“Sometimes we must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
Hello beautiful Blenders,
It’s a while since I had time to just think and reflect. What a year. I know the year is not over yet but for me so far it was one of the craziest, most awful and at the same time most beautiful years I can remember. So much happened and nothing seemed to go smooth. Why am I writing this? Because I wanted to express my gratitude for such an amazing community, which was always there and supported me.
In summary: the year started with my very sick son moving out and I was so worried, but I had to let him go and he really did an amazing job getting better and starting into his own life. Then I had an injured toe and had to learn to slow down with my workouts. My eating behaviour was all over the place, but I was trying each day my best. Meanwhile one disaster after the next happened with my PhD. My health was completely jeopardised. I had so many medical appointments this year to control my chronic illness. That was so not fun, and I went through hell. But I had a great medical team at my side helping me through my final months of my PhD. In all that chaos my new job started, what didn’t reduce the stress at all.
And then the most amazing thing happened, little Kaya was born, and I became a very young and proud grandma. But that didn’t go smooth either. My daughter contacted me when she went into labour, but I didn’t get the message because I was on my way back from a project meeting in France. And when I finally got the message, I was really worried because it was too early for little Kaya to be on her way already and I couldn’t get through to my daughter at all. For some reason internet and land line didn’t work. But everything turned out well. We wanted to visit the young family in Germany as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the moment we wanted to book the flights; I got a message that my youngest son was sitting next to a child with COVID in school. So, we had to push back our trip.
And with a delay of nine month and me almost not believing it will ever happen I finally defended my PhD last week in Luxembourg, to which I almost couldn’t go, because my youngest son got sick the day before my flight, and in Ireland you are not allowed to do anything when someone around you has COVID symptoms. But he tested negative, and I was very relieved to be able to go. The flight back was also hassle, because Ireland changed the requirements for entering for the day of my travel, then they postponed the rules and Ryanair explicitly said in a mail, that passengers don’t need a COVID test, but the lady at the check-in didn’t know that. Luckily my husband told me the day before to take a test, just-in-case. So, I could travel home.
And as I said, the year is not over yet. I have surgery coming week, which will slow me down with my workouts, but I know I can do it.
On a personal note: I was struggling from an eating disorder almost 30 years and I always said, if I have to choose between overcoming my eating disorder or getting my PhD, I choose to get rid of the eating disorder. Now I have managed both. And particularly to overcome my eating disorder is down to FB and this amazing community. I really, really wanted to say, huge thanks to all of you and your incredible support. I feel very lucky to be part of such a wonderful community.
Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas time or if you aren’t into Christmas, a wonderful couple of weeks left in this year.
What a year. A word of gratitude.
“Sometimes we must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
Hello beautiful Blenders,
It’s a while since I had time to just think and reflect. What a year. I know the year is not over yet but for me so far it was one of the craziest, most awful and at the same time most beautiful years I can remember. So much happened and nothing seemed to go smooth. Why am I writing this? Because I wanted to express my gratitude for such an amazing community, which was always there and supported me.
In summary: the year started with my very sick son moving out and I was so worried, but I had to let him go and he really did an amazing job getting better and starting into his own life. Then I had an injured toe and had to learn to slow down with my workouts. My eating behaviour was all over the place, but I was trying each day my best. Meanwhile one disaster after the next happened with my PhD. My health was completely jeopardised. I had so many medical appointments this year to control my chronic illness. That was so not fun, and I went through hell. But I had a great medical team at my side helping me through my final months of my PhD. In all that chaos my new job started, what didn’t reduce the stress at all.
And then the most amazing thing happened, little Kaya was born, and I became a very young and proud grandma. But that didn’t go smooth either. My daughter contacted me when she went into labour, but I didn’t get the message because I was on my way back from a project meeting in France. And when I finally got the message, I was really worried because it was too early for little Kaya to be on her way already and I couldn’t get through to my daughter at all. For some reason internet and land line didn’t work. But everything turned out well. We wanted to visit the young family in Germany as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the moment we wanted to book the flights; I got a message that my youngest son was sitting next to a child with COVID in school. So, we had to push back our trip.
And with a delay of nine month and me almost not believing it will ever happen I finally defended my PhD last week in Luxembourg, to which I almost couldn’t go, because my youngest son got sick the day before my flight, and in Ireland you are not allowed to do anything when someone around you has COVID symptoms. But he tested negative, and I was very relieved to be able to go. The flight back was also hassle, because Ireland changed the requirements for entering for the day of my travel, then they postponed the rules and Ryanair explicitly said in a mail, that passengers don’t need a COVID test, but the lady at the check-in didn’t know that. Luckily my husband told me the day before to take a test, just-in-case. So, I could travel home.
And as I said, the year is not over yet. I have surgery coming week, which will slow me down with my workouts, but I know I can do it.
On a personal note: I was struggling from an eating disorder almost 30 years and I always said, if I have to choose between overcoming my eating disorder or getting my PhD, I choose to get rid of the eating disorder. Now I have managed both. And particularly to overcome my eating disorder is down to FB and this amazing community. I really, really wanted to say, huge thanks to all of you and your incredible support. I feel very lucky to be part of such a wonderful community.
Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas time or if you aren’t into Christmas, a wonderful couple of weeks left in this year.