I'm BAAAAAACK!
It's funny I check people's blogs religiously every day and I am somewhat dissapointed when someone hasn't updated in a few days... and then I realize that I AM that someone!
So here's what's new with me:
I'M BACK! Ha that's right folks Odette the whiner is gone and the real Odette is back. The one who always looks for that silver lining and is quick to point out the bright side! Yup that's me! I am still not at 100% positivity (eg yesterday I appologized to le Boyfriend for not being pretty) but hey Paris hasn't pushed me so far down I can't get back out! I have once again turned into the girl that smiles and says "bonjour" at the people that make eye-contact with her on the street, that runs after someone who has dropped something, that smiles when she sees a baby laugh or an old man give his arm to his wife to help her cross the street, the person who looks at the world and doesn't see the means to an end, but an endless number of new beginnings. I am so happy to have me back.
I'd like to say that I knew what caused the evil Odette to take over so that I know how to stop it for next time, but I don't know exactly what it was. I am sure that Mme R cutting me down every day didn't help, nor did living in a city full of seemingly self-absorbed people etc etc, but those in themselves were not the cause of my crappy five-month-long mood.
What snapped me out of it you ask? Well it was something le Boyfriend said. He had said it many times, but I guess I wasn't ready to listen. He told me to just relax (about us, I was freaking out a lot and stirring up shit and basically ruining our relationship) and that however you are about the situation (positive or negative) it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Meaning that if I continued to pick apart our relationship and had this negative attitude that that in itself would be our undoing. In stead I was able to take a step back and look at what I had, a guy who cares about me and wants to spend his life with me, one whom I love with every essence of my being, who makes my every day that much brighter. Never in my life have I had such a strong connection with someone and I am so thankful that I have him, what else could I possibly want? Is he perfect? no! Am I? Hell no! Does that mean that we can't be perfect for each other? Of course not!
With that new perspective I went and took a look at my life, and realized that I had changed and that the secret to being happy again was to switch my outlook. Was it easy? Nope, it's an ongoing process, but I am getting there. I am nt going to say that there aren't things in my life that make me unhappy, but I am able to look at them and realize that they are temporary and if I dwell on them I am going to waste the limited time I have left to live this experience (being in Paris, I go home in August) and I will regret that for the rest of my life.
So many good things are coming up! I have my cousin W coming on Thursday, I am going to Prague with my friend K in early July, my mom and my friend Ki are coming in late July and then I go home and two weeks later I go to Montreal to see le Boyfriend!
There are some bad things coming up too like le Boyfriend is going back to Canada before me, but it's okay cause we have the rest of our lives to spend together and if something goes wrong, it just wasn't meant to be.
Also my replacement has just arrived in Paris to spend a few months travelling before she starts work. She seems like a super sweet girl and we are going to hang out together and I will teach her the ropes and what there is to do etc etc. Now my dilemma is this, what do I tell her about Mme R? Do I lie and say she's great and then feed her to the wolves? Mme R had an 18 year old nanny quit on her before I got here. Mme R is a lot to take and had I not been as old as I am with as thick of skin as I have I would have quit too, New Nanny is about 20 and I really really worry about how she will handle it. I think to myself "Would I have wanted to know?" and of course I would, would that have stopped me from coming here? Maybe. I don't want New Nanny to get scared, I just feel like she should know what she's getting in to... I am really torn. Any suggestions?
Have a great day everybody and thanks a bunch for stopping by! :)
So here's what's new with me:
I'M BACK! Ha that's right folks Odette the whiner is gone and the real Odette is back. The one who always looks for that silver lining and is quick to point out the bright side! Yup that's me! I am still not at 100% positivity (eg yesterday I appologized to le Boyfriend for not being pretty) but hey Paris hasn't pushed me so far down I can't get back out! I have once again turned into the girl that smiles and says "bonjour" at the people that make eye-contact with her on the street, that runs after someone who has dropped something, that smiles when she sees a baby laugh or an old man give his arm to his wife to help her cross the street, the person who looks at the world and doesn't see the means to an end, but an endless number of new beginnings. I am so happy to have me back.
I'd like to say that I knew what caused the evil Odette to take over so that I know how to stop it for next time, but I don't know exactly what it was. I am sure that Mme R cutting me down every day didn't help, nor did living in a city full of seemingly self-absorbed people etc etc, but those in themselves were not the cause of my crappy five-month-long mood.
What snapped me out of it you ask? Well it was something le Boyfriend said. He had said it many times, but I guess I wasn't ready to listen. He told me to just relax (about us, I was freaking out a lot and stirring up shit and basically ruining our relationship) and that however you are about the situation (positive or negative) it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Meaning that if I continued to pick apart our relationship and had this negative attitude that that in itself would be our undoing. In stead I was able to take a step back and look at what I had, a guy who cares about me and wants to spend his life with me, one whom I love with every essence of my being, who makes my every day that much brighter. Never in my life have I had such a strong connection with someone and I am so thankful that I have him, what else could I possibly want? Is he perfect? no! Am I? Hell no! Does that mean that we can't be perfect for each other? Of course not!
With that new perspective I went and took a look at my life, and realized that I had changed and that the secret to being happy again was to switch my outlook. Was it easy? Nope, it's an ongoing process, but I am getting there. I am nt going to say that there aren't things in my life that make me unhappy, but I am able to look at them and realize that they are temporary and if I dwell on them I am going to waste the limited time I have left to live this experience (being in Paris, I go home in August) and I will regret that for the rest of my life.
So many good things are coming up! I have my cousin W coming on Thursday, I am going to Prague with my friend K in early July, my mom and my friend Ki are coming in late July and then I go home and two weeks later I go to Montreal to see le Boyfriend!
There are some bad things coming up too like le Boyfriend is going back to Canada before me, but it's okay cause we have the rest of our lives to spend together and if something goes wrong, it just wasn't meant to be.
Also my replacement has just arrived in Paris to spend a few months travelling before she starts work. She seems like a super sweet girl and we are going to hang out together and I will teach her the ropes and what there is to do etc etc. Now my dilemma is this, what do I tell her about Mme R? Do I lie and say she's great and then feed her to the wolves? Mme R had an 18 year old nanny quit on her before I got here. Mme R is a lot to take and had I not been as old as I am with as thick of skin as I have I would have quit too, New Nanny is about 20 and I really really worry about how she will handle it. I think to myself "Would I have wanted to know?" and of course I would, would that have stopped me from coming here? Maybe. I don't want New Nanny to get scared, I just feel like she should know what she's getting in to... I am really torn. Any suggestions?
Have a great day everybody and thanks a bunch for stopping by! :)
Comments
I am so glad you have found a positive outlook. You need to clue me in on how you did that some more, because I could certainly use a tutorial.
I'm SO happy that you're back to normal! Hooray for you and le boyfriend :)
As for New Nanny... warn her, but do it in a nice way. Say a lot of positive things and then "but I think you do need to watch out for XYZ" etc. It'll at least let her prepare for the situation instead of getting blindsided by it!!