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2020, what a year!

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Who would have believed that on January 1st, 2020 when we shouted ” HAPPY  NEW YEAR !” that we would live through everything we’ve lived through this year? Who would have thought that our working lives would be put on pause for so many months? That wearing masks would be our new normal? That leaving home would be almost a luxury? That gathering together would be a privilege? No one! And still…

If someone had told me that my year 2020 would look like what it did, I wouldn’t have believed it. I had already said it in a previous article: at the beginning of the year 2020, I belonged to the category of people who did not take the appearance and the spread of covid-19 seriously, until the first lockdown arrived on our doorstep in March. That’s when my year turned out to be the “Year of the Unexpected”, an Unexpectedness that turned out to be positive .

I didn’t expect to have a great year;

I didn’t expect to be given as many lessons;

I didn’t expect to be able to live spontaneously;

I didn’t expect to have as many opportunities;

I didn’t expect to have as many connections;

I didn’t expect to flourish;

I didn’t expect to keep projecting myself when nothing was certain anymore;

I didn’t expect to be that positive;

I didn’t expect to create as many beautiful memories;

I just didn’t expect 2020.

It certainly wasn’t the year I had imagined, the year I had expected or wanted, but it was the year I got and lived by bringing the best out of it. “Let’s get the best out of it” is the mindset I had adopted a week after the first lockdown, and I remember writing about it in a previous article… And as I was writing it, I had no idea that we would still be in the same situation today… And yet, today I am more than grateful to see that having gone through the last 9 months in this state of mind has allowed me to live this year to the fullest!

So for you who are reading, maybe your year 2020 has not been as bright as it should have been, maybe you even call it the worst year…  I don’t know what you’ve been through, and I don’t want to pretend that I do, but as I try to find the words to encourage you, I remember that a year ago, I myself described 2019 as the “worst year”, until I changed my way of considering circumstances So I invite you to read my article entitled “2019, worse or better year?”

One year after writing this article, I can testify that I would not be who I am today without having gone through what I went through in 2019. And I could not have lived 2020 as I had done it without having gone through 2019, a year for which I am very thankful today. Hang in there, the best is yet to come!

I have no idea what 2021 has in store for us, but I would like so much to invite us to approach it by trying to bring the best out of it, by taking advantage of every moment, by focusing on the positive and by being able to see and seize the several opportunities that will present themselves before us!

I already wish us a great year 2021!

Lots of love,

The Christianista

 

 

Know your why

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I still remember long before I was convinced of it myself, I had already been declared a blogger. I was already told at the time that I would create a blog, and if it wasn’t proclaimed yet, then I was asked if it wasn’t at least part of my plans. I surely felt flattered, but above all, I told myself that I didn’t want to do it just for the sake of doing it or to please people, but because I felt that I MUST do it.

And when the right moment came, believe me, the vision and the plan followed. I still remember the time I had to stay up all night, a sleepless night during which I wrote the whole vision and my blog’s mock-up. Afterwards, realizing that it couldn’t have just been my imagination, I prayed for this project and I especially remember asking God to place the right people all around me. And that’s when the adventure began, from the conception of the blog to its launching, until the present moment, a year later. (By the way, I realize that He has answered my prayers beyond my expectations, and to this day I am grateful for every single person who has been involved in this project and who has brought his or her contribution to it).

Why am I telling you all this? Because the belief that I have to do what I am doing, and having a clear vision of what I need to accomplish is my why. Why did I start a blog? Why am I sharing this article? Why am I investing my time and money in it? Why am I taking pictures? Why am I sharing my lifestyle? Why am I sharing playlists ? Why? Why? Why? Behind each one of my actions, my posts, my projects are hidden answers to every “why” you might ask me.

Knowing my major “WHY” and all my minor “whys” is what allows me to move forward, what allows me to keep dreaming, what allows me to persevere and not stop when facing all that awaits me despite all the changes, detours, falls, and other obstacles that could have already stopped me.

“Know your why” is really a message that I will carry with me for life, and with which I will never stop encouraging people. And I pray that you who read me, may not only know it and especially remember it in your daily life, in each of your actions, but that it may also be useful to you in every thing you would like to achieve. There is in this why, an extraordinary strength that allows us to move forward, to set goals and reach them, to keep on dreaming; an extreme strength that allows us to hold on no matter the adversity and difficulties we may encounter; there is behind this why, the accomplishment of a plan, a life tailor-made for us.

Why do you do what you do? Why does it matter? Why is this goal important to you? Why? Ask yourself all these questions!

And on that note, happy first anniversary to my blog, the adventure goes on and I’m sure that the best is yet to come. Thank you to all of you who read me, who believe in me and who encourage me every day. May God bless you and accompany you in everything you undertake,

Lots of love,

The Christianista

Let’s get the best out of this season!

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“Let’s get the best out of this season” or how to sum up my year 2020 in one sentence.

Once the confinement started, i had a pretty bad experience, because I was of those people who had not really taken this covid_19 story very very seriously, and so i found myself confined and seeing all my plans falling apart overnight was a bit like getting a slap (or three …) BUT this happened just in the beginning, because very quickly, I pulled myself together, and I said to myself that if I was going to spend as much time confined, it would not be to get up at 1 p.m. and spend my days binge watching on Netflix: I might as well make this confinement p-r-o-d-u-c-t-i-v-e, and use this time wisely!

Hence the reason for this article, because if I have managed to motivate myself, I’d like to reach out to someone who may not be able to. It is true that this season has had a lot of negative and even devastating consequences… But adopting the “let’s get the best out of this season” mindset could really help us get through this season and make it useful.

As for me, for example, in this time of seclusion and withdrawal, I have set myself challenges and things to accomplish in addition to the things I already do on a daily basis, things that normally I wouldn’t have time to do. Why is that ? Because I want to be able to take a step back when I return to a fully active life and say to myself “Yes we were confined and we were limited, but  this is what this time has given me the opportunity to do.” And while everything (or almost everything) has come to a standstill, I choose to look at the opportunities that this season offers us and it would be a shame for each of us not to seize them!

So maybe for someone it’s an opportunity to do things that had been put aside due to a lack of time, for someone else it could be an opportunity to finish, to bring to fruition projects that had already been started or for someone else it could be just a time to stop, rest and take care of themselves. Whatever the case, I’m sure that each person, according to their life and their plans, is able to bring out the best in this season.

Looking forward to cheering you on for the rest of this historic season,

With love,

The Christianista

 

I led my first workshops !

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As the title of this article indicates, a few days ago, on Saturday, February 29, 2020, I gave my first workshops: Fashion and Photo. It’s true that for some it might seem ordinary, but I’m sure that through this article, everyone will be able to identify themselves. Because maybe for me it was about giving a first workshop, but maybe for you it’s about starting a project you have in mind, maybe starting your own business? Or maybe you sing very well and have been invited for the first time to lead a public performance, or maybe you are an amateur photographer or videographer and have been called in for a remunerated work?

These are all “first time” situations that surely create some boiling frustration in your head! But maybe for you who are reading me, you are already experienced, so in that case, I just invite you to remember your beginnings, the first time that…

Those who know me and have been following me for the last 2-3 years know that I love fashion, dressing and taking pictures, but also that I love social networks. But where am I getting at? Well, I want to say that all these things, I have always done them out of pure passion and without any other motivation in my mind. Also, even though I knew, when I created my blog, that I was going to use it as a channel to give fashion tips, it certainly was not like standing in front of people who came to listen to you.

When I received the invitation to lead these workshops (it was in October 2019, a few weeks after the launch of my blog), I was quite surprised, but I accepted because I knew it was a challenge and that if I declined the invitation, it would only be out of “fear”.

And so on that day, the person who invited me surely heard me say “yes, thank you very much for thinking of me” but only the words ” OH WAIT? ME?” were echoing in my head and actually I believe that these two exclamations remained in my head until a few weeks before the event.

You see this phase during which your thoughts lead you to telling yourself that you have nothing exceptional, this phase when your thoughts lead you to minimize your gifts and talents, until they seem banal or even worthless to you? Well, that was exactly the phase I was in, and I didn’t even realize it. It was much later that I realized it, at a time when I was taking some time to reflect on my way of thinking and speaking. At that moment, I happily repented, because it was really like having minimized all the potential that God had put in me and wanted to see released.

Then came the “preparation” phase: “WHAT AM I GOING TO TELL THEM?”, “ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO LEARN SOMETHING FROM ME? You know, that phase when you wonder whether what you’re going to present is going to be successful or not, whether people are going to be impacted or not. And in that phase, you can’ t really know if people are going to be interested, but you have to learn to believe in your potential, to believe that if you’re there and you’re going to accomplish this thing, there’s something inside you that has to come out and be released. And if you are a christian, you know as well as I do that what God has put in you is not insignificant and that He is going to use it to touch others. This is what allows you to let go then of the “are people going to be touched or not? » questions. And I can assure you that after preparing my workshops, whose contents were nothing more than what I had already applied in my life, I was positively amazed with myself!

Then, just when you are getting ready to do what you have to do, that’s when the battle of thoughts intensifies and you have to select the right ones! And by the way, I was fully aware that I was in the middle of a battle of thoughts and that the outcome of what I was going to do depended on the thoughts I was going to allow myself to accept. I was aware that: IT’S ALL IN MY HEAD!

And so by the time I reached D-Day and gave the workshops, I realized that “it was the moment”. I was analyzing everything, the participants, etc., and there were 1000 voices running through my head and the loudest ones were making me doubt: I was wondering if these workshops were going to be useful, if all of this was going to bear fruit, etc. I was even starting to think that maybe I wasn’t ready but ironically it was as if these thoughts didn’t manage to make me panic and then, as someone once said so well, “The loudest voice is not necessarily the voice to listen to” in Battle of the voices – Ps Juan Mejias.

This is why the voice I chose to listen to was the one that was saying to me, “Do it” and I said to myself, “Lord, if you have allowed me to be here and do it, you know better than I do why, and the impact it will have”. And so I just did it.

Let me skip the details of the process, the reactions and all the rest of it, and I’ll finish with the “after” phase, because it’s just as important as the first ones, and with even more voices, between those who say, “Wow, look at you, you finally did it!“ and those who come up to you and say, “Don’t get excited, it wasn’t a big deal, it’s not like you walked on the moon”. And here again, it is a matter of choosing the right thoughts.

And in my case, it’s true that those may have been my first two workshops in front of a relatively small audience, but I chose not to pretend it was “nothing”, I chose not to wait until I could stand at a conference in front of hundreds of people to show my gratefulness and finally consider my potential.

So for you, it may not be at Bercy that you led an amazing performance today, your business may not yet be as famous as Steve Jobs’, it may not be Naomi Campbell that you photographed or a DC Comics movie that you directed, but don’t belittle what you’ve already accomplished! On the contrary, be proud of it!

By the way, I know a book, so powerful, that recommends not to minimize your weak beginnings, and even says that if someone despised your weak beginnings, he should have rejoiced because what God has started to do in your life, is going to be a magnificent masterpiece!

So I would just like to invite you, you who read me,

  1. And who didn’t begin anything out of fear and doubt, to believe in yourself and in the potential that God has put in you! There are people who will be blessed by what is in you ;
  2. And who are already on your way, to look at your beginnings, to be thankful for them and to dream bigger. And I will even add this: Don’t wait to be cheered by others to cheer yourself!
  3. And who is already an expert, to look back, to be thankful for the path you have taken and to move forward, the best is yet to come!

Lots of love,

The Christianista

2019, worse or better year ?

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I had been thinking for some time about doing this article/testimony of my year 2019 but I always told myself that I should write it on the new year’s eve of 2020 and only God knew why. 

If I had written this article a few weeks ago, I would surely have concluded that 2019 was rather worse than better. And to find out, the only clue that those who follow me on my networks could have been my multiple absences especially during the first 6 months (by the way: as much as I love social networks, I will never force myself to post if my mood doesn’t follow) and that was it, for the half of my year. 

In 2019, of my 24 years of existence, I have never been this emotionally and psychologically tested. Between the diverse life circumstances and the crucial choices I had to make, I can tell you that I literally hit rock bottom, and until this month of December, it has been an emotional roller coaster. 

But you know, the funny thing is that it is by reaching the ground that I have completed a year of accomplishments.That was the title I gave to the year 2019, at its beginning, and I can tell you that I lived it to the fullest: as much through visible achievements (like this blog) as through personal achievements.  And when I analyze all these accomplishments, I don’t even know how I could have achieved them in the overall state I was in all this year. 

But you see, until a few days ago, I had decided to consider this year worse than better, simply because I was thinking “Ok Lord, I realized this and that, there is this and there is that that happened this year BUT I was too depressed, I was too sad so no it hasn’t been a good year” and it was in this state of mind that I was going to write this article. 

That was the title I gave to the 2019 year, at its beginning, and I can tell you that I lived it to the fullest: as much through visible achievements (like this blog) as through personal achievements.  And when I analyze all these accomplishments, I don’t even know how I could have achieved them in the overall state I was in all this year. 

But you see, until a few days ago, I had decided to consider this year worse than better, simply because I was thinking “Ok Lord, I realized this and that, there is this and that that happened this year BUT I was too depressed, I was too sad so no it hasn’t been a good year” and that was the state of mind I was going to write this article in. 

But that was until yesterday, the last Sunday of the year. And as I was in church at that moment, I read my Pastor’s message: “THANK YOU SO MUCH”. And if there’s one thing that hit me is the importance of developing a spirit of gratitude no matter what the circumstances of life and instead of focusing on what’s wrong or what God hasn’t done, focus on what He has done, because there is always a reason to be grateful.

And while he was preaching my heart was bubbling inside me and I realized that I had been a little ungrateful because I have not one but many things to be thankful for in 2019, and so I changed my way of looking at this year, and instead of saying, “Okay Lord, I have realized this and that,” I have realized this, there is this and that that went well this year BUT I was too depressed, I was too sad so no it wasn’t a good year” I said to myself “Ok Lord, I was too depressed and too sad this year BUT in spite of that, you allowed me to realize and live this and that, you offered me so many things so thank you it was still a good year. » 

“There is always something to be grateful for.”

And I would like to encourage you to do the same, especially those of you who feel like you’ve had a bad year, take the time to think about all the great things this year has given you, and be focused and grateful for it. 

In fact, let’s even be thankful for what didn’t go well. God only knows why He allows us to go through certain situations. And if for some of them we can already understand the why, let us choose to trust God all along the way, even for the situations we have gone through that we do not yet understand, and let us choose to believe that great testimonies will come out of them.

On that note, I wish you all an excellent year 2020, and no matter how you have lived the past year, may 2020 be better!

Lots of love, 

The Christianista 

 

It’s possible!

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Maybe it won’t tell you anything, but for me and for those close to me, redoing my room was a real goal. I had been saying for years that I had to paint it and turn it into a “blogger’s” room. But the years passed, repeating the same words but no change in the facts. 

It was then this year that I took my courage with both hands and went from words to deeds. (Is it a coincidence that the timing matches that of the launch of my blog? Maybe ) then planned everything: painting, new furniture and decorations. I was so happy to be able to take action! And it is by repainting this room that I was inspired to write this article, drawing 3 lessons that I will expose in 3 points: 

At the first brushstrokes, my first thoughts (which are then the subject of the first part of this article) were these: I was so proud of myself to have FINALLY realized this big project like I was coming back in my head every time I told myself that I was going to do it… I then began to self-urge myself by telling myself that:

  • When you want and you are really determined, everything is achievable, no matter how long it has passed!

Then, figure that I mounted all the furniture in my room alone, as well as fixing the furniture and shelves etc and then here’s the reflection I was able to draw from it: 

  • Sometimes we expect too much from others, as if we were making ourselves dependent on them! There are things that seem at first unfeasible by yourself but when you end up doing it alone you realize that finally the other person (on whom we relied) was not that indispensable! – You see what I’m talking about I hope? (Personally, I have so many examples where I found myself thinking that)

But hey, these 2 thoughts were the ones that traveled my brain the first 5 minutes …

“Nothing is as simple as it sounds” Murphy’s Law

Tell me, it also happens to you to be excited for something and then to ask yourself and do all the work or the time it’s going to take you and all of a sudden you find yourself panicking? Well I was in this case, I quickly realized the workload, then rehashing in my mind all the time I had taken to empty my room a few hours before, and realizing the time it would take to finish painting the first layer, the second, to assemble the furniture, then decorate and store all my belongings etc etc. BUT very quickly, I rallied by telling myself STEP BY STEP and thinking about the result of everything I was doing. Which leads me to say this: 

  • When you are in the process of carrying out a project you have to stay the course by remaining focused on the end, on the objective because if you are concerned and you focus only on each of the steps you go through to achieve this result, then comes a risk of relaxation and abandonment but when you keep your eyes fixed on the goal, then you move forward. 

My point is that my plan to redo my room is just one example among many and the lessons I have learned are applicable to many other examples, other cases or situations that you may be experiencing. What I’m trying to tell you through this article is that with a lot of will and determination you are unstoppable! Maybe there’s this thing you wanted to do for a long time but that looks too big, know that it’s not too late to get started, it’s still possible! Maybe you’re counting on someone to do this or that but ask yourself, two minutes, evaluate the thing and ask yourself if you’re really incapable of doing it on your own? There is a strength in you that you may not be aware of!

You can do it, anything is possible!

With love 

The Christianista

 

Be faithful to the vision

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This article was written at the beginning of 2019, on January 9th, to be precise, and I must admit that reading it again a few days before the release of my blog moves me because I have literally been through it…

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading this article and I pray that at the end of these few lines, you will find yourself reinvigorated!

I firmly believe that any project or dream that God inspires us to pursue is the result of a heartfelt longing or a frustration that is within us. So, this dream/project is not an insignificant or ordinary one but rather something that suits us, a tailor-made dream that therefore needs to be fulfilled by us.

But when God entrusts us with the dream, the vision, He does not mean that the path that leads to its fulfillment will be smooth and without any pitfalls. During this long journey, you will certainly face all kinds of misadventures, such as moments of confusion during which you may doubt your vision, yourself or your ability to accomplish it, times when you will ask yourself a lot of questions, when you will feel discouraged by the huge gap between the goals you will have set and reality, times when you may even want to give up. There will also come times when you will have to make difficult decisions, or head in directions that others will not understand, etc. But what I would like to tell you today is: Whichever challenge you may face, STAY FAITHFUL TO THE VISION!

If God has planted this dream in you, then He surely knows you are capable of making it come true. Besides, you may not realize it now, but He has already planned every little thing that you may need in order to accomplish it. Through your heartbeats lie the strength and desire to see this dream fulfilled. Through the gifts and talents He has deposited in you, He gives you the ability to bring that project to fruition, through people to whom He connects you, He saves your time, helps you move forward and propels you. Isn’t He your provider? Don’t you think that the God who put this dream in you is faithful enough to fulfill it? If not, I suggest you grab your bible, read Philippians 4:19 and then let the Holy Spirit convince you!

So, to you who is reading and who may have stopped progressing along the way, who put aside that project that was making your heart beat, to you who was discouraged by life’s circumstances or perhaps by your close family and friends, to you that no one believes capable of realizing that dream or to you who feels overwhelmed and unable to make it come true: WAKE UP!

« Follow the dream that God has planted in your mind! Pursue it with passion, diligence and joy! »

And no matter how long the journey or how many trials you may encounter, keep moving forward, GOD GOT THIS!

With Love,

The Christianista