A new hope

Here we are, in the beginning of another year. I have never been a big fan of making New Year’s resolutions; either because my projects or dreams kept on going independently from the 365 days’ time frame, or I just knew that some things like eating less junk food, being less sarcastic to people or spending less time in front of a computer would never last that long.

Lazy and incapable of making an effort, you say? More of a realistic point of view to my taste. But in spite of all that, this time I feel a strong need to make 2016 about daring to change. I think that this will be the first very personal note on this blog about myself, where you will get to know more about who I am, where do I come from, and hopefully we’ll try to figure out together where I’m going. So let’s get to it and see what Nyanla is hoping for!

I know, to some people it’s weird to put both personal and professional life in the same bag. Being where I am in my life though, to me they are strictly tied together. Now, let me tell you a story…

I am from Poland, but I have been living in France for more than 10 years now. Not my own choice to move from home when I was a teenager, first years abroad were really hard for me in every possible way. However, this experience made me less naive, more open-minded, and I learned a new language. An honest kick in the butt that was softened by the fact that my geeky side could really flourish here and, above all, that destiny put on my way the man of my life. We celebrated our 8th anniversary last October, we’ve been living together for a few years now and we are proud parents of our fuzball Bulle.

I stayed in this country after high school because in fell in love with him, but my heart never really left Poland. When I finished my degree, it seemed more than obvious to look for a job here, especially knowing that my boyfriend is nowhere near ready nor eager to even consider moving with me to my mother country. I completely understand his point of view and I respect it, but I also have to look at things from my perspective. It has been already two years that my professional life is standing still. I know that with my skills and mostly my language abilities I would find a well-paid job in Poland without having to move mountains, whereas here no company seems willing to help me grow.

My goal for this year is to figure out a way to live happily with the person (and the cat) that I love, all while doing something fulfilling with my life. If 2016 is supposed to be about not being afraid to put myself out there and risk in order to change and achieve something, maybe I should go through with the project of creating my own business.

I’m not really sure why, but when I was younger I thought that being successful meant having a big salary from a job at an international corporation, where you glue your nose to the PC screen all day long and you have no idea what are the names of other 50 people whom you share the open space with every day. My present job made me realize that I love human contact (despite the fact that I just can’t handle idiots), I am good at convincing and arguing, and most of all I love being on the move. I might not be able to feel my legs after a ten hours’ day without being able to sit even for a few minutes, I might be furious with some clients who can drive me crazy, but I will still have the energy to enjoy stuff outside work. Enjoy life, really. Oh, and this way I can still eat what I like and stay reasonably fit haha! 😀

Every year I get amazed with new fandoms and 2015 was no exception. I just hope that this year I will make lots of great geeky discoveries, and of course that I will meet people with whom I could have endless conversations about them! A little list of what I want to do in 2016 geek-wise:

• live the Harry Potter experience in London (it’s really not far away, how come I’ve never done it is beyond me)
• try one of those you’re trapped in a room and you have one hour to find and solve clues hidden here places, it sounds like fun
• built an entire cosplay all by myself where I can at last have long pink hair
• kick ass with my soon-to-be HL hobbit minstrel in LOTRO
• find a pen pal or better yet geeks living nearby to throw some awesome geeky themed parties!

I started this blog only a few months ago and it has already given me so much. It’s my tiny window to the world where I can just be myself and share with you whatever I love or dislike, where I can find support and meet amazing people that I would never have the chance to meet elsewhere. I am extremely grateful for every visit, every post read, every word that you leave behind either directly on this blog or in discussions at G+ or Facebook geek girl blogger groups. I still feel like a total newbie but I am going to do my best, and I just want to thank you all for being there.

To allow this baby to grow, here are some changes that will come to life in 2016:

• Full English content. French and English are both foreign languages to me, at least in English I will be able to reach lots of new readers all around the world. International geeks, hell yeah! It also means that I will have to come up with a new name for my blog. The idea box is open by the way, if you have some suggestions ^^
• Changing the name will go along with having a self-hosted website. No more wordpress.com in the link, I will be able to control better the SEO aspects and maybe I will look deeper into monetizing. But my own domain first, we’ll see how it will roll from there.
• New layout. To me it still feels like a sketch book around here, with a free WordPress theme just chosen from a bunch of average layouts that seems just blah. I want something fresh, modern but girly, Nyanla-like but I still haven’t put the finger on the right one.
• Get more serious around here. Don’t worry, the lousy jokes are included in the package deal when it comes to me! What I mean by serious is to publish interesting content on a more regular basis (let’s be honest and choose something within my lazy reach, say one post per week), to get more and more involved in the blogging community, not to be afraid of promoting my own content online but also at conventions, geeky gatherings etc. Oh, and once the new layout is up, offer some link swaps with my favorite bloggers out there!

To sum up, I have high hopes for this new year. I am willing to step out of my comfort zone and do some struggling on my own, but I know that it will be worth it. I want to live 2016 in the way so that at the end I can say that I accomplished something, that I came up with my own projects and had the guts to try and make them succeed.

Let’s all dare to change and to go after those dreams, happy New Year!