{WAG's COLUMN} WHY IS GOOD TO BE A WAG?

I always write my wag columns under a lot of mixed feelings and I sometimes have feeling that my writings are full of pressure, stress, frustration and I really believe that columns in a way have some therapeutically effect for me. When I feel that I have to give it out but don’t know how, I seat down on my sofa and start to write... and words are just following one another one, feelings are coming out of it’s hidden places, thoughts out of the most secret corners of my mind.

So, now at the moment when I am in really challenging period – when we have to leave our home in Gummersbach where we spent our last two years and move forward I have a feeling that I have to stick on something positive, to stay positive.

Lots of you ask me if it isn’t hard that my life depend so much on my boyfriend and if it isn’t hard to leave all behind and move forward. Of course it is! I am a human. A human of habit. A human with it’s own comfort zone. Every time you move, you don’t just change your club, city, country – you change your comfort zone and you seat on a rollercoaster of new life. When you come in new city, new country you don’t just “build” your new home, you “build” your new comfort zone. Something what will feel familiar, comfortable, friendly, safe.

And yes I am a little bit afraid of how it is gonna be in new country, in new city. I am asking myself will I find friends like I had here. Will I learn language fast enough? Will I get a job? Will it be good for him and for me? Will be easy to fly home to my family or it will be complicated? Was our decision the right decision? Billions of questions and doubts… and in the moment like that I have to stick to something positive so I decided to remind myself why is so good to be wag.

It’s good to be wag because:

LIVING. I moved from Slovenia to Germany and now probably I am gonna move from Germany in France. Well, how great is that in my 20 and something years I had this great luck to leave in such a three, great, different countries?! And how knows where else I am gonna live in next ten years… I can already see myself telling my grandchildren stories about living in the different countries, telling them all the anecdotes… 
MULTILINGUALISM. I am speaking fluently Slovenian, Croatian, English, German, understanding Spanish and now learning French – hey! This is great! I can communicate with so many people in their own languages... and imagine how good this looks in my CV! I was joking with my mom the other day – that when I am gonna be old, I am gonna be politician since I speak so many different languages and I want a good payment with zero effort – LoL, just joking! Or not…  

❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞ ‒Nelson Mandela ,

FRENDSHIPS. Having friends in Croatia, Serbia, Germany, Austria, Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary, France, Spain is a real treasure for me. Can you imagine how many different cultures, traditions, habits is that? How much I have learned about them, about their countries. They help me to see behind the “borders”

FAMOUS PPL. I would never believe few years ago that I will met so many famous professional athletes and that I will be actually good friend with lots of them (and dating one ;)

Travelling. Oh, I travelled so much since I am a wag and I love it. I travel on different sport occasions and I travel for pleasure. I saw heaven on earth – Phi Phi Islands in Thailand and my dreams came true when I step on the streets of Manhattan, when I saw first yellow cab in New York. I was crying when my boyfriend lost Champions League final in Cuidad Real and I was proud watching him in French national team in Pescara. 

 ❝The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.❞ – St. Augustine

INDEPENDENCE. I am pretty independent when it comes to work. If I want I can work or I can stay at home. I don’t have to be afraid that someone is going to fire me because I want to get pregnant or I don’t have to care what will happen to my family if we have to move again. This is security that we as a couple living this sport lifestyle have. It’s not always easy to get job if you are a wag who constantly move but that doesn’t mean that I can’t work if I really want – I just have to make a compromise and do what is possible – work for home, having my own company or spend this time for investing in myself – investing in the meaning that I finish my school, do some extra education, seminars, praxis, …

INFLUENTIAL PPL. I met so many influential persons since I am a wag, from managers of big companies, to managers of clubs or players. I met important people in handball; the president of national handball federation of Lichtenstein for example became one of my really good girlfriends with whom I have contact on daily bases. I met many marketing professionals and I met many ex professional handball players that are continuing with their successful carriers. I also met interesting, international journalists and photographs and the best of all I met some really cool wags that did some great careers on their own, which are my big source of inspiration and motivations. All this people learned me so much and all this people are really cool company to have. I believe that if you want to feel good, do good, be good you always have to surround yourself with great friends… and I also believe that if you want to become successful in something you have to surround yourself with successful people – you know what they say like attract alike. They are the best possible role model you can get!

CULTURE +. Did you know that on Iceland you get your surname by your father’s name? F.e.: If your father’s name is Stefan and you are a male (son) – than your surname will be Stefan +s + son: Stefansson and if you are a female (dottir) your surname will be Stefansdottir. Did you know that in Hungary if you are a female your surname will always end on –ne and that in Germany you pay tax for rain? Did you know that in Slovenia mother’s day is not on the same date as in Norway? Or did you know that in France they first eat salad and than everything else when they are having lunch but in Croatia they do the opposite – they eat salad in the end. And many other interesting things that I have learned while being a wag. Being a wag means that you are everyday surrounded with so many different people, from different backgrounds, with different passports and different languages and you have everyday chance to learn something new, to observe them and see how different but at the same time so similar they are. Isn’t that awesome?! 

PERSONAL GROWTH. Yes, you close a book and you start to write new one when you first time move for your love and then every time you move again seems like you finished one chapter and start to write new one. There are great days and there are bad days. There are awesome people and a little bit less awesome pp. There are great stories to write down and there are sad stories to write down. But all this makes you stronger. You learn so much about yourself, about people, about life, about world. I have experienced so much in this last years that maybe some ppl never will in their whole lives.

SPORT LIFESTYLE. And the last one on my top 10 reasons why is good to be wag is sport lifestyle. I know that some athletes live more healthy and more “sporty” lives than others but anyway – when you live with a professional ones you start to be a little bit more a “sport person” also for yourself. Well, at least I did. I watch out what I cook (or at least try to), I am exercising and I know a lot about sport. I think this is also one positive thing that you can hang on. It’s always good to be surrounded with healthy, fit, positive, motivated people or partner because it effects on you too. And hey, who don’t like to see those sweaty, pretty “things” on the court, knowing they are only yours?! ;-)