“I chose trust over performance and found the simplest form of receiving.”
The 7 Sacred States Challenge

“I chose trust over performance and found the simplest form of receiving.”

I’ve been lucky in life. Truly lucky.
 I’ve received all my life — people, chances, timing, small miracles I didn’t always notice. And yet, tonight, I almost convinced myself that I wasn’t receiving anything anymore.
In a brief, slightly spoiled moment — already telling myself that nothing arrives, especially at Christmas — I caught myself starting a little drama. It didn’t last long. My child quickly sent me two Candlelight concert tickets, music inspired by Céline. A gentle reminder that I was wrong, again, and a bit too early.
Today I wrote about six things I gave this year: 
 1.Love
 2.Time
 3.Money
 4.Thoughts 
 5. Attention 
 6.Energy 
 I didn’t measure them. I just gave. Giving has always come easily to me. Receiving… not always.
Tonight, I bought myself a bottle of champagne. 
 I won’t drink it, because I don’t drink. It’s just there, waiting. Maybe I’ll open it one day — if I manage to stay true to what I decided.
As the final day of The Seven Sacred States approached, something settled quietly in me. Not a big revelation. Just a clear feeling: I don’t want to beg anymore. Not for attention. Not for validation. Not on social media.
Not because life doesn’t give.
 But because I know it does.
This year also taught me something else. It came through a child who once reached out a hand to me. I caught it in time. What started as a simple high-five slowly became something deeper — a reminder that giving can be clean, and receiving doesn’t have to be earned through effort or noise.
Since then, things have shifted. Not my finances. Everything else. My rhythm. My calm. The way I trust what comes when I stop chasing.
So I gave myself a small challenge: 
SIX months of not asking online. 
Not posting. Not liking. Just observing my own life. I even wrote it publicly, not to announce it, but to help myself stay honest.
I don’t know if I’ll succeed.
 But tonight, I’m choosing trust over performance.
And for someone who has been lucky all her life,
 this feels like the simplest, most human form of receiving.
P.S. I tried to keep this short… no more novellas. From today on for SIX months.
 Merry Christmas!

Andra Dumitru

Pediatric Orthodontist

Bucharest, Romania

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