are happy with how they live their lives. Actually, it didn’t take long for them to become completely sick of me and   I can absolutely understand why. I kept drilling the same set of questions into their heads every time we met. Eventually I began to wonder: “If you found out that you only had two years left to live, what would you do?”  “Would you continue working at your current job or quit and pursue your dreams?” Well, it generally took me about two years to achieve what I wanted to achieve, so two years is not a long time if you consider the learning curve, which is the bulk of the two years. Then, to see results is also time consuming. So, most of them said they would quit their jobs immediately and pursue “their dream job,” but were intimidated and probably would hold off because of the amount of competition facing them—for example, the fashion industry and journalism/novelist/ communications. Some folks decided they …

F.R.I.E.N.D.S (part one) The Story of Agnes

Friendship is such a huge and interesting subject that I cannot stop writing and rewriting about it again and again. I do not like long texts and always try to keep my posts in the range of one page A4 format, but there is just so much to say about F R I E N D S. I decided to do 3 posts in a row and I chose to elaborate on quotes by F. Dostoyevsky  for todays subject. The author of Crime and Punishment will share his wisdom about life and friendship with you, my dear readers. Choosing friends, the right friends in your life has a great importance. People have a tendency to become similar to the people they hang out with: in lifestyle spending habits, interests, goals (or the absence thereof), attitude towards sports and fitness, eating habits, etc. It’s likely that we cannot see the the subtle influence of our friends taking place, but as the years pass, we “wake up” and analyse our habits and changes in tendencies.  It can be quite shocking …

We are all made of stars

We are all made of stars.

Hello all! How are you? How was your day? Fine, I hope. You know, my literature teacher in high school used to love making us write incredibly long essays. When we complained about trouble getting started, mainly due to the broad subject matter, she used to say, “Just start writing about something and it doesn’t matter what you write about, then leisurely go back to the subject’s main theme.” Surprisingly, it really helped. Today it’s difficult for me to start this blog. I can’t really put my finger on it. At any rate, my dear readers, I’m not going tell you who I am, what I do, my sex or nationality, my education, or the color of my skin and the color of my hair. I’m not going to reveal any pictures or tags of me in a coffee shop around the corner. My aim for the moment is for you to maintain a clear mind free from prejudices and clichés. Nevertheless, you should have some sort of certainty. Hmm… let’s say I am a …