Author: AnnaLarsson

When talking to the cat it will give you the best answers

Sometimes there is things to say but no person who just listen without speaking.

Like this morning I just needed to talk to someone who listen without having an opinion. The cat where close at hands so I started just like – It’s cold outside, I wish it was summer, with a warm sun in the sky… and so on, I kept talking about some things on my mind about my journey. It seems a bit odd I guess but does it matter? The cat was like – ok, I hear you, but I don’t care, keep talking…

How strange it might be, it’s comforting talking to animals. Humans usually listen and then they want to give some advice or a solution, sometimes the advice is not what you need but you might get it anyway. 

Current projects

At the moment I have three projects on my mind. One is beneficial for the community I live in. The second one is a long-time dream and will take some time before it’s ready to launch.

This, the third is a bit more difficult. I want to help people to find their smile, to let you find the same opportunities as I have and learn new things that can bring you to find your best life. But I haven’t found the right angle. I don’t know who to target yet, more than I want to let people with Crohn’s Disease to realize their life is not ending just because they are sick. I want to give hope, get this right and useful to others in my situation.

Even though I have an active time with my Crohn’s Disease I still want to help people understand that sickness don’t mean you can’t reach your dreams. The road ahead can be a bit longer but it’s reachable and the journey towards the dream is exciting. You just need the right tools and the courage to grow beyond the limits you think you have. Off course it will be hard at times but there will also be joy and hope for another future. That is why I write this blog, hoping someone feels hope for their future.

I will keep on writing this blog and just sharing what ever comes up on my journey. My goal is writing once a week but sometimes that just wont work and I am ok with that, and I will not punish myself for not keeping the goal all the time. That’s how it is, living with Crohn’s Disease.

The project closest in time

The one project that I think have good potential to be great for the community I live in is already in motion. Every morning before work I am committed to pick up garbage I can se on the morning walk with my dog. As a next step I have contacted a company who can help me show other people how important our environment is, keeping the city clean by taking the garbage you bring out and make shore it will follow you home instead of dropping it in the street.

We are discussing an offer that will benefit the company and this possible movement. It’s a bit of work before everything is in place but building this feels important. There has to be a red thread through the whole project, from the material to the printing and how to market it. That red thread must be organic and environment friendly. The cost is also in my mind, I am doing this as a private person in the first stage. If it goes well, I might start a company or some sort of organisation. Time will tell how it will end up. I can assure you that I do have fun on my journey with this project.

Long-time project

The second project is putting together a book with material of stories about my dog. I have been writing stories sense 2007 and I am still writing them every week. It will take a lot of time to put the pieces together and that work is demanding which means that it will take a long time before it’s even close to be ready for publishing. I think it will be like a form of a coffee-table book with lots of photos connecting with the texts.

I think this project will be a bit boring at times but in the end, I will love to share all the fun stories with a bigger crowd. This is a dream I have had for many years, and I work on it from time to time, when I have the necessary inspiration that it takes. But still, this will be great when its finished.

Inspired?

If you feel inspired of this journey, then hopefully you will start the walk on your own trail forward to find your way to the daily inner smiles. If you have any questions, you are welcome to ask them, there may not be an answer but together we might find some way forward. You can use the email address in this link welcome@annastrail.com to make contact.

See you all until next time and remember to find your smile!

Making way through the fire or not

Is the way around the fire really the best way forward or will the pain get worse?

Are you the person who play it safe or do you face the challenges that stand before you? Some would argue that playing it safe is the best way forward. Life will continue as it is with minimal changes. You get a routine and stick with it, no surprises, just life as it is.

Others would, without question, seeking change and face every challenge that appears.  Headstrong and fighting for another future than what they have.

Then there are the ones who are somewhere in between, who face some challenges but not to far from their comfort zone.

Can you reach your dreams by playing it safe?

Maybe sometimes, depending on what your dreams look like. Is your dream walking along a beach and just being in the moment, smelling the sea, then it probably would be reachable without any challenges.

Are you about to change the whole life situation then you will get real challenges along the way, there will be both physical and mental challenges before you reach your dream.

On a webinar they were talking about how to approach challenges, and what way is the best to choose. Going through the fire will be hurtful and tough, it will be hard and painful but for a short time. You will reach your goals faster if you work hard and cope with everything that life is throwing in your way.

When going around the fire the challenges will be there but not as big and more manageable. The pain and challenges will be with you for a longer period of time.

Either way, you better love the journey you are on if you want to succeed reaching your goal.

What to do when you reach your goal

So, you are working hard, and one day you reach the goal, what happens then?

If reaching the goal was the only thing you where thinking of, then a feeling of emptiness might appear. New worries come along, and you are back in the old ways again, the feeling of being stuck grows and you are on square one.

Can this be avoided?

Yes, I believe so! When you learn to love the journey with all the changes on the way towards the goal then the journey become most important. The goal will be the price you get along the way towards new goals. You might learn to love what you do and growing with every new change there is on your way forward. Life becomes a long way of learning, growing, and setting new goals.

When you love your journey with all your heart, life will become easier even in hard times. Keeping a positive feeling in your core will help you handle obstacles that life throws in you way. Off course you still have feelings of anger, sadness, and rage, but with a positive core everything will be easier. Maybe you don’t loose yourself and get stuck in these feelings but working through them and letting them pass and move on.

You have to remember; you are NOT your feelings! You are a human being with feelings, that’s all. Everyone has them and handle them with the knowledge that are available at the moment.

Not reaching your goals

When you work hard, trying to reach your goals and somehow you never get all the way you might feel like a failure. Remember, again- you are not your feelings. Maybe you just have to change focus, make another way forward to get all the way.

Have you ever heard someone say, “failing forward”?

That is the best sentence ever!

Why is that you might wonder. It means that every failure is a lesson to be learned.

When failing you can choose to learn from the experience and use it to grow and with that, come closer to you goal. Every failure is a step forward on the chosen journey. Sometimes the journey will change its course and something else appears which might change the end goal, and that is okey to. The journey you are on is yours, and yours alone. You can walk with someone else on the same road forward but its still your own journey.

Its easy to compare the journey you are on with someone else’s journey. Don’t do that! You can never walk in someone else’s shoos. You can still learn from others and get inspired from them. You are also an inspiration for other people that you meet, even if you don’t know it. Your smile, for example, can make someone’s day. It’s as simple as that, just be kind to yourself and towards others. Everyone can be a leader just by being themselves and loving life as it is, even in hard times. Nothing is forever, it can always get better, just choose the better way for you.

Inspired?

If you feel inspired of this journey, then hopefully you will start the walk on your own trail forward to find your way to the daily inner smiles. If you have any questions, you are welcome to ask them, there may not be an answer but together we might find some way forward. You can use the email address in this link welcome@annastrail.com to make contact.

See you all until next time and remember to find your smile!