Never give up on your dreams. Hard work always pays off!

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WHY BELIEVING IN YOUR DREAMS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR YOUR SUCCESS IN LIFE?

I hope my story will inspire you to trust your instincts and never give up!

I don’t even know where to start here! The month of July has been so far the craziest of all the 5 months I’ve been on the road. Funny thing is: I’m not even traveling at the moment.

As many of you already know by reading the post about my engagement in Bali, I moved to Thailand in May and I am now stuck in a Thai house, living with my boyfriend, scorpions and some other lovely insects.

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

It all started the first day of July. A very sad event occurred. My birthday. I turned 36 and no, there is nothing to celebrate here 🙂

My sweet friends had a different idea: I was teaching English in a private class, when I heard a choir of little voices and a light outside the door. When I opened it, 15 kids were standing in front of me with a cute cake with 4 candles, singing the “Happy birthday”song to me.

I blushed like a little girl, surprised, embarrassed and happy at the same time. That was a very good start of the month after all. I had other celebrations coming up, but I didn’t know that yet!

Birthday in Thailand

THE SMALL VICTORIES OF KEEP CALM AND TRAVEL

I want to tell you something from the bottom of my heart: Don’t ever get discouraged!

When you have a dream and you put all your effort in it, don’t worry if you don’t see immediate results. They will come sooner or later. Trust me on this one.

I was working very hard on my website for the past few months. You may be surprised to hear this, as I am not publishing many posts lately. Let’s say that my work was mostly behind the scenes, involving at least 15 hours of hard work every day, including the weekends. I was literally pushing myself to the limits:

I was studying and reading as much as I could about marketing/copywriting, SEO and much more.

Implementing my website.

Creating my media kit.

Re-writing my about page

Trying to always be present on social media and online discussions.

This was just an “appetizer” of everything I had to do during the day. Results? zero. Everything was very quite. At some point I got a bit discouraged. Despite this, I never ever thought about giving up on what I was doing. I love my job more than ever. It’s my passion and my life at the moment. I just thought that maybe I was approaching it the wrong way.

I didn’t consider one single factor: Results takes time and patience.

And all of a sudden, the “explosion”: in just one week I received so many good news that it’s difficult to count them all. It started with an interview for a website about travelers teaching abroad.

How nice, they replied to an email I sent months ago, and they wanted to feature my story! I was just starting to digest my sweet victory, when I received an email that almost made me faint when I read it. A couple of months ago I sent out a few emails to some of the most popular Italian magazines online. And I completely forgot about them.

What a surprise. Cosmopolitan Italy wrote me back! Not only they liked my story, but they wanted me to write a series of articles about my adventure. I mean…seriously? All I was hoping for was a mention in a “Sabbatical Year” piece, nothing more. Since then my life turned upside down. The famous snowball effect:

I started receiving tons of emails from readers, thanking me for giving them the courage to act on their dreams.

I also got some emails from advertisers and possible sponsorships.

Many proposal of guest posting on my blog.

Another interview for a website called “l’Accademia della felicita'” translated:”The academy of happiness”, where they feature inspirational stories about people who changed their life completely.

One of my friends wanted to help me out with my Facebook page by telling my story: the response was amazing, more than 250 likes in a few hours!

Google + same story: I decided to post some of my pictures in there and wow! I was surprised on how much people loved and shared them.

I still don’t understand completely what is going on. I mean yes, for months I worked hard on my website, but I wasn’t expecting this kind of results.Not in a million years. This post is far from just being an “auto celebration” article on how good I am. Not at all. I’m not famous or exceptional.

My message is:

Never give up! be patient .Work hard and believe in what you’re doing with every molecule of your body. The results will arrive!

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Whilst celebrating my 20.000 page views, I’m trying to find a way to deal with all this. I know it’s not going to last forever.

There will be “dark moments” again, but now I know that all I need to do is keep going, keep believing in my projects and my dreams.

Keep challenging myself with new projects and start traveling again as soon as possible!

I already took action on this. The other day I booked my next big trip: China, Italy and my beloved London again, before heading back to Asia for other 3 months of teaching and after that we will see. I want to close this post with the most important thing of all.

I WANT TO THANK EACH ONE OF YOU.

My friends, my readers, my supporters, and all the people who believed in me or got some help out of my website. Because without you guys, I wouldn’t be here celebrating. It’s because of each one of you that this project took life. What I promise is that I will continue to put all my effort in it, to make sure you get inspiration, useful advice or just a good laugh.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! You made me happy and very proud today!

FAST FORWARD ONE YEAR LATER

My thoughts about this post (July 5 2014)

Let me tell you something: This follow – up exercise on my old posts is really starting to grow on me.

Comparing my feelings and situations months apart it’s a fantastic tool to realize how far I’ve gone and to remind myself that what people call “success” is a very relative concept.

Have a look at the screenshot below.

I just used this picture to write a post on how I was able to monetize my blog and creating something meaningful for me and my readers.

In one year many things have changed. I just turned 37 and the guy standing beside me on my 36 birthday on the picture is no longer my boyfriend, but we managed to stay good friends (more on this update in here).

I’m not living in Thailand anymore and I went back to Italy in October as planned but I never made it to China.

Instead of China, I decided to visit a country that changed my life forever: The Philippines. I stayed there for 4 unforgettable months, visiting some of the most incredible places on earth.

I went back to Thailand for a few days and I’m now in Italy for a couple of months, working on my website and saving for my 3rd epic trip in September/October.

Looking back, I visualize that 36 year old girl, I remember her very well, full of hopes and joy, celebrating 20.000 page-views since the website was launched.

Little did I know that in a year I’d be celebrating the 500.000 page-views milestone and many other accomplishments.

Am I there yet? Can I call myself “successful”? Yes and No. I’m still the same girl, full of hopes and joy. I have so much work to do to reach my next goals, but the message remain the same: Never ever give up on your dreams.

Now more than ever I have the proof that hard work really pays off. Who knows what is going to happen in one more year? It will all depends on my present. This very day. What I do today, what I will be able to endure and achieve today, will reflect on my future.

Today is the most important day of your life.

Another thing that didn’t change is my gratitude to my readers and supporters. You are amazing and always will be, and I wouldn’t be here without YOU!

THANK YOU AGAIN EVERYONE! TO ANOTHER YEAR FULL OF DREAMS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO ALL OF US.

Never forget this:”A journey of a thousand miles always begin with a single step”.

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