Hi, everyone, I‘m Raluca and currently live in Cluj, Romania.

Around mid-2019 my life started turning upside down and inside-out every so often and I honestly don’t know who I am or what I want anymore. I feel like a leaf in the wind. Before that I had been laser-focused on data analysis and learned mostly by myslef many skills that got me to the exact point I thought I wanted to get to. Ironically that actually happened after I decided I didn’t want it anymore ????

I feel increasingly stronger that I need to balance my life, to diminish the professional part, which I feel both confident and competent about, and add more from other areas, be more than just my professional self.

My problem is that developing professionally is what I’ve been doing my whole life, it comes naturally and I actually default to it. This year, after joining ITU, I had the revelation that I actually have all the skills I need to get started and what I’m missing is clarity over who/what these “other sides” should be.

I also get excited about a miriad of things and it’s not possible to focus on all of them at once. I want to learn to draw, play an instrument, write, dance, read about art history and understand it, build and program robots, do scientific experiements to teach STEAM to kids of various ages, build furniture, learn German, French, Spanish and Japanese, travel and be able to have interesting conversations with people from the communities I’m travelling to, open a business and so many others… These are the “mini-wants”, they are not all present all the time. The big wants revolve around:

* creating healthy habits regarding sleep, hydration, exercise and movement

* transforming my relationship with food from “the only way to process any kind of emotion” to a normal one

* meditation and journalling

* self-compassion

* relationships, from interacting with strangers or kids, to being a better friend, as well as romantic relationships

If I looked at what I wrote in the context of “if you can’t put it into a single sentence, it’s not clear to you”, I’d say I need this challenge and all the help I can get ????

I am super excited about this journey because wherever it takes me, at least I move away from where I am ????