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Inspired by Matt Haig’s wonderful book called “Reasons to Stay Alive” and by the “International Suicide Prevention Day” global event, which takes place yearly on the 10th of September since 2003, I have decided to write today’s blog post on this very delicate but also generous topic, as a way of bringing my own unique contribution to both the concept of de-stigmatising mental struggles, as well as to being open to find ways in which we can feel better and do better on a day to day basis. Progress, not perfection, is all that matters.

Therefore, I have made a conscious choice to share a few things from my own experience, that work really great at both keeping myself in touch with my own truth as well as things that I am grateful for, and that I can sometimes enjoy even on a day to day basis or even better, multiple times per day.

I thought about sharing with you today practical ideas that have worked for me over the years, but I am also deeply encouraging you to not only give those ideeas a try, if you feel that you are resonating with them, but actually give this practice a try. What is it that is making you keep going in life? What matters most for you today, what are you grateful for right now? And what is something that will matter as well in 5 or 10 years from now? It’s always absolutely wonderful, and I just find it fascinating, to think both short term as well as long term, when it comes to goals, as well as a gratitude practice. Sometimes we just need a quick “pick me up” right in the moment, but some other times, what we really need is seeing the bigger picture, which as a concept, makes more sense in integrating and giving meaning to our life’s story as it unfolds.

Therefore, find what feels good for you personally and embrace your uniqueness and your amazing gifts that make you such a wonderful being, fully committed to its own truth and fully dedicated to living life to its fullest, especially when it matters most. By simply being true to ourselves and the world around us, we can live better and more enriched lives and thrive both on a personal level, as well as on a social / profesional level.

This being said, those are a few things that I find to be my own personal and sometimes, in very uniques ways, “reasons to stay alive”, the order is not quite important, as they are all equally meaningful for me, personally, but I am just sharing them in a specific order, as they come to mind as I am writing this post (so just keep in mind, they are all things / beings / experiences that I am super grateful for having in my own life on a regular basis):

1. My Wonderful Dogs: I just got my second dog this year, I haven’t posted anything about her yet, here on the blog, but as you already know if you read my blog before, no matter how often or how seldom I do the posts, I am always coming back home to my blog. My dogs are great, of course there are also a lot of challenges, especially as they grow up, one of them is almost 3 years old now, and the new one is approximately 3 months old, but they are both unique, amazing, and I have learned and continue to learn a lot from them on a day to day basis. Most important thing, that I would say I have learned from my dogs, is definitely unconditional love, dogs love you in their own unique and wonderful way, and even though life can get tough at times, your dogs will always be there for you.

2. Daily Movement: for me, this can be walks in nature with my dogs, yoga, stretching or pilates, are the options that I enjoy the most, but it can also be any other type of movement or practice that gets the body involved, and in the flow of moving and grooving. I tend to approach this topic with a flexible mindset, as I am willing to stay open to exploring new forms of movement, in order to perhaps find new things that I could also enjoy doing. As the saying goes “if you never try, you’ll never know” and I do believe as well that staying flexible in both mind and body is a great way to celebrate our nature as moving beings and get to love and enjoy our bodies more on a daily basis. There is so much shaming and pressuring on the topic of body image, in today’s day and age, that I kind of feel like we must take a moment and asses this topic with ourselves, in order to be able to do what serves us best.

3. Staying Committed to Constant Learning, Healing and Growth (both on a personal level as well as on a profesional level): I have always been a big believer in the power of knowledge, its simply amazing how the gathering of information about topics that interest you, can be super helpful and meaningful to our day to day lives. Its more than just doing something, or reading about something, sometimes is actually about putting it into practice, staying open to see possibilities out there, even in the midst of chaos, there is always something new to be explored. And that can lead to a wonderful insight into one’s being, as well as to a life lived more fully and meaningfully.

Since this is turning into a really long post, I will just stop here for today, and get back and continue with a part two, another day. I know there are a lot of images as well, in order to give context, but I think this is just about enough for the day. It’s great to know that you still have more to be grateful to be alive for, and that you are living with an abundance mindset. I haven’t been posting for a while, and I always like to think of my blog as my safe space, and for the last 10 years, this is exactly what it has been representing for me. As I previously mentioned, it doesn’t really matter ( but it took a while to get here and not feel guilty, so to speak ) how often or how seldom I post here, its always going to be my happy place, and why not, ultimately one more reason to feel cozy, at home with myself and my own unique journey as an individual, and of course, happy to be alive today. Count your blessings and stay true to yourself, in the end it’s all that matters!