Welcome to Newsletter 7 (Costanza)

Welcome to the August edition! August felt like a long month, I feel like it’s been an eternity since I’ve sent my last newsletter out. I suppose that means I am getting better at living in the moment and not rushing through life! Although I definitely am still working on this, but hey, progress is progress.

I liked the format I did last time where I just dumped a hodgepodge of my thoughts on you that were pretty random, unrelated, and haphazard. I’m sure this format might just sound like voluble word vomit, so I’d love to know your thoughts! If I am writing about multiple topics, do you prefer one big newsletter? Or should I do a part 1, part 2? Or do you want me to stop talking and just get to my profound insights from August? Totally valid, let’s do it.

This is your life

I have had this realization recently: this is my life. Everything I do today matters. In one week, one month, one year, one decade, I will look back on what I do today and feel a certain type of way about: happy, sad, regretful, proud. This might seem like a very neophytic realization, but I have recently realized: holy crap, this is my life. Like, today is a day of my life. Tomorrow is also my life. Yesterday is my life. What I do today matters because that capitalizes on yesterday and plants the seed for tomorrow.

Perhaps this is does not have the amount of oomph for you as it does for me, but it awakened something in me: what I do today matters. This is my life. So I should spend it doing things I love and things I want to do and around people I like. There are millions of things out there that demand our time, attention, and money. So we should not waste it. I am not saying to disregard all your responsibilities and become a nomad, although that would be very cool, all I am saying is that a lot had to have happened for you to be sitting (or standing) right where you are today. Everything came together to form your life. It is literally your life. Nothing is stopping you from doing whatever it is that you want to do. Make the days count and don’t waste time doing something that does not serve you.

Your life is not something to be wasteful about. Any given day can alter the trajectory of your life significantly. This is literally your life and things matter. The people you spend time with, the ways you relax, the activities you pursue, the thoughts you think. Some might say that nothing matters because life is temporary, and to that, I would say that that is exactly why everything matters.

I’m not really sure if what I am saying makes any sense and it’s hard for me to put it into words. Would love to hear your thoughts :)

TLDR: This is your life.

Find home in the world and the world in your home

I did some traveling this month, but I had this odd sense of missing home. Funny thing is, when I am home, I wish I was out and about exploring the world. There is so much to see in the world that it becomes overwhelming. The grass is always greener: I miss the comfort and security and insurance of my home and my morning routine and my desk when I am traveling, but I miss the trying new coffee shops, the experiencing new cultures, and the whimsical wonder of aimlessly wandering around a new city when I am home.

Then, and I forget when, I had an interesting realization. If I am constantly moving, constantly traveling, constantly fleeing from place to place, I will feel lacking of a home, lacking of a place to ground myself. And if I am constantly at home, I will feel deprived of the beauties and wonders of experiencing the world. So perhaps, the goal of life is not for it to be one or the other. Perhaps these two things are not mutually exclusive.

Perhaps the goal of life is to find home in the world and the world in your home.

We all should go out and experience the world and find places that we feel comfortable in and find people that we love. For me, I love Europe and always feel a sense of “home” when I visit. Perhaps for you, your home is camping in the parks of Montana, or a quaint village in Indonesia, or a mountainside cottage in Switzerland. I’m not sure, but what a beautiful thing it is to find elements of home in this big blue marble we call our world within the places we go, the people we let into our lives, and the things we do.

On the converse, find the world in your home. Like I said before, this is your life. Your home is an extension of you. Love the place you call home because it becomes your world. Even if you are just spending your time at home sleeping and you are out and about the rest of the day, you are still spending 33% of your entire life at home (assuming you sleep 8 hours a day). That means you are spending at least one-third of your life in the same area with the same people in the same environment. For how big and vast this world is, that is a lot of time.

The world is scary. It can be lonely, it can be wretched, it can be cruel. But if you can find a place, an environment, a community that you feel accepted, belonging, included, loved, and cared for; if you can find a place to call home, then perhaps you have already explored the entirety of the world.

TLDR: If you were to die tomorrow and could only spend the rest of today in one place, would you be able to go home? Would you be able to call your family or your friends or your community around you your home? Are you home right now?

P.S. Home, not house.

The moment is already here

I’ll keep this one short since I know I have droned on and on.

The moment is already here. I keep waiting for the moment to put into practice what I preach, to be the person and example that I want to be. But I need to realize that the moment is already here. It has already arrived.

If I want to be someone that people can rely on, this does not start when they have something to ask of me. Developing this trait starts today, right here, right now, in this very moment.

If you want to be kinder to the people you meet, you don’t have to wait until you go out and talk to people. Start today by being kind to yourself. If you want to be more on time, you don’t have wait until you have an appointment. Give yourself a deadline for something (anything) and stick to it. If you want to be more present in the moment, you don’t have to wait until you catch yourself not being present. Try being present in the moment right now.

TLDR: Don’t wait for the moment, you will spend your entire life waiting. The moment is here and the moment is now and the moment is constantly arriving here and now.

Oh wow, that was yet another long one! Preciate you for making it to the end🫡

You know the drill: everything I write here is something I am actively working on improving and implementing within myself. Writing them out also helps me to visualize what to work on and how to do it. And having you as my audience holds me accountable.

If you have any thoughts, comments, or feedback, please dish it to me! I’d love to know how I can improve. I am glad to have you here on my VasaVita journey.

If you want to talk more about anything I discussed in my newsletters, or want to learn more about VasaVita, check out my website below!

See you in September!

And last but not least, the following growth check!

You all know the drill now: in the sprit of transparency and holding myself accountable, I include my audience count here to keep you apprised on my growth. We got a bunch of newcomers here in August – welcome to the squad! Happy to have you all :)

Looking forward to ~hopefully~ more growth in September! If you have any ideas or tips, feel free to share!