So I stayed, as I loved what I found

It’s been a long time since I’ve written. Yes, I miss it every day. I could call this post “Why did I move 8 times in 1 year”. Or “Why fear is not a valid option”. Or “Why a smile makes you stronger”.  Or “Why falling in love feels the same today, as it felt at 17”. Well, I’m good at following up, therefore…

It has been a roller coaster. Inside and out. Sleepless nights, the most intense of emotions and the most authentic of people. The most happiest of shared moments, the most meaningful of conversations. Do you want to know what made me open this page, at 23:25, after a 14 hours work day? A Facebook post. A Facebook post that triggered sweet memories of this past year of mine.

I have tried to remember when was it in 2013 that I entered Impact Hub Vienna for the first time. I think it was in August. Or was it in July? I don’t know and I haven’t checked the date of my first month of membership. Yes, I think it was in July. I can only track back the time of last year’s events by thinking in which apartment of which friend I was living at the time they happened. Nevermind that. I remember perfectly how I felt; I remember the first conversations, the first people I met, the first book I took out of the shelves. The light, the white curtains and the blue-green pillow, and the chandeliers. I remember the surreal feeling of it all. I had for the first time seen only the website of the Hub in Brussels somewhere in the winter of 2012, whilst I was living there. Never got to make it to the sexy salads they had on Tuesdays. Partly because the space was intimidating, to me, at that moment in my life.

Impact Hub Vienna is one place in this world which gave me the belief I would make it. In the midst of change, fighting for a new life I was determined not to give up to simply because my whole being told me I should do no other way, I was trying, desperately at times, not to give up what I cared for. And what I cared for was my chance to a better self. Not better as in more virtuous, or as in smarter, or as in more interesting. Better as in authentic. So I stayed, as I loved what I found.

I’m still living a dream. The roller coaster is still spinning. I find myself still in the centre of it, where it’s quiet. Grateful? Happy? Amazed? Bewildered? Challenged? Well, pay a visit. CEE Impact Day is this Friday. The Facebook post.