I feel like Autumn arrived the same quick as it's now leaving... This season always seems so short to me, maybe because I love it of all the seasons the most. The nature will soon have its white coat that all Christmas junkies have been impatiently waiting for since at least Halloween (I'm one of them you know it). This Fall has been beautiful for me. Truly special. I managed to do many outdoor activities including picking colorful leaves and making art of them, sunbathing in the Autumn sun by the river, breathing in the crisp morning air while camping in a van, oh and doing many trips to the mountains and simply being fascinated by all the different colors that trees have this time of the year. 🍂 I feel so very lucky that I have such a wonderful companion to share it with this year. 

Interesting fact: I read somewhere that all human beings are a mixture of the 5 closest people they hang out with. Including family, friends, co-workers etc... They say that we adopt their view of life, habits - good and bad, behavior, moods, manners in general... even lifestyle or opinions. Do you think this is true? If it is, the more carefully we should choose the people in our lives, the people we are surrounded by on a daily basis. xx Zuzana

Looking at these lovely photos that my friend Renata took this Summer... It gives me all the feels... These are some bittersweet memories - that time of my life that has been captured and will forever be remembered through this truly stunning red dress. Only I know how I felt taking these photos, and only some of my closest friends know what was going on in my life that time of the year, and - oh well - the whole year and a half before. 

'Life repeats itself mindlessly - unless you become mindful, it will go on repeating like a wheel.' - Osho

We all need to stop complaining about life being so tough. We do it way too often and don't realize that we're responsible for that, somewhat. Life is hard, of course. But most importantly, life is what you make it, like it or not. It's about your choices and nothing else. And if they are constantly poor, they will sooner or later turn into just good life lessons and nothing more. The truth hurts too. Sometimes we choose our faith voluntarily, sometimes we think we've been destined to live a shitty life for a higher purpose. Been there. The truth is, all that is happening to us is a part of our journey and it's a necessary path to take for us to become who we're meant to be.

I thought about writing here some current bits quite often in the past few months. And now, somehow, I feel like it’s an important step to do so, to finally and definitely close one chapter of my life as I'm already starting a new one. I've been taking some time in the healing process, but now it's time to thank for the lessons and let go forever. Be happy. Be loved. That's my genuine wish for you. xx Zuzana

 Happy Sunday! It finally snowed here in Prague this week, yayy! - So we decided to make a little day trip to our favorite village that is only about 35 minutes by a train. 🚂 I was dreaming of walking in the snow for months now, but we'd only get a few centimetres and it would just vanish in a few hours (because the temperature wasn't below zero). But this time, we actually got about 5-10 centimetres of snow and the temperature was around -2°C at night, so there was even a little layer of ice on the ponds and rivers. 🧊 So many people were enjoying the outside, walking with their families, pulling their kids on the sled behind them, making a good use of the snow and simply appreciating this wonderful day! 🛷 It was so lovely - sun & snow are oficially the best combination for a good day. 🤩 I honestly always thought that I need to get out far away, into the mountains, to enjoy the snow and feel the true Winter magic (when I was a kid, there was no other way to get the best Winter experience) - BUT I found out, I can get a nice nostalgia anywhere, all I need is snow, warm clothes and a good company. (Currently, you can't sadly book any accommodation in the Czech Republic when travelling, hotels are closed due to Covid so you either make a day trip (morning go there, evening go back) or you manage by visiting friends and family - which you are not really supposed to do either 😬.) We walked 10 kilometers and got a proper exhaustion afterwards. Maybe too much fresh air for the inhabitants of Prague? LOL. I was done. I couldn't even move afterwards, my face was red, I just hopped into the warm shower, put my feet up (oh, they hurt... it was a first longer walk in my Garmont shoes since my Tatras trip in October), watched Game of Thrones while eating lots of ice cream, then passed out and slept 10 hours. What a great weekend it was! Now let's get ready for the new week! I hope it's a good one! We're getting -6°C starting tomorrow, so fingers crossed!⛄🥶💪 

PS: I will be still posting some of my Summer adventures here on the blog, so stay tuned if you miss the Summer. I have never been more excited for the Spring to come ... I simply can't wait to go camping and exploring the outdoors again! 🏕️

Happy New Year, everyone! Am I late to the Christmas party here on the blog? 🙊 I totally missed all the dates for posting in time this (ehm, last??) year, oops! But it means that my Christmas was so busy that I didn't have a chance to share things yet, which is honestly a good change. I slowed down completely on the 20th of December (thank God I bought all the gifts online, in November). Lots of sleeping, lots of eating. Really did the traditional Czech Christmas this year. Potato salad and fried fish for the festive dinner. But I will write more about my holiday (and share more pictures from this time too) in my next post. Today, I want to show you the D.I.Y. that me and my friend Sendy decided to do, for the very first time. It was so fun! We set up a little (messy to be honest) 💥😄 Santa's workshop in my studio and created many Christmas cards that we actually sent out to our friends and family all over the world. ✨ We did this 'artsy event' on a nice cozy Saturday - we started about 2 PM and finished around 10 PM! - I think neither of us expected that we will like this activity so much! But we each ended up making at least 6 or 7 cards. It was a wonderful afternoon. I have to say, most of the cards were inspired by the good ol' Pinterest. You can seriously find gold there when it comes to Christmas diy's. And how about you? Do you still write and send out the traditional paper cards for Christmas? Or do you do it the modern way (e-mail, WhatsApp, Snapchat etc.) ?

'The World has slowed down so you can rediscover yourself.'

'Don't feel lonely, the entire Universe is inside you!' - Rumi

Hello friends! It's the first day of November! 🤯 I apologize sincerely for not posting last Sunday. I was dealing with something heavy and I just didn't feel like writing honestly. But I know we have to keep moving no matter what. Can't stay stuck in the mud. So let's kick off on a positive note today! I've got some exciting pictures for you! Yayyy! 🎉 One of my closest friends, who has always been supportive of everything I do, all my creative ideas and most importantly, of my writing, is Renata. She is not only a great friend and listener, she is a talented artist on top of that! She doesn't like to be photographed too much, and she suffers everytime I vlog around her (I'm sorryyy!), but yesterday - when visiting her in her cute little studio, she agreed on taking some photos and even doing an apartment tour on video for my upcoming vlog! So here we come! When I met Renata, I didn't know how talented, handy and creative she was. I learned that little by little when slowly getting to know her, and because I pay attention to these things as I, myself, love art and surrounding myself with like-minded people. I wanted to write about her since the very beginning of my blog revival. Why? Because creative minds inspire others! You don't often see someone so dedicated, patient and with such a unique wonderful taste. Her style is very specific and different. I'd say it's quite soft and feminine, yet there are some surprising facts about her - for example, she wears Martens style shoes! 😀 She's the one you want to come for advice to, when it comes to fashion, interior design and much more. She also gives great life advice too! I love this girl to pieces! 😊 I know that she will present her beautiful paintings in a gallery one day. And I wanted to make sure I'm the first one to ever write about her. Remember her well, this is Renata Dalecka (RD). 

It was such a lovely day yesterday. We are very much alike in many things. We both enjoy similar books, tarot readings, and even like the same fashion and items in general. We can chat about relationship struggles and such for hours, or we can sit quietly and crack walnuts. Cherish these connections and never let them fade out! This post is meant to be about Renata's art and home decoration taste. I also wanted to bring you some pictures of how her sweet little apartment looks like. It is incredibly cute! She lives in a similar space (size-wise) to mine, one room and a little kitchen + bathroom. She definitely knew how to make it feel like 'home' with all the items that just added coziness and warmth to her place. I felt like home when visiting. She took such a good care of me. She made a home made pie, banana muffins, she made me my favorite black tea a few times, sliced a pear and served huge blueberries. Then for lunch, she served a red beets & mozarella salad. I brought some walnuts from my parent's garden and we were cracking them while having the candles lit (Halloween vibes) and while watching the Bridget Jones's Diary. What a nice way to spend our Saturday! Enjoy the pictures, there are many as you might know by now. I can't come with 10 pics, that's just not me. 😊  

'Creativity is contagious - Pass it on!'

I asked Renata a few questions to find out why she chose art. Or did the art choose her? 

Hello, my friends. How are you coping with all the craziness that's going on? I hope you're all staying sane, despite of the constant unpleasing news coming in our direction (I just decided not to even read it honestly). I've talked with many many people recently, some of them are my closest friends and we had some truly interesting conversations about psychology and stuff. I realized that people indeed feel much worse mentally during the pandemic, it's not just said on the news. It's like we all have this CD player in our head and the unpopular album called 'The top 50 mistakes I've ever made' is on at all times. Right? We have so much time to dig in our past and blame ourselves for the things that we should've let go of a LONG TIME AGO! I always like to chat about real human problems, I say no to any such topic. I, myself, have been through this many times. I did things that I'm obviously not proud of, I still have many things to make peace with within myslef, but I also happened to overcome most of them by looking at life differently. I do not want to let my past affect my present and future. I learned to let go no matter how hard of a task it seems sometimes. You can do it too. And I will write more about guilt and feeling responsible for what others think in my post today. Please, feel free to e-mail me if you're sad or just want someone to talk to (My e-mail is written in the side bar on the left). ✨

Throughout life, someone probably hurt you at some point, or you hurt someone. Both is painful, you feel sorry, you feel guilt. It seems much worse if you were the one who seemingly caused pain to the others. You can't take back time and fix it, and maybe you don't even want to because you know from your heart, that it was the right decision to make, back then. But you can't get rid of that awful feeling when it comes to your mind and you start thinking about the discomfort you might've caused. You feel weak because there's nothing you can do about it, and you feel like you're a bad person. Well, none of this is actually true! These things do not define whether you're a good or bad person. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. Guilt often comes from the fear of what is this or that person going to think about my decisions and choices. You can't help but think about the people you affected. But let me tell you - These people are NOT living your life and never will. Even if your decision affects their life, it's time to start thinking about what YOU want in YOUR life. What we want to do with the time that has been given to us, is our own business. We take resposibility for our actions. If you let other people direct your life, it's still YOU who takes all the responsibility though, not them - so you better decide well for yourself.

If you often feel under the pressure of your own emotions due to guilt, it's time to release it. It's not healthy, in fact, it's very bad for your health to live in a constant stress. How do you release it? Forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for something that you knew you had to do the way you did. Forgive yourself for doing what was right for YOU. To move past this recurring negative feeling, you need to LET IT GO. You need to allow yourself to get out of the jail made out of your past! You want to feel free again, right? You want to live in the present and focus on the future, rather than be stuck in the past, is that right? Unless you forgive yourself, you're going to be a prisoner of your own past.

'Make peace with yourself and your life choices. They are yours!'

I've learnt that one good way to get rid of guilt, is becoming more assertive. I personally am able to kill most of my negative emotions that come to my mind (including guilt) simply by expressing confidently my wishes. YES/NO - it really is as simple as that. I'm able to show people what my personal requirements are, and even if they seem unjustified to others, I don't care. It's ok! We are not here in this world to please everyone - that, in fact, would be an impossible task to do so. The idea behind being healthily assertive is to ACCEPT yourself exactly the way you are and present your true self to others without caring too much what they'll think. In other words, assertivity is a part of being yourself, expressing your needs and choices and not feeling guilty or bad about it. PS: No amount of guilt can ever change or solve the past. It's a 'history' for a reason.

'But what if they think I'm a piece of shit?' Well, that can happen to the best of us. 😊 And it is actually highly likely. Do you know why? Because people are not used to facing the confidence, did you notice? They like to judge it. And why? Because they, themselves, are not brave enough to do what they want in their lives. They're just going with the flow. That's why you can't even rely on anybody's opinion when it comes to your important life decisions. Always choose what YOU think is best for you. Let your friends and family deal with your decision in their own way. They might not like it but well, they will be just fine and will have to accept it, if they are true friends and care about your happiness. Look at it like this - Even for them, this is a great way to grow. They have to step out of their usual box in order to understand you. They will have to also expand their thinking. You helped them learn some kind of a lesson. If you still feel guilty of letting someone go and the person wasn't making you happy anymore, you did the right thing ending this. Only you can change what's surrounding you. You create the world around you! All these people you think you hurt will eventually make peace with your decision, even though you think otherwise now. They will have to deal with THEIR unfulfilled expectations and dreams and they WILL overcome it in the end. No, this is not selfish. You're in fact doing them a favor if you don't want to be with them anymore. Don't waste your time, don't waste their time. So many people stay in these 'situationships' to make other people happy while their time is running up irreversibly. ⏳ By leaving someone you don't love anymore you're doing them a favor, trust me. You're giving them the chance to start over with someone more suitable for them. Period.

'You have enemies? Good. That means you're able to stand up for something important in your life.'

Always try to look at the bright side of your decisions. You were brave enough to make them. You wanted to make them. Are you double thinking them because of THEIR doubts? Stop it NOW. You don't need to explain yourself. You have the right to have your own thoughts and emotions. You don't have to apologize for being yourself. People will have to accept who you are or they are out of the game! There is NO other authority above you. You live your own life, nobody else is going to live it for you. And you will never achieve happiness if you're going to follow other people's wishes. Quite frankly, it's selfish from anyone to expect so! If you're feeling guilty of not achieving somebody else's request, there might be a whole different problem on their side and that is called a manipulation. I would like to write more about that topic next time. But there are people who are purposely trying to make you feel bad about yourself, to get what they want. Have that in mind. Not everybody has good intentions with you, I'm sorry. You are not responsible for anyone else's life or well being. If they are adults, they are well enough suited to take responsibility for their own life and actions. Stop thinking you can do it for them! We are free, we can make the stupidest decisions if it makes us happy, do you get it? You can make completely illogical decisions if your heart wants it. Do it! You choose your path, it's that simple. I like to say this even though some of my friends think it's crazy, but - You want something? Act now and deal with the consequences later. 🤷 I've done it a few times and I definitely do not regret it.

We are just human beings. People change, people grow. We are allowed to change our mind. We can change our directions as many times we want, we can all of a sudden have different needs and wishes. It's completely normal. You should never feel guilty for following your heart. It's your life! Don't let anyone make you feel guilty for living your life the way YOU want! Only people with very limited thinking (and who don't know what growth is) will judge you for this. And their opinion won't even matter anyways. You can't make everyone happy, so always put making yourself happy first! 

'Guilt is the worst demon to bear. Let go and breathe free again.'

Why did I write this post?

I just want you to feel good about making the right decisions. We learn lessons and it's okay to feel certain way, you don't grow if you're not hurting once in a while. I'll give you a little homework, ok? Take a blank paper and draw a line in the middle. That's the line, that's the borderline. Above it is all the bullshit that's trying to get you, in the middle is an imaginary STOP sign and under that is the life you've created in your dreams, that you want to live. The stop sign is here to remind you to say NO to everything that's against your will and happiness. Take a freaking responsibility for your actions and trust yourself! Don't sacrifice yourself for trying to prove something to others. It's a waste of the most precious thing we have - time.

________ 🛑 ________

'You will never get to the end of the journey if you stop to shy a stone at every dog that barks.' - Winston Churchill

It's raining out as I'm writing this post. The weather was simply gorgeous last weekend and I'm thankful that I got to spend it in the open air. What a perfect stretch of warm days, so called 'Indian Summer'. ☀️ The pictures I'm about to share, will hopefully get you excited for the Fall season (if you aren't already). They were all taken at a secret place. I decided not to show where exactly this area is as I consider it a little secret. My haven. I think we all should have some place outdoors, where we can always run to when we're tired of people and crowds. It's a very quiet and peaceful walk. I used to go there a lot in the Summer, but I feel like it's even more beautiful  now, in the Fall. This place also proves that you really don't have to travel too far from the city centre to find yourself a quiet forest. This is about 40 minutes away from Prague by a train. If you're expecting to spend some quality time in the nature, surrounded by nothing but sounds of the falling leaves, it's the perfect month to do so! Don't forget to pack some snacks and a good tea with you. There's nothing better than watching all the shades of red and yellow while sipping on your favorite warm drink. Please enjoy these Autumn pics that I took while feeling extremely happy. It's beginning to smell a lot like Fall and I love it! Make sure you manage to take a long walk in the nature this season - don't miss out on the colors and smells that this time of the year has to offer. 🍂

'Autumn, the season that teaches us that change can be beautiful.'

I don't usually post on Fridays but I'm having a chilled weekend at home (it's raining out 🌧️) and I don't know what else to do but work on the things I love. So I decided to write down everything that has been on my mind recently. Maybe I will write a few extra posts to be published next week. I haven't been sleeping well the past few days (the Full moon and the New moon this month, oh yeah 🌕🌚) I'm constantly (over)thinking when I should be sleeping. Sometimes it's hard for me to turn my brain off, especially once I'm already awake around 3 AM. I started doing some meditations before bed recently. But to be completely honest, this week, I've been changing the soil to my plants or measuring my TV to buy a new TV stand - all that at around 4 AM in the morning, haha! Not good, indeed. But I might as well do some useful stuff while I'm fully awake, right? 😄 I remember I read about a lady once, who only sleeps 4 hours a day and is super effective and successful in her business. Well, I don't think I could do this and I'm honestly not sure how healthy this might be. I need my 8 hours at least. How about you? Enough complaining now (I just wanted to share the 'not so popular' things too, so you know that nobody's life is always rainbows and butterflies). But on the other hand, this extra time is great for reflecting and learning. Thinking and figuring shit out is also a part of our spiritual growth! I will make up for my sleep deficit this weekend I'm sure. How have YOU been, my loves? I'm so glad you're here, reading my post. It means the World to me, just know that.✨ I went for a wonderful Autumn walk last weekend and I'm now editing the photos I took, so expect a new post with many Fall vibe pictures on Sunday! 🍂 But for today's post, I wrote some motivation things down this week, that I thought you might like:

🌟 You are strong enough to face it all, even if it doesn't feel like it right now. Whatever decision you need to make and you think it's difficult, I guarantee you that only the first few minutes of you speaking it up are the most difficult. After that, it's off your chest! Do you feel that relief? Remember, once you say what's needed to be said, you will only feel better and better moving forward, never worse! Once things are said, they shall be done soon as well. There is a bright future waiting for you after you make the right move.

🌟 Growth is painful. Change is painful. This is 100% true and I can sign under this statement. Don't expect that it will be easy to change the whole 'hardware' you're carrying your whole life, and re-program it to act differently. I can tell you it's not easy to change the way of thinking or doing things certain way when you're 30. But the most important thing is to acknowledge what you need to work on, possibly ask your close friends or a partner to remind you every day. It's the little steps you take daily that make the difference in the end!

🌟 Stop holding tension in your body. Pay a good attention to your body. Focus on your face right now - Are your cheeks or eye muscles in tension right now? Relax all your tight muscles and release the tension. You're only getting more wrinkles from this. 😉 Check on yourself throughout the day and try to relax your whole body as much as you can. Your stomach, your back, neck, hands, every part of your body. You will feel much better once you get rid of this unnecessary subconscious tension.

🌟 Stop waiting for Friday. For Summer. For when the covid is gone, stop waiting for life! It's going to pass you by if you don't realize that it's right here, right now! Today! Live in the present as much as you can and make the most of it - because you don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, do you? Stop waiting for something that might never happen. You need to live now!

🌟 Let go of what you can't control. Seriously, you are not them, you can't change anybody's mind by just thinking about something and worrying constantly. Imagine that every single person you are dealing with is seeing things from a different perspective, from a different angle. You are not them, they are not you. Let them figure things out themselves. Focus on yourself, because that is actually the only thing you CAN control!

🌟 Love. Don't be afraid of showing your feelings. Do you care about someone? Do you feel like you want to hug them? Freaking do it! Why not? Never regret any love given, even to the wrong person in the past. I feel like love is never wasted if it's true. I've given love to many people throughout my life and I haven't regretted it once. That's how I felt at that time, it was coming genuinely out of my heart space. I forgave, I forgot the bad, I can only remember the good. Keep the good, let go of the rest. It's such a relief!

Your life is as good as your mindset!

Photos by @hosta 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I'll see you on Sunday! XO Zuzana