It's madness. It's the time of advent, the bustle and stress of the last months slowly subside and the year has only a few candle-lit weeks left. A year I heralded in Innsbruck where right on time at midnight snow fell by the metre and where Olaf and I learnt some bizarre words of the Austrian dialect. Looking back, that New Year's Eve in the snow was the starting signal for many changes. And like every year, I would like to share these with you all and answer the question on the meaning of life.
That my training in Kitzbühel at the time was the first one I did for ExpertExecutive, seems today unbelievable and grotesque to me. Not only have I done several other trainings in the meantime, but I also coach the executives of two renowned companies, which seems to become a regular thing. Although I am still nervous every time, it still feels like I have always been doing this and I enjoy it thoroughly. Next year my boss Stefan Wachtel and I want to write a book.
Well, I guess I have become a proper businessman, with e-mails on my PDA and more shirts than t-shirts. I am a communication skills trainer and the business is going well. And that's why I say with a heavy heart: no more classes at university. I still enjoy linguistics and the work with students, but I am fed up with being paid like a waiter, not getting travel expenses refunded and being employed for a shorter time than it takes to fill out the forms for it. Appreciation of my work looks different. And as a businessman I say: it isn't worth it or in other words: I am worth more.
As busy as my work life looks, I have just become as settled down in my private life. Life with Olaf is beautiful every day and as easy-going as moving in from next door. That every flat I move into is better than the one before, is simply amazing. The biggest acquisition in this one is surely our automatic espresso machine. Every weekend is a real caffeine frenzy. Okay, we cancelled a long holiday for it, but all the same we were in London during the terminal 5 craze, where we saw Wicked and Avenue Q and we spent a long weekend in Dresden, where we saw a naked man in a fountain. I love stag nights.
So I can only say: I like my life and for me I have found the meaning in life: it consists in hearing from a seminar participant that you helped them with gratitude in their eyes, getting paid with the same gratitude a large sum to spend on lovely things, cuddling up with Olaf in our pyjamas on our big couch, having a martini with you and talking about everything and nothing or being informed by my two year old godson that my coffee machine has just belched.
Therefore I hope to see you more often in the new year and I wish you a pleasant time of advent and Christmas. And keep in mind that Ryanair flies into Altenburg from Stansted and that our couch is really comfy.
