The inspirational man with no name

It's finally there..First day of spring?
The sun and the warmer weather has set up the attitude to be excited what is to come soon. I enjoyed going outside in a hoodie and no heavy winter jacket. I actually got to go for a long walk with my love instead of just being inside or slaving in the gym. It was really nice.
So what is next? Spring cleaning? Plans for barbecues and picknicks? Runs in the parks and basketball games/ How exciting are we all?

On the other side..Don't forget everything else around us. We have all of this..count our blessings. Enjoy it and take advantage of it but don't forget that this is a privilege and we have a great life that we should be thankful for.  My thoughts are still connected to those who need it the most and on a daily basis I try to find ways to reach out to people who really need it. To give an example there is a man that sells newspapers every morning at a stop light in DC, by which my love and I pass by every morning. I think he is there by 5 a.m. which means in the cold weather that we had in the past months he has been standing every morning to sell the Washington Post. We would pass by, nicely warm in our car, trying not to think that soon we have to step out in a cold for a couple of minutes to get to our destination. This man is an older gentleman, who looks to the cars with a hope that one of them will stop and support him in his endeavor. He would be on my mind all day but I would simply forget to take some change to get a paper. Until, he was so much on my mind that I decided to plan ahead and make sure that we have enough change in our car so we can stop by, exchange some friendly words, buy the paper and give him some extra change in case he wants to buy himself a coffee or something to snack on. It has become our routine and the reason why this man makes me think and appreciate my life is the fact that I know that he is as me hardworking. He does not just sit on the side of the street and be He works, he tries and he is changing his destiny. What an inspiration he is. He has a tube in his throat and we hardly understand him when he talks to us but his eyes are lightened when he does and it is such a delight to see him. Last week there were a couple of days that he was not there and we got concerned, on Friday he explained that he had an accident but he still was working because he cannot afford not to. It is a hard life and a hard society we live in, and the only way to survive is to keep pushing. I have so much respect for him and I am happy to be able to see him every morning knowing that my friend will be there and that we are supporting him even if that little might not be a lot. I do not know his name and it might be strange but we never had enough time on the stop light to get into it. I definitely will acquire about it but until then he is the inspiring man with no name.

Do you have people that inspire you? Were you an inspiration for someone else? It is a circle, we give so we can receive...I am so thankful and humble with my life.

Thoughts are with Japan!

With the recent happenings in Japan and the unrest in the Middle East it has been such a hard thing to watch news on a daily basis. I do not think that the pictures that we are shown on news stations are sinking in with our conscious. It just feels so far away and simply a sad tragedy. But for the most people it seems like a movie. Something we can switch the channel at any time. If we look out of our window we are able to see that we ARE NOT affected by it. We might feel sorry and bad but we move on with our lives unless.....UNLESS the gas prices go up and WE have to pay more at the gas station. My life is equally affected by the prices and my money goes in the same direction as everyone elses. Do I complain? Yes. But do I see the whole picture? I surely try to. It is important to understand the roots of this problem and not just blame it on the gas dependency of USA. It is the fact that at this moment people are fighting for freedom, for a better life but WE have it so bad.

I am attaching some pictures from Washington Post from the Tsunami that hit Japan along with the 8.9 Earthquake is more than disturbing. I am still sitting here and keep looking at them. Is it all gone? What would we do if everything we own is gone, if the people we love are missing or hurting? Can we make that connection?
I believe that we can and that is the reason I am sharing these pictures and these words with you.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2011/03/12/GA2011031205446.html#photo=1

30 Things we need less/need more

I just came across this and wanted to share.
It is posted by Harvard Business review: http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2011/03/30-things-we-need-and-30-we-do.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+%28HBR.org%29

WE NEED LESS: WE NEED MORE:


Information                            Wisdom

Shallow billionaires                 Passionate teachers

Self-promotion                       Self-awareness

Multitasking                            Control of our attention

Inequality                                Fairness

Sugar                                      Lean protein

Action                                     Reflection

Super sizes                              Smaller portions

Private jets                              High-speed trains

Calculation                              Passion

Experts                                    Learners

Blaming                                   Taking responsibility

Judgment                                 Discernment

Texting                                     Reading

Anger                                      Empathy

Output                                     Depth

Constructive criticism               Thank-you notes

Possessions                             Meaning

Righteousness                          Doing the right thing

Answers                                  Curiosity

Long hours                              Longer sleep

Complaining                            Gratitude

Sitting                                      Moving

Selling                                     Authenticity

Cynicism                                Realistic optimism

Self-indulgence                       Self-control

Speed                                     Renewal

Emails                                    Conversations

Winning                                 Win-win

Immediate                             gratification Sacrifice

The Recession aftermath...following your dream or barely surviving

Have you found yourself totally lost in this difficult job market? Are you looking for a way to gain experience and work in your field? Do you apply daily and try to reach out to your networks?...welcome to my world. It seems that whatever I try it is not working for me. It seems that I can only try to blame it on the recession, the hard times, the high level competition...I can only use this excuse for so long. At some point I turned it even against me in order to figure out what is actually wrong. As you can imagine, that backfired and I became so depressed thinking that I am a failure and everyone else is making it. But this topic is still hot. It is discussed daily on the news, experts are writing books about it and I feel I hear the same old advise from different people(that btw. have a great job in their career). So, I am soaking it in, I am networking, I am meeting people that I do not know(yet), I am reaching out to different networks, put myself out there..how agressive can a person be? Does it come down to luck nowadays? Connections? Who do I have to know? I certainly am starting to feel like I am back in Bosnia where my father has to either own the company or know the CEO of the company I wanna work for. If you have no ties or miraculous luck you are screwed.

So, I ask myself how do I come out of this as a WINNER?

We got to keep trying. I have recently found out these job listings that I never knew about. Not regular job postings that we can find on monster.com or even idealist (depending on the industry you want to tap in) but blogs that work with certain career industries to post the newest openings. I am not saying that I have been lucky yet but I hope to have more success in the future. How do you find out about these? I have no clue how I did not know about it before but I am researching and I am pushing. I really hope that by sharing our newest ideas and newest ways in this job market we can actually get hired and do what we really love. In the meantime, I will still be frustrated and sometimes feel down but NEVER EVER give up! I will keep you all posted if anything actually turns out good. I would love to help others to chase their dreams and make the best out of their lives. My sacrifices have been huge to just wait for it to happen. I am ready to make a difference in the world, just the way I intended when I dreamed abotu college, got to college and when I graduated. We have to take it in our hands and turn the way things are done. Obviously, the newspaper job openings are not even looked at..the position is already filled but the ad has to be published as a formality. Most of them for sure, I cannot speak for all of them. So, to increase the chances we have to be able to help each other..it is definitely a more personal approach. Get more personal with strangers and make your way through.

Good luck

The new hair do

As I have mentioned in my last blog, I have purchased a local coupon (Buy with me) to get a cheaper deal to get my hair finally cut. I have been debating about cutting off my long long hair for the longest time. It has not helped that my hair has not been cut for a year and that it was in need for some extreme cuts. People who know me well know that I do not like short hair on me. I have tried it once, at my brothers wedding 13 years ago and I did not like it.Lately,  I have been thinking to give it a renewed try and undergo a drastic change. Maybe my recent turning 30 had something to do with it as well. 30...that's a huge number...new decade, new experiences....OLD! haha...I have to admit i do not feel old(yet) but I was up for a change. I took this coupon as a challenge and I bought it without give it much thought. I knew once I pay that I will do it. That was motivation in it's making. I did not know much about the hair place, but I did the minimum research, I checked it out online, it looked legit and I called in to make an appointment.

Here starts my journey. I was nervous all morning. When I finally made it to the hair salon, I had a strange feeling. Hm...first I couldn't spot it from a street. When I finally found it, I could see that it was an all black hair salon. I stood there for a second thinking...hm, if I walk in there are they gonna think I am crazy? This statement is not based on race but rather on  the fact that we have very different hair and in order to do one or the other hair you must have experience. I told myself I will give it a try. I have nothing to lose. I walked in one of the most friendliest environments I could wish for. I have expected this and adjusted easily. My assigned stylist is a young girl, who says that she is not intimidated but looks scared to death. I warned her that she is up for the challenge of her life and asked her if she has done hair like mine before. She assured me that she has a cousin that is mixed and has worked on her hair for years. Ok..well two hours later into the cut, she obviously cut too much, I said shoulders not neck length, the layers are not flowy I realized that this is now my look and I have to go with it. In her defense, she was really giving her best and working real hard on my hair. I understand how hard my hair is to control. So now, I have a haircut that I am learning to love and an experience of a lifetime. I really appreciated her and her patience with me and my needs. It was a learning experience for both of us. I might not return there specifically but I made sure I tipped her well before I left.

Moral of the story? Sometimes you need to try things differently. I might not have the hair that I have now without this young lady and she would have not have a customer like me. I am glad I did it, it made me go out of my comfort zone of what I know. I am posting before and after pics for everyone to check out. :)