I’ve always been a dreamer.

Being a dreamer doesn’t only mean having lofty goals for yourself that are beautifully out of reach (until, somehow, they are not).
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Being a dreamer also means you often reflect on your life. On who you are, on what fills you with joy (or doesn’t), on how far you have come, and on what you deeply wish for yourself. Those wishes can be tangible or idealistic, for the near future or way down the line. But every dreamer has those wishes. 

If you have been following me for some time, you know that I usually start the year with a reflection. I look back in order to look forward, and I choose 3 words as the main “themes” or intentions to guide my new year. These words are thoughtfully conjured up as a culmination of what I loved and disliked about the previous year.
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​​Why 3? Because I have a thing for trilogies.

​I am as strategic as I am intuitive in this process. You can read my summary of 2018 in this post and get your hands on this free workbook that walks you through this process of reflecting so you can arrive at your own 3 words for the year.

If I can align myself with these deep wishes in my daily actions and reactions, I will get closer to my goals and my dreams – as an individual, as a professional, as an entrepreneur, as an artist. It’s not easy, but growth never stems from what is easy!

For 2019, my 3 words are PRESENCE, EASE and TRUST.

​Presence has been a work in progress since 2017. As an entrepreneur and someone with multiple competing projects and passions, I find it TOO easy to get caught up in the hustle, competition and over-stimulation that characterizes the current world around us.
Suddenly, meals get gobbled, breaths are held, social media dictates our self-worth, mornings hurriedly turn to night, seasons dissolve into one another, and we wonder where it all went and what it all means.

It has been a powerful realization for me just how much a mindful, grateful and present mindset benefit my creativity, my photography, my business growth, my income, my collaborations, my health and my inner peace.

In 2019, I wish to continue doing those activities which ground me. Those activities which emphasize observation, introspection and connection with the world around me. Journalling, gardening, practicing deep breathing, taking walks, cooking and slowly savoring new recipes, spending time away from devices or social media, seeing my osteopath regularly, and of course, practicing photography just for the FUN of noticing and being in the moment.

I wish to let go a little bit of that sense of urgency that guides many of my actions. It’s what fuels my productivity and my ideas, but it also often costs me a sense of calm.

Don’t get me wrong: By “ease”, I don’t mean taking the path of least resistance.
Or maybe I do?

It is actually about not wanting to create or attract resistance. It’s NOT about taking the easy way out. I will continue to take risks, be bold in my decisions and to chase my dreams far outside of my comfort zone – because that is who I am.

But I wish for good things to flow abundantly, and for pieces to fall into place seemingly effortlessly (although we all know that nothing is truly effortless).

In 2018, my faith and forgiveness in "life” crumbled under the weight of grief.

I hope that I can rebuild my trust in life’s journey in 2019.

“What is for you will not pass you.” That quote is on a bracelet my sister gave me for Christmas. And what a beautiful motto to guide me this year, to take some weight off my shoulders and to reduce some resistance in my own reactions to circumstances.
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I hope to trust more in the story, in its plot twists, characters and message. 

​Presence. Ease. Trust. What doesn’t fit these themes, doesn’t fit my year. ​

I wish for you to know what you wish for, and to chase it with all your might! In 2019 and always. 
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From my heart to yours,
Kristina

The end of the year always brings about a desire to reflect on the last twelve months - to recap its ups and downs, triumphs and challenges, to extract the most meaningful
experiences and ponder what we have learned. We can't help but feel hopeful,
optimistic, though possibly a little daunted when turning the page from one year to
the next, a blank slate ahead of us, waiting to be written.
 
Over the last two years, I have developed and used these reflection prompts to help me verbalize my insights, wishes and goals both with respect to my business but also my personal life. When I do this exercise, I am always amazed at how it reduces my anxiety, grounds my perspective, centers me with my main priorities and boosts my confidence in my abilities and my decisions.

​It helps me distill what I want to do less of, more of, and what I want to maintain in the new year. It gives me a roadmap to follow during the year when I want to focus or reassess my strategies. It allows me to celebrate my growth and my purpose.
 
Without further ado, I invite you to sign up to receive this tool in your inbox, with the hope that you can use the exercises or tweak them to reflect on YOUR life or business.

This free workbook is for you if:

• You're not sure where to start when it comes to setting intentions for the new year for your business or personal life
• You could use a structured exercise with reflection prompts to help you look back or plan ahead 
• You could use help figuring out the priorities and goals most important to you
• You would like to reflect on how you have changed and what you have learned
• You would like to create a set of intentions that will guide all your decisions

Vous me connaissez maintenant : de temps en temps, je vide mon coeur sur une page. 

En fait, je le fais assez souvent. Mais, de temps en temps, je vous permets de le lire!

Pendant le temps des fêtes, je suis souvent en mode réflexion. Je pense à l'année derrière moi - à mes réussites, ces défis inattendus, ma croissance personnelle et la croissance de mon entreprise. C'est en réfléchissant sur les 12 derniers mois que je peux aborder la nouvelle année avec motivation et intention. Je partage mes stratégies de réfléction et de planification dans ce document gratuit que vous pouvez télécharger, mais pour l'instant ce que j'aimerais partager avec vous est un résumé sincère et vulnérable de mon année 2018.

Cette fois, dans ce billet de blog, je laisse mes mots au premier plan. Mes photos n'apparaissent qu'à la fin de l'article. C'est un peu comme une lettre personnelle pour vous.

Lorsque 2018 a commencé, mes 3 thèmes pour l'année était: rêves, équilibre, magnétisme. Je voulais avoir plus de temps et de confiance dans mes rêves, de faire et d'être ce que je voulais faire et être au fond de moi. Je voulais apprendre à mieux respirer, à écouter plus attentivement mon corps et à trouver ma paix avec mon parcours et mes décisions. 

Ce fut une année avec quelques gros chapitres significatifs plutôt que cent chapitres plus courts.

Ce fut l'année où j'ai consacré plus d'énergie et de passion que jamais à la croissance de mon entreprise. L'année où j'ai appris à laisser de côté ces expériences qui faisaient pencher la balance trop loin vers la négativité et l'épuisement émotionnelle. L'année où je n'ai pas eu peur de penser et de dire à haute-voix: «Non, désolée, cela ne me convient pas.» L'année où j'ai cessé de justifier mes choix auprès de ceux qui ne pouvaient pas assez modifier leur point de vue pour chercher à me comprendre. 

C'était l'année de 52 articles de blog publiés, de 25 marchés ou expositions auxquelles j'ai participé avec mon entreprise, de 5 marchés que j'ai organisées avec notre incroyable équipe Etsy Montréal et également l'année où mon 13e manuscrit scientifique a été soumis pour publication.

Mais, puisque nous comptons ...... c’était aussi l’année de ma 2e chirurgie abdominale majeure en moins de 2 ans, plus de 25 scans ou IRM subis par mon corps et… un événement que je ne parviens jamais à décrire en partie à cause de mes propres tabous personnels et en partie parce que cela me déchire le coeur, ce fut l'année d'une 3ème fausse couche - celle-ci étant moins ambiguë, plus triste et plus conséquente que les précédentes. 

Ce fut aussi une année de nombreuses premières. Cette année, j'ai rédigé de A à Z mon tout premier livre. C'est l'année où j'ai mis en mots pour la première fois comment l'endométriose sévère et des problèmes ovariens ont affecté ma vie et ma carrière. C'était la toute première année pour mon organisation de santé nommée "Alba", un projet qui a pour but d'aider d'autres femmes et familles atteintes à travers le partage de témoignages, d'oeuvres d'art et de fonds collectés pour la recherche. Ce fut aussi la première année où j'ai offert aurant de séances portraits ou des photoshoots d'événements, la première fois où je suis passée à la télé, mon premier voyage aux Maritimes, ma première présentation à un congrès sur la santé de la femme ainsi que la première fois où j'ai conçu moi-même le design d'un gros kiosque pour une exposition. Plusieurs de ces premières expériences étaient loin en dehors de ma zone de confort. L'anxiété, des "pep-talks" avec moi-même et beaucoup de préparation ont fait de ces événements un succès qui méritait d'être célébré à chaque fois.  

Ce fut une année où j'ai trouvé ma raison d'être, où j'ai perdu ma foi, où j'ai retrouvé ma volonté de continuer à avancer dans la direction des rêves qui me faisaient vibrer. 

Je me sens à la fois épuisée et rechargée en ce début de janvier 2019, mais je suis surtout curieuse de voir comment cette année se déroulera. Quels tests et quels triomphes me portera 2019 entre ses pages? Chaque rebondissement a fait de moi un personnage plus complexe et une histoire plus complexe à raconter. En effet, je suis heureuse de raconter cette histoire plus en détail dans une version révisée de mon livre plus tard cette année. 

Ce qui est important, et voilà ce qui vous concerne: je suis tellement réconfortée et émue par l’idée que vous soyez ici avec moi. J'adore partager avec vous ce que je vois, ce que je ressens, où je vais, comment je vis, ce que je collectionne et ce dont je rêve. Mon travail est alimenté par la nostalgie, l'inspiration, les récits mais aussi par VOUS tous. J'adore vous aider à trouver des éléments de décoration qui vous inspirent, jaser avec vous de voyages et de photographie, recevoir votre feedback touchant. Vous ne savez pas comment cela alimente ma passion, ma créativité et mes activités quotidiennes.

Merci de lire, de me suivre, de magasiner et de partager. Merci de laisser des commentaires de temps en temps; j'aime ça savoir que vous êtes de l'autre côté de l'écran!

De mon coeur au vôtre,
Kristina

Et maintenant, OUI, quelques photos!

​Depuis combien de temps me suivez-vous? Laissez-moi un commentaire ci-dessous!

You know me by now: Now and then, I spill my heart onto the page. 

Well, I do so quite often actually. But, now and then, I actually let you read it!

I have been in reflection mode as I always am during the holidays, looking back on my accomplishments, unexpected plot twists and personal growth of the last 12 months, so that I can dive into 2019 with intention and excitement. I share my step-by-step process of reflection and intention with you in this free download, but what I want to share with you now in this blog post is a heartfelt summary of my past year.

​This time, I'm putting my words in full focus, and the photographs appear at the end of the post. Consider this a personal letter to you. 

When 2018 began, my three wishes for the year were dreams, balance and magnetism. I wanted to have more time, conviction and confidence to DO and BE what truly excited me. I wanted to learn to breathe better, to listen more attentively to my body, and to get better at making peace with my path and my decisions.
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It felt like a year with a few BIG chapters rather than a hundred smaller ones.

It was the year where I poured more energy and passion than ever into my growing business. The year where I learned to properly let go of experiences that tipped the scale too far towards resentment and negativity. The year where I wasn’t afraid of thinking and saying “No, sorry, that doesn’t work for me”, instead of complaining in secret. The year where I stopped justifying my choices to those who couldn’t bend their perspective enough to understand them.

​It was the year of 52 blog posts published, 25 shows I participated in with my shop, 5 shows I co-organized with our amazing Etsy Montreal team and my 13th scientific manuscript submitted for publication.

But, since we’re counting...... it was also the year of my 2nd major abdominal surgery within 2 years, over 25 scans or MRIs and … something I still can’t manage to put into words partly because of my own taboos and partly because it hurts so very deeply, a 3rd miscarriage – this one more devastating and consequential than those more ambiguous, earlier losses of pregnancy.

It was also a year of many firsts. This year, I wrote my first book cover to cover. It was the first time I ever put into writing how endometriosis and ovarian failure has affected my life and my career path. It was the first year for my newly founded health organization Alba, which truthfully causes me mild anxiety but huge excitement at the same time. It was the first year I booked so many portrait / event photoshoots, the first time I appeared on TV, the first time I traveled to maritime Canada, the first time I presented a project at a health conference, and the first time I designed a large booth for an art exhibition. Many of these firsts were so far outside of my comfort zone, it took quite some pep talks to myself and preparation to achieve these milestones!

It was a year of finding my truth, losing my faith, and finding my will to keep moving in the direction of my dreams.

I feel both exhausted and refreshed at the start of this year, but mostly I am curious to see how it will unfold – what tests and triumphs it will carry between its pages. Each plot twist has made me a more complex character, and has made a more complex story to tell. Having come to terms with this, I'm excited to tell this story more fully in a revised version of my book later this year. 
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Importantly, and this is where YOU come in: I am so comforted and so deeply thrilled by the idea of you being here with me. I love sharing with you what I see, what I feel, where I go, how I live, what I collect and what I dream of. My work is fueled by nostalgia, inspiration, stories but also by YOU. Helping you find decor pieces that inspire you, talking about places or photography with you, getting your heartwarming feedback in response to my work. You have no idea how this fuels my passion, my creativity and my day-to-day activities.

Thank you for reading, for following, for shopping and for sharing. Please remember to leave me comments now and then. I love to connect with you and to know that you’re on the other side of the screen.

From my heart to yours,
​Kristina

And now, yes, some pictures!

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