February Twentytwenty

So, it has been quiet on the blog lately. I realised that I had not published one single post in February so I decided tonight spontaneously that it is time to change that. Well, what should I say. I have been very busy with working and also I felt very exhausted so the time that I did not spend working I spent resting and sleeping early basically. Also I realised that I have not done any simple botanical or floral illustration in a very long time, I did lots of collages (which I love) but I felt it was time for a change now and to go back to drawing a simple illustration - just to do something different and because it is so relaxing for me to do that.

Also I decided to go for another kind of post here tonight, not a Wellness Edition nor a Love Files, simply a chance to reflect on February 2020 which is almost over now. I think I should get back into doing more illustrations again instead of doing only collages. It is a nice way to challenge myself creatively and also I want dive deeper into illustration (especially portrait/realistic/fine arts illustration) anyways. Also I wanted to have a chance to work with the font Lunaria that my Instagram friend Lara designed and that I bought recently. Take a look at her work, she is amazingly talented and a super kind person. Also I feel deeply inspired by her productivity, she is always working super hard behind the scenes and constantly launching new digital products. Truth is I want to follow her path and start something similar as well.

OK, so here is a reflection on February. I’d say February was quite a good month for me, I was super busy with working a lot at Merck and it is a job that I truly love with all my heart. I love working with expats from all over the world there and I love to work with the relocation company in Chicago that I am freelancing for. It is the first time that I feel that my work and my work ethics are truly appreciated and vallued. By my students and also by my team in Chicago and it makes me feel deeply grateful for working with such a great company and many amazing expats from all over the world who often become close friends for me. It is a true privilege to make money through doing something you love while being of service and helping other people and helping them to find their way around in a new county and culture. So in retroperspective I can say that all my experiences with lots of traveling, living abroad, learning languages definitely helped me and now they also serve others who I can help through my experiences. I am super grateful for this.

Last week my student from Shanghai invited me for dinner and cooked authentic Chinese food for us and Saturday night my student from India invited me for dinner and cooked authentic Indian food for us. I had two wonderful evenings in a row with amazing people i work with from different parts of the world and ti makes me happy that I can call those ladies my friends now. Another thing that really made me happy was on Thursday, it was snowing here and my students from Southern India saw snow for the first time in their lives. They were incredibly happy and excited, it was so heartwarming to see the joy in their eyes. They took photos and videos of the snow and videocalled their family in India. I took photos of them int he snow that they shared with their friends and family back home and I taught them German vocabulary around snow. It was really was fantastic and brought me lots of joy and happiness as well. So, those were certainly all the wonderful things this month that I am grateful for.

I admit it, I am a true nerd. I can spend all day with a hundred tabs open, reading a million articles about whatever just crosses my mind and curiosity and just reading news on the internet all day long. I want to be informed but truth is that it is not good for my emotional wellbeing. So I suppose I have to zoom out more often from now on and do things that actually do me well like meeting friends, cooking a delicious meal, reading something that nourishes my heart and soul and just getting creative since that always brings me pure joy and happiness. So from now on less consuming and more creating…