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“Dearest Gentle Reader!”

Don’t worry, I will not start and never be able to copy the one and only Lady Wistledown, but this letter is addressed directly to you. (Plus I am obsessed with The Bridgertons at the moment.🤣) However, this isn’t the cause I remained silent for this long. I had to make many decisions during the past few months, including whether I wish to continue this blog. 

This blog was born because I always wanted to write a blog and continued since I moved back to Hungary to help me keep my English. But this became an update page for the lazy people around me. Many people around me started to ask when I created an update because since I moved home they know less about me than when I lived in London, simply because I posted more while I was back there. And to be honest that’s when I realised that I became a “people pleaser” again. I forget to read and use my post about this subject. ( Well, we learn until we die, I guess. 😅)

Since I started my life at home, unconsciously I came back to my old habits and old patterns which are attached to this country and the life I lived 11 years ago before I stepped foot on British soil. Even most of the people around me think that those years have not made any marks on me or worse, they simply ignore the fact that London changed me a lot, the truth is that I am not the same 23-year-old girl who left back then. So no, I will not pretend that I am she. Some things will never change such as the fact that I will always be a village girl, who speaks too much, laughs loudly and is way too sentimental, but I grow up now. And that’s something that everyone must accept. Of course, this was my fault entirely, I let them deal with me as if nothing happened in the past few years.

I decided to write in Hungarian too because I had enough of the fact that my friends asked me to do so. But honestly, I never wanted to write in my mother tongue. I wanted to improve my English when I started. This blog as I mentioned in one of my first posts is not for you who read it, it is for me who write it. Of course, I intend to help as many people as possible via my stories, and if you make an effort to read them, may or may not you get something. 

So no, I will not write in Hungarian in the future, because if you care about what is in this, you can make a small effort and use the Google Translator. And I post when I feel I have time and energy, but not when you want me to. This site will not be an update page for all the lazy ones. I understand it is easier to read what is going on in my life instead of calling, texting, messaging or contacting me in any other form of communication. I still want to help and that is still my mission with this blog, but with my own rules. I do not wish to check the stats that how many people read what I said or constantly wait for some feedback, so I feel approved, loved and precious. My psychology studies reminded me of something. Especially Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid. Maslow argued that survival needs must be satisfied before the individual can satisfy the higher needs. He said we first must satisfy the need for love and belonging or safety before we can do anything with self-actualization. Well, the only problem is that we think (most of the time we even strongly believe) that these needs can be satisfied only externally. I wanted to be loved and feel to belong so I bent my other needs and personality to fit in. And of course, the biggest lie: “ I do not want to hurt anyone.” Let me tell you something, You cannot hurt anyone and no one can hurt you, just like no one able to make you happy or loved, if you do not let them. Every level of the pyramid can and should be satisfied inside of you first and then, you can attract the external too.

I decided to live my life, write my blog and organise my time how it fits ME. If you want to be part of my journey I am so happy and you are more than welcome to read my words and hopefully get some help or at least laugh a bit about my silliness. You can write to me anytime on any platform, but I do not continue to write just for you, Dearest Gentle Reader. Those of you who are my friends or family members, I love you so much and without your support, I would be lost for sure, but if I do not post in 2 months and you want to know what is going on in my life because you care about me, please grab your “very” smart phones and drop a message, anytime. 😘

I know it wasn’t the usual Silly SpirtFiry post, but behind this screen, I am a human too. And as I always telling you: Don’t have to be always strong to be a Hero.😘 

XOXO,

Krisz😘

P.S.: I hope, I will be back soon with some funny content about the Life of a Single in Hungary…trust me it matters the country and the city regarding this subject.😅 Love you all!!!

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Egyéb kategória Positive quotes

Life

XOXO,

Krisz😘

Categories
Egyéb kategória Story of My Life

Positive Projects

Görgess le a magyar változat olvasásához! 😘

Hello Guys,

I hope you are having the time of your life. It feels like Summer started in Hungary. 30 degrees, sunshine, the birds are chirping and the sky is the most amazing blue you can imagine. 😊

Okay, before you start to hate me about the quick forecast, I’ll let you know why I am here today. So as I mentioned in my last posts I have a “huge project” on my plate so that was why I was off the radar. Now it turns out that I finished that project, and I have a couple more. 😅 Don’t worry hopefully these projects will benefit you too.

So I have done my B2 English exam and now I would like to start to teach or help kids in English. I attached the details below, so you can find them if you are interested. Now I started to do a pedagogical assistant course and hopefully, I’ll have my exam in November. I know, now you asking “But why should I care about these things?” and you are right. You shouldn’t unless you have a kid and need some help with English, BUT what it is about you guys is the fact that I would like to create a Facebook Group for all the SpirFires around the world where you can talk to each other and share your wisdom. Also, I am planning to create a new site here called “Positive Academy” where I would like to share some tools with you which hopefully can help to be more positive. My goal is to build a community for us. A safe place where you can communicate and together try to solve everyday issues. 

Another new thing is that I’ll do this not just in English but in Hungarian too. I never wanted to write Hungarian, but so many of my friends and family members asked for it and I feel now is the time that I start to do it. All my posts will be uploaded in Hungarian too. You can communicate in whichever language you wish in the Facebook Group too.

The daily positive quotes will be back tomorrow (that one will be kept in English. Sorry guys but way too much work to translate them to Hungarian). These will be posted on all my social media, so please follow me there too. And some things will be available only on those platforms.

Furthermore, I attached my Life coaching certificates because I wish to start practising as a Life coach. I have done those courses but I never felt enough brave to work in them. I thought who would listen to me, who would be curious about what I could offer. Now I put my big girl’s pants on and show up. My dream has always been to help people navigate their lives and I believe I can. I wish to make this site as interactive as it can be. Throughout our difficulties, we can help each other to grow. By sharing our stories we can learn. And sometimes we just need to know that we are not alone.

So I’ll do the technical base on these things and I would like to ask for help. I want you to send me a DM on social media or in the comments here (even you can send an email to spiritofspitfires@gmail.com, and I’ll try to answer within 24 hours to everyone.) and let me know what would you like to hear. Which subjects do you want me to dig in? How can I help you more? What things bother you?

Also, if you want to have individual sessions, please drop me a line anywhere and I’ll contact you and we can discuss the details. Or if you want to have group sessions and there will be enough people I am more than happy to do so. 

Please let me know if you have any questions! I hope these changes will benefit all of us. As soon as I have the “Positive Academy” section here and the Facebook Group I will let you know. I will also update you on how things are going on in my Hungarian life. 😎Be brave together and help each other.

Until that SpitFire up and enjoy the Summer because it is here for sure.🤗

XOXO,

Krisz😘

P.S.: Follow me here, on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest.

Facebook: @SpiritSpitfires

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Magyarul!!!!!

Helló Mindenki,

Remélem, jól vagytok és szuperül telnek a napjaitok. Megjött a nyár,  30 fok, napsütés, a madarak csiripelnek, és az ég a legcsodálatosabb kék, amit csak el tudtok képzelni. 😊

Oké, mielőtt meggyűlölnétek a rövid kis előrejelzés miatt, elmondom, miért vagyok ma itt. Tehát, ahogy az előző bejegyzéseimben említettem, egy “hatalmas projekten” dolgoztam, ezért nem posztoltam olyan sokat. Most kiderült, hogy befejeztem ezt a projektet, de jó pár újabb került a helyére. 😅 Pánikra semmi ok, nem csak mert ura vagyok a helyzetnek (legalább is ebben reménykedek), hanem mert ezek remélhetőleg nektek is hasznosak lesznek.

Tehát elvégeztem a B2 angol nyelvvizsgámat, és most szeretnék angolt tanítani illetve korrepetálni a gyerkőcöket. (Lent megtaláltok minden részletet ezzel kapcsolatben) Most kezdtem el egy pedagógiai asszisztens tanfolyamot, és remélhetőleg novemberben lesz a vizsgám. Tudom, most azt kérdezitek: “És minket ez hol kéne, hogy éredekljen?”, és igazatok is van. Nem kéne, hacsak nincs gyereketek akinek segítségre van szükségre lenne szüksége angoluból, DE ami a lényeg, az az a tény, hogy szeretnék létrehozni egy Facebook csoportot a világ összes SpirFire-je számára, ahol beszélgethettek és megoszthatjátok ügyes bajos dolgaitokat amikre megpróbálunk együtt megoldást találni. Azt is tervezem, hogy létrehozok egy új szekciót itt a blogon “Pozitív Akadémia” néven, ahol szeretnék megosztani veletek néhány technikát, amelyek remélhetőleg segíthetnek pozitívabbá válni. A célom az ezzel, hogy eg szuper segítőkész közösséget hozzak létre mindannyiunknak.  Egy biztonságos hely, ahol , és együtt mekommunikálhatunk és megpróbálhatjuk megoldani a mindennapi problémákat, közösen.

A másik újdonság, hogy ezt nem csak angolul, hanem magyarul is meg fogom csinálni. Soha nem akartam magyarul írni, de nagyon sok barátom és családtagom kérte, és úgy érzem, itt az ideje, hogy elkezdjem. Minden bejegyzésem magyar nyelven is feltöltésre kerül. (Kezdve ezzel. 😅) Plusz a Facebook csoportban is bármilyen nyelven kommunikálhattok.

A napi pozitív idézetek holnap visszatérnek (Ez marad angolul. Bocsi srácok, de túl sok munka lefordítani őket magyarra, újra szerkesztei a képeket, stb. Szóval Google továbbra is a barátotok marad ezen a téren.😘). Ezeket közzé fogom tenni az összes közösségi médiámon, ezért kérlek, kövess engem ott is. Néhány dolog csak ezeken a platformokon lesz elérhető.

Továbbá megtaláljátok a Life coaching bizonyítványaimat, mert szeretném magam kipróbálni ebben is. Elvégeztem ezeket a tanfolyamokat, de soha nem éreztem magam elég bátornak ahhoz, hogy dolgozzak benne. Gondoltam, ki hallgat rám, ki lesz kíváncsi arra, hogy mit tudok nyújtani. Most viszont úgy döntöttem, hogy nem hagyom a félelmeimnek, hogy megbénítsanak, szóval felkötöttem a gatyát és itt vagyok. Mindig is az volt az álmom, hogy segítsek az embereknek eligazodni az életükben, és hiszem, hogy képes vagyok rá. Szeretném ezt az oldalt a lehető leginteraktívabbá tenni. Nehézségeink közepette segíthetünk egymásnak a fejlődésben. Történeteink megosztásával tanulhatunk és néha csak az kell, hogy tudjuk nem vagyunk egyedül a problémánkkal a Nagy Világban.

Tehát én elkezdem megteremteni a technikai alapokat a felsoroltakhoz, de szeretnék segítséget kérni. Szeretném, ha küldenétek nekem üzenetet a közösségi médiában vagy az itteni megjegyzésekben(comment gomb lent) (akár e-mailt is küldhettek a  spiritofspitfires@gmail.com email címre, és megpróbálok 24 órán belül válaszolni mindenkinek.), és mondjátok el, hogy miről szeretnétek ha többet írnék. Milyen témákban szeretnétek, hogy beleássam magam? Hogyan segíthetek többet? Milyen dolgok zavarnak?

Továbbá, ha egyéni foglalkozásokat szeretnétek, légyszi, írjatok privátban, és megbeszéljük a részleteket. Vagy ha csoportos foglalkozásokat szeretnétek, hogy tartsak, és elég ember lesz, örömmel megteszem.

Kérlek benneteket, ha bármilyen kérdesetek van szóljatok nyugodtan! Remélem, hogy ezek a változások mindannyiunk javát szolgálják majd. Amint itt van a “Pozitív Akadémia” szekció és a Facebook csoport, tudatni fogom veletek. Arról is tájékoztatni foglak benneteket, hogyan zajlanak a dolgok az életemben itthon. 😎Legyünk bátrak együtt és segítsük egymást.

Addig is élvezzétek a nyarat és várom a javaslataitokat. 😘

Ó, és kérlek, ne feledd: nem kell mindig erősnek lenned ahhoz, hogy hős legyél.🤗

XOXO,

Krisz 😘

U.I.: Kövessetek a Facebookon, Instagramon és/vagy Pinteresten is.

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Egyéb kategória Story of My Life

The Start

Hello Guys,

I hope you are well and enjoying the lovely Spring weather. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what to write. So many things have happened since I last wrote to you. Luckily, there are many nice things, but I decided to talk more about the past. I have left my moving to London story before the actual flight. (You can read the first part The Beginning and the second part The Preparation here.) Back in Hungary, I realised that I must explain my years in the city to understand what is happening in my life right now. So here is the third and last part of this story. I hope you will enjoy it.

In January 2013, we arrived at London, Luton airport. That was the first, I had ever been on a plane. I was scared and sad. I was excited, but I felt sorrow to leave everything and everyone I knew behind. Luckily, my best friend was with me. A silver Mercedes Benz waited at the airport to take us to our new home. I remember it was snowing in Hungary and bright sunshine in London. 

We arrived at Wood Green, which is a not-too-nice part of London (zone 3, North London). Our new home was a shared house. 9 people, including us, lived in a 5 bedroom, 2 toilets, one bathroom and a small kitchen house with a tiny garden (at that moment looked like the garden was a rubbish place). There were couples, older people, young guys… we felt lost. Our room (because do not dream about that you have your own flat first you arrive in London unless you have at least a year’s savings, which we never had) was small, with a double bed and a cupboard… that’s it. Well, we had only one suitcase each, so we did not need it in a bigger place, but still, it felt so claustrophobic. The housemates were not nice. They were a bunch of people who lived next to each other. 

The next day, we had an appointment at the lettings agency’s office on Halloway Road. It was a couple of miles away from us, so we decided to walk there. As I said we were naive as Hell. We did not have mobile internet or GPS on the phone and we had no idea where we were. After a couple of minutes galavanting on the street, we asked a girl at the bus stop where is Holloway Road. She was Hungarian luckily, but she wasn’t sure. Either way, that girl was kind enough to help go to Wood Green station and buy a weekly bus-only oyster card (an oyster card is a kind of travel card, which you can top up, weekly, monthly, for zones, only for the bus or including tube and every other TFL services) and told us that 29 bus will take us to Trafalgar Square and that’s the bus route we need to get to the agency’s office. 

We managed to find the office and sorted out our letting contract, plus they gave us a list of the job agencies. We thought we were fine, we would visit all the agencies during the next couple of days and everything would be just perfect. But life isn’t and wasn’t that easy, at least not back in January 2013.

Here I wish to stop and before I continue the story, I would like to mention a teeny-tiny issue that we discovered. I thought that I spoke English because back in high school my lovely teachers taught me and I had amazing grades… well, what you learn in the school in Hungary has nothing to do with the actual language that people speak in England especially not in London. Let me explain. What you learn in the schools is the “perfect” literature English, instead in England most of the born Britts do not speak properly their mother tongue. There are many slang and figures of speech that you who study this amazing language never learn in school. Not to mention the fact that London is a huge mix of people come from different countries, cultures, races, and religions, which is beautiful and helped me a lot to accept people around me the way they are, but in the meantime, everyone uses their mother tongue melted in the English they speak. So until you just learn a language and not live it, you cannot say that you speak it.

Now back to our first full day in London. We thought that we were done for the day, so we bought some toast and salami (we had to pay the deposit the first week in advance, so we did not have left money to buy anything else) and spoke with our family on Skype… well, Life thought otherwise. We found the 29 bus back to Wood Green destination, but when we arrived, we had no idea where we were. We had no idea how to find our street with our house in it. We tried to ask people, but they had no idea either or they just ignored us. So the only thing we came up with was to call my brother, back in his Hungarian High School. Why him? Because he was in colleague and we knew that in the dorm they have internet access, he can check the map. We told him that we were standing in front of a building called Wood Green Crown Court and our address of course. He navigated us back to our house from Hungary. 😅 

The agency said that we were lucky because we had an appointment to get our NI number (TB number in Hungary) the next day at the Camden Job Centre. We knew which bus we had to use from Wood Green and drop off at Camden Station ( we had no idea how many variations exist of the “Camden” bus stop, but let’s slow down 😅). The only thing we didn’t know that which side of the road we had to catch the bus. After a while, we realised that we were going in the wrong direction as we picked the bus on the wrong side, so we had to drop off and catch the other bus. The good thing about London is that buses and tubes come every minute or so, but we were way too far from Camden to make it on time to the appointment. Anyway, we tried. 

Once we saw the first “Camden” bus stop (which was still a 15-minute walk from the one we needed) we just left the bus and started to run like no tomorrow. But we were unable to find the Job Centre. Here is another fun fact about how different London and Hungary are. The Job Centres in Hungary usually take place in a nice, old historical building which you can never miss, but instead in London, they look just like a chicken shop in the corner. So in the end, it became cold, it started to rain and we were lost in Camden Town. We called the agency and asked them to make another appointment and begged them to try and tell us where the Job Centre is. They were laughing at us and they said that no one ever lost in Camden or was unable to find the place. But in the end, we found it. I remember we had our lunch (sandwiches made at home) in a park and we decided to see Trafalgar Square as we saw our life-saving bus, the iconic 29. That bus was our guide for so long after that. So we were freezing, wet, humiliated, lost, sad and miserable, but we saw the famous Trafalgar Square first in our life. We had no idea how many memories would be attached to that place in the future and how the square would become one of the most important places for us, a bit of a centre point not just for that large city, but for our lives too.

The next couple of weeks was quite the same. We woke up early, got ready, grabbed the bus and visited all the agencies on our list. We started to know better the city, understand more about the places, the public transportation (only buses because we had no money to pay for the tube), the people around us and how things are working in London. Our housemates told us about the cleaning agency where they worked, so we went there and my best friend finally got a job there as a night cleaner. A few nights later he called me and I was able to start there too. That was our first job. I do not wish to tell the name of the agency, but we became night cleaners in one of the Michelin-star restaurants in London, called The Delaney. Our supervisor was a young Polish guy, who grew up in the city and he helped me a lot to learn the language. He sat next to me for hours to make sure that I could tell what I wanted. The job just came on time. I will never forget the night before our first payday. It was a Thursday evening. We used our two-week deposit so we had to pay the rent on Sunday or at least one week otherwise the agency said that we would be homeless. That night was our off night ( we worked 6 nights a week and only one was off). We decided to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Parlament and the London Eye (from outside of course). The weather was nice and we crossed the river Thames on the Hungerford and Golden Jubilee Bridge. We were in the middle of the bridge, the view was breathtaking and we heard a song played by a guy with his guitar. I do not remember the song, but I do remember that we only had 75 pence left in our wallet. No more, no less. We expected our salary the next day morning. At that point, we bought food from the money we found in the restaurant during our shifts. If we did not find anything, we had to portion our bread and butter to make sure we had something to eat every day. But we gave all of our money to this guy on the bridge and just enjoyed the view. The next day we got our first salaries and they were more than we had wished. Not that much, we only be able to pay one week’s rent and we were still a week behind, but we finally could breathe a bit. That’s when things started to be better a bit. It was millions of ups and downs, on the career path, personal relationships and accommodations, but after that, I have not cried every day (maybe every other day 😋) and did not question my decision that much. It will be parts of my past in London that I will share with you guys, but I thought I could not write down every major thing that happened in London because in the end every little thing formed me and needed to help me become who I am and I am unable to write down all of them. So that’s why I decided to write “my diary” under the story of my life” section because I think I can help you more to get through life and all its difficulties during my daily/weekly stories. (Please feel free to let me know if I am wrong. 😅)

Sometimes you have to give everything, leave everything behind, lose almost everything to be able to receive what the Universe wants to give you and those things will be much better than the things you can imagine. We just have to let Life guide us. So SpitFire up and let go of what bothers you. 😘

Oh, and please don’t forget: Don’t have to be always strong to be a Hero.😘

XOXO,

Krisz😘

P.S.: Follow me here, on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest.

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Bumps on the road

Hello Guys,

I know I haven’t been active in the past few months and first I would like to apologise about this. I am so sorry, but I started another major “Life project” and I am almost finished with it (once I’ve done it, I will tell you all the details, I promise… and no, I am not moving again, this is something different. 😅), so that’s the main reason why I was in total silent.

But, I didn’t want you to think that I bailed on you or I had forgotten about my many promises, because I am not, and also I didn’t want another month to pass by without a word from me. So many nice things happened to me and I have learnt other important lessons and want to share two of them now.

Have you ever felt that December was a magical month and everything finally get it in shape, you were so happy and all of a sudden January just became total crap. Like on New Year’s Eve, someone just flipped the switch and from heaven you landed in hell? Even though you had all the New Year’s resolutions, a lovely list on a nice piece of paper, the year starts with sh@t. Well, this happened to me all the time. In almost all the 35 years I am on Earth, January became not just the longest, but the worst month of the year, after an amazing Christmas time. Like everything is against my resolutions. Until now. I think, I finally figured out the “Mistery of January”. Bumps on the road.

I know, now you are confused, so let me clear the air. 😅 (I am not crazy, or at least not worse than previously.) I thought Life/God was against me and didn’t want me to achieve my goals, so sending me all the signs in January to give up and continue to walk on the path I have been. But It has done nothing, just asked me to confirm if I am willing to do the work, even if sometimes it will be hard. It is all about our mindset. Previously, I convinced myself that these were “bad things” and that I did not deserve something better or different, but in the end, they were just bumps on the road. They are still annoying as Hell, that’s for sure, but we are the ones who can decide how we look at them. We can look at them in the way that these things are against us, or we can see them as guides. Lessons. If we do not give them the power and we only see some bumps that we can pass through, they will look less scary and more manageable. How to handle them? 

  1. Stop for a second (before you start all the drama in your head) and identify that something happened that doesn’t feel comfortable, so it is a “bump on the road”.
  2. Find what this “bump” tries to teach you, or what message it gives you. (Maybe, you have to just “confirm” that you want that thing on your list. Maybe you missed an important detail. You will know for sure. Just listen to your instincts.)

The other lesson that the beginning of the new year taught me came from my amazing friend and mentor. She told me this breathtaking example many times during the years since we knew each other, but this time I finally got it. (As Sansa Stark said in Game of Thrones: “I am a slow learner, that’s true. But I learn.” 😅) 

My friend told me that these unwanted events are nothing more than parents checking on their kids if they are sure about what they want. Like when you go to the store with your kid and let him or her choose one item. When they make their decision you as a parent ask them if they are sure about it, because they will not be able to change their mind, once you paid for the item. Sometimes you even tell them the downside of their choice too, to make sure they are certain. This is what Life does with us when we have the bumps on the road. Just asking us, if we are sure about our choice and sometimes shows us the consequences too. So next time, if you feel that everything is just pilled up, think about it as a bump on the road. Just a simple question from above. Nothing else. No one is against you, no one wants you to fail. Just a test.

In previous years I had my well-written list with all the things I wanted to achieve during the next 12 months, but for the first difficulties, I just gave up and chose the comfortable, easy way and had done nothing. I finally learnt that you cannot change or achieve anything without some discomfort. If you feel the excitement, and scares you, means that you are on your way to change, to get what you want. Because if you do the same things over and over again, you will have the same results. And the new, unknown things will terrify you, but that’s okay. As Cat said in Marry Me: “If you want something different, you have to do something different.” 

So guys trust your guts and don’t be afraid of the bumps on the road. I guarantee you that you will have them, but if you think of them as lessons and tests from the Universe/Life/God however you call it, it will be much easier to pass them. SpitFire up and good luck to identify and go through those little buggers.😘

Oh, and please don’t forget: Don’t have to be always strong to be a Hero.😘

XOXO,

Krisz😘

P.S.: Follow me here, on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest.

Facebook: @SpiritSpitfires

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Appreciate small things

Hello, hello

I hope you enjoying the Fall. Here in Hungary, we are so lucky as the weather is still sunny and above 20 degrees, so it feels more like late Summer than Fall, but the leaves are starting to fall down and change their colours.

And that’s how I ended up with this subject. This Summer in London wasn’t the nicest. It was chilled, windy and not as hot as expected (at least not much above 20 degrees and definitely not enough sunshine for me). So when I relocated to Hungary, I expected, I would feel hot again next Summer, but I was wrong. Since I came home (end of August) the weather has been incredible just like my mood. My friends and family often joke that I am working with solar energy, because if the Sun is up and the temperature is around 20 Celsius, I can conquer the World two times a day, but if not… Well, I am grumpy and feel low energy. I just wish to stay at home and relax the whole day. 

I started to feel happier and grateful for small things. I didn’t realise in the past years how much weather affects ME. Of course, I knew, because there are millions of studies about the amount of daily light and all the connections between this and our energy level and how it affects our performance. However, I just noticed that I am calmer and things that bothered me, now really don’t matter any more. Because I feel better I started to notice small things. Like how grateful I am because of the weather or how lucky I am that I can bake again. ( That’s one of my relaxing states, but this is a story for another day.) I can walk in nature, see the Balaton, eat delicious food, my bicycle, the shops and the kind strangers. But mostly for the fact that I am with people I love. 

I am happy that I can see my family and friends whenever I wish to see them and I do not have to count days and calculate my holidays. I finally live my life… I finally have a life again. I do things I love and be with the people I love the most. That’s my definition of HAPPINESS. I am sure this word means other things to each one of us. What I realised during these past months is that I can have the best job ever, I can live in the most bubbling place in the world, I can have all the money (this is still one of the most important and who says money does not make you happy, trust me, that person has never been poor), without sharing with my loved once means nothing.

So basically what I wish to say today is that I need to be surrounded by people I love and when I have this, I can see the small things and be grateful. Honestly feel the appreciation and not just saying or writing. If you ever heard “fake it until you make it”, you know what I mean. Most of the big motivational speakers, positive gurus or anyone who tried to be a bit positive heard that. Just start to count and write your blessings and you will feel it soon. I did it for years. Every day I wrote in my diary or notebook the things, people, places, and everything that I can be grateful for in the past 24 hours. Monthly I wrote a list about everything, from the water to the air why I was grateful, but most of the time I felt nothing. Or if I felt anything, it was when something really good happened. For sure after a bit of time, I started to notice the small things, like a nice cashier and made me feel a bit better, but somehow most of my days I felt empty. On my bad days, I felt anxious and depressed, even if the cashier was the nicest person ever or if I had my favourite cake from my favourite place. Don’t get me wrong, because I know that bad days are important and it is perfectly normal if I am not happy all the time, but something was missing. I wasn’t surrounded by people I truly loved and I tried to force the gratitude. I forced myself to feel something with all those lists. I don’t say stop doing it, because they are useful, but if you don’t feel something, please leave it for the next day. If you write every day for hours and after the first 30 things (including your favourite activities or people) still feel empty, just leave it. Go back and start again the next day. My suggestion is that if you skip 3 days and still feel nothing, please sit down and try to find the root of the problem ( or ask for help, from friends, a therapist, or anyone you trust). But if you feel gratitude, feel the appreciation and you forget to write them, don’t worry, it’s okay if you live your life you do not have time to document every moment of it, the most important is the feeling.

And trust me the small things will be the most important. Such as your kids went to school on time and you weren’t in a rush. Or when you have time to drink your coffee before work while you are sitting on a bench in a park. Or the time you could spend with your family, the lovely weather in October. It could be anything.

My favourite “small things” from the last couple of months were the birthdays I managed to attend, the goodnight hugs from my loved ones, the games with my nephew ( I love the slides on the playground), the fireworks with my parent in Szigetvár, the morning sticky notes from my Mom when I was there, the mother-daughter days, the chats with my Dad in our garden, the furniture shopping and build up, the grapes, the view, the Balaton, the fact that I made it, I am home. I could tell you a million other things, but what I appreciate the most is that I FEEL the gratitude, I FEEL the love, I FEEL I am alive.

So please go out and FEEL the life, not just document it and if I ever can help with anything, please send me an email or message me on any social media platform and I am happy to SpitFire you up!

Be happy and don’t forget: Don’t have to be always strong to be a Hero. Also, follow me on at least one of the below. 😘

XOXO,

Krisz😘

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Zrínyi Days- Szigetvár

Hello Guys,

I hope you had a nice couple of weeks since my last post “Moved On”.

As I mentioned, I would like to introduce you to my “home town”, Szigetvár and its biggest event the Zrínyi Days. I was born in this small town, however, I grew up and my parents still live in a small village next to it. 

Szigetvár is in Baranya county, South-west Hungary, only 25-30 km far from the Croatian border. Around ten thousand people live in this place. This small town was significant during the 1500 years when Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent tried to conquer the world. His way was during my little town and in 1566 he attacked the fortress. Long story short, the head of the fortress Nicholas Zríny with only 2500 soldiers held the fortress for 34 days against the around fifty thousand Ottoman army. On 7th September 1566, when the fortress was on fire and Zríny could not hold it anymore, instead of surrendering, at dawn he and his only 300 soldiers left, he ran out of the fortress and they died as heroes. The Ottomans had a huge loss during the siege of Szigetvar and even when they got the fortress, the Sultan died and they had to retreat to the South, so their expedition to Vienna during Buda failed and they only could try to do it again in 1687, more than hundred years later. And that’s why Szigetvár celebrates every single year at the beginning of September the Zrínyi Days in honour of the heroes who died in the battle.

Since 1833 every year the town has organised these event series. There were several programs this year too. Including memorial ceremonies, theatres, concerts, gastronomical, children and tradition-keeping programs. Doesn’t matter how old are you, you will find something interesting. The program series started on 7 September and ended with the traditional fireworks on 10 September. The programs are around the whole city. The concerts took place in the city centre, the Zrínyi square, the theatres were in the Vigadó building, and the Attach was around the fortress. On Castle Street these days you can buy the best quality Hungarian handmade products, but if you love the funfair, you won’t be disappointed. There were so many folklore groups, Croatians (as Zríny wasn’t just Hungarian, he was also a Croatian Ban), Szigetvár has a brother town in Turkey too, therefore their tradition keepers came to visit and of course Szigetvár’s two Zrínyi folklore groups. On the last day of the program series after noon in every hour, you could hear an arsenal. Every hour as many shut as many hours until 8 pm when the ending ceremony started after the last gunfire.

I remember when I was a kid we always waited these days, especially Sunday’s closing day. Everyone around the town gathered together. The kids could watch the “battle” and after that, we had some chimney cake or cotton candy. But the most amazing was the closing ceremony. Everyone gathered together in the fortress, we listened to our National Hymn, the mayor had his speech, and when everyone was done, the “magic” started… the fireworks. It wasn’t as huge as the bonfire night at Alexandra Palace or the New Year’s Eve fireworks in London, but it was always the best because the family and friends were together.

After almost eleven years in London, I could visit the Zrínyi days and guess what… still these small fireworks are the most amazing, but this year it was special to me because it wasn’t just the closing day of the Zrínyi Days…nope… because it was the closing event of one of the most amazing weekend I could spend with my family without the nervousness that I have to leave them and with the feeling that I’ve made it. I made it to be there on my nephew’s first birthday and I made it to be there on my brother’s 30th birthday. Also, I made it to be there for the fireworks. I know it sounds cheesy, but this is the truth, We do not appreciate anything enough the small things in our lives… that’s why in my next post, I will bring up some small, but very important things from my life and talk about the differences between my lovely little village and London.

However, if you wish to know more about Szigetvár, trust me there are some programs and places to visit during the year, (even if there are no Zrínyi Days) such as the museum and the Turkish mosque in the fortress, the thermal bath, theatres or even just a few kilometres the Villányi wine yards, you can visit the town’s website here. 

I hope you enjoyed it and you will consider SpitFire up my little town in the future (Let me know if you coming and I am more than happy to guide you.) 😉

XOXO,

Krisz😘

P.S.: Don’t forget: Don’t have to be always strong to be a Hero. Also, follow me on at least one of the below. 😘

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Let’s move on

Hello Guys,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the Summer. First I would like to apologise for the fact that I haven’t posted for a while now. I promise I have a very good reason and I will share it with you in this post.

I mentioned earlier that I´m working on a “big project”…well after more than 10 years living in London, I decided to relocate back to Hungary at least for a year. I know, it is shocking.😅 However, after soo many discussions with family, friends, and people I usually listen to, I decided that this is the best for me at the moment (or at least this is what I feel is the best). Lately, my friends are moved back to their countries, life in London changed a lot after the pandemic and my last visit at home during Christmas time woke me up. 

I usually wait for two things in the year and these two things are my holidays at home with my friends and family. I am the happiest when I am surrounded by them. I am laughing more, I feel better and I feel alive. 

My life in London became just a huge waiting time, while I have done nothing just worked, came home, eat, took a shower and sleep. Don’t get me wrong, I know it is my fault, but still, I was always tired and anxious. I became depressed, even though I had a nice career, and friends and I loved my life in London, I felt sad and lonely. Then I realised, I must change… drastically. First of course I had to start the change in my head and slowly turn my anxiety to hope, but still, I felt something is missing. I was wondering for years if I go back is just a run from my life, but after I moved into a nice place, I had a nice job and nice friends, I still felt this pull… the pull I haven’t felt in 10 years… the one that says, now you need to go and try. No matter what it will be, if you don’t try, you will regret it forever.

So I decided to relocate to Hungary. Why do I say relocate and not “move”? Simple brain hack. My anxiety and depression kicked in when one of my best friends at home ask me The Question: “So do you now move back to Hungary FOREVER?” Well… I started to sweat, I couldn´t bread, I felt I will die for sure… then I started to think… Do I want to move back forever? What if I change my mind? Do they all will be disappointed? Do I need to stay? What if I will change my mind? What if I will not like it after a year? All these questions just came into my mind at once… I felt tired, overwhelmed and to be honest, I just realised that I do not wish to move anywhere FOREVER. But I will buy a one-way ticket to Hungary and all my stuff will be transferred back… so technically, I will move back… and then I started to question everything (I know, again)… Is it really what I want or it is just an escape from my life? 

In the end, I figured out that nothing last FOREVER. I do not HAVE TO do anything. And my brain loves the idea that I go back for at least a year and once the year ends, I will see how I feel. I have a fully settled status in the UK, so in the next 5 years, I can come back anytime. My landlady and her family love me, so she said my flat will be available for me always, no matter who will live in it, they will take it out for me, and my workplace offered the same. 

So finally I decided to try. It wasn´t that quick and easy decision like it was 10 years ago to move here. First I started to think about it 4-5 years ago, we had soo many discussions with my friends here and there too about it, but in the end, I have two (a million others as well) very strong reasons why I do this: 

  1. As I mentioned in the previous post What is your “why”? My biggest why is my nephew. It was always hard to leave behind my friends’ kids, my parents, and my friends, but when I had to handle back my (at that time) 4 months old nephew…my heart was broken. I don´t want to be the aunty who just sending sh@ts and never there. I want to be there for him and never miss any birthdays or Easterns or any other occasions.
  2. At some point, everyone has to grow up and take responsibility. I can live in London and years just come and go and I will be in the same place in my life as I was last year or the years before. My life in London is an extended teenage life. I am having fun, I have money to buy sh@ts, and I have a job, but at the end of the day, most likely I am alone. Almost everyone important to me is in Hungary or will be.

I love my life in London and possibly I will come back or I will go and live somewhere else in the World, but at the moment I feel I need to go home for a bit and see how it will work (or not) for me after more than 10 years living in abroad. 

So I will continue to write blog posts, don´t worry, just not that often until the end of August. But I do not wish you to miss my moving fun, I want to include you guys, so I am working on making short videos and uploading them here, on YouTube and all the social media platforms, so please follow the Spitfires. Also, I am planning to do some mini-courses about mental health, motivation and positive life set later this year, so please just stay with me. During my videos, I also concur with my fears (my first fear is to upload my first video and see how you like me or don´t) and also give you some tips regarding moving out of the UK with a positive mindset of course. Obviously from the end of August, I will show you places in Hungary. I will move next to Hungary´s biggest lake, called Balaton, so I will have enough to share with you and we will continue our positive SpitFirey journey together, only my physical location will change.

Last, but not least, I would like to thank you for all your support here on the blog and on the social media platforms too in the last few years. Hopefully, these videos will help me not just keep my English, but get to know you guys better. 

I will bring the first video soon, but until that, please remember: Don’t have to be always strong to be a Hero.

XOXO,

Krisz😘

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Egyéb kategória Positive quotes

Vitamin sea

XOXO,

Krisz, 😘

Categories
Egyéb kategória Positive quotes

Love is a bridge …

XOXO,

Krisz😘