You came here for work, sent by your company or as an entrepreneur; or maybe following your husband or wife; or following nothing more than a hunch without much “long-term substance”? What if Romania was not just a footnote but a real milestone in your life, a springboard of opportunities well grabbed – to a life of success, happiness, fulfillment beyond your expectations? You will find in this section inspiration to make just that of your stay in Romania: the land of the best of you. Let us hear from you on topics of interest you’d like to see covered in this section: areas where you feel there is further room to excel, whether it is at work or in your personal life.

Dead or alive

How many “functioning states” of human beings do you know?

Very pragmatically we can say just two, “on” and “off”: either dead or alive. Fair enough.

I invite you though to make a distinction between two gears of being alive.

How would you describe for example, what the French put so sweetly as: “metro, boulot, dodo” (commute, work, sleep)? – or having a responsible adult daily routine, where most of our time is spent working hard, and to some limited extent on some other practices more or less voluntary and pleasant, like commuting, attending to family and kids, a little bit of exercising or going out. Doing the same things over and over again without registering much other than how much faster time seems to be passing by.

How about calling it “Auto-pilot”? Or do you think we’re pushing it too much if we call it a “living death”? Have you ever had this feeling that there’s not much more you can expect from life and you’re helplessly caught in a routine that stifles you more every day?

Periods like that push the most courageous of us to make some radical decisions, in an attempt to remind ourselves we are alive.

What would you do make yourself feel again, to experience something new and exciting: change career, leave spouse, move to a vivid country like Romania? Many say it’s a country of extremes (at least when compared with the developed countries): poverty, corruption, hopelessness – but also (business) opportunities and beauty. A country that provokes, puts people outside their comfort zones and pushes them to adapt. That must make you live with more intensity!...

What else, what other strategies are there for feeling alive?

Extreme sports? Off-road driving, bungee jumping, climbing, while in the city: extreme drinking, extreme driving, extreme language or extreme people management at work.

I’d like to submit to your attention three other strategies for living not as robotic walking bodies, but as vibrantly as possible – or extreme living, as the section title suggests. This would be the other gear of being alive, which beyond intense momentary sensations reaches down to the deepest level of aliveness: fulfillment.

Love

Love - the emotion, but love the commitment to stick to each other and walk the journey till the end. Love - of happy moments and beautiful people, but also love – as in embracing struggles and valuing the “unloveable”. Love when people love you back, but especially love unconditionally, no matter their social status or how much they give back.

There’s a saying that goes “no matter what the question, love is the answer”. That love is stronger than truth, justice, hope and faith. It can, and has been, written about endlessly, but nothing beats personal experience with love - it's up to you to discover its depths.

Grow

Personal growth is always uncomfortable as it involves stepping in unknown territories. It is scary, difficult and time consuming. But it’s so exciting and rewarding! And it’s the only direction to press on, otherwise standing still will cause you to shrink… and die a little.

We all know from Maslow that one of the human needs is the need for safety. But there is also the need for “unsafety” as Anthony Robbins cleverly re-phrased it. Yes, unsafety like in variety, new experiences and (pleasant) surprises! Those “unsafe” experiences would count as growth when they exceed the entertainment level, when they make you a wiser richer person.

Matter

A complex one: after all isn’t all we do (including seeking love and personal growth) an attempt to gain significance and meaning? In addition to self-indulgence we all secretly yearn to make a difference, to leave our print and gain the admiration of few or many.

Our most common impulse is to spend our time in entertainment and pleasure-seeking - which is great to have, nothing wrong with that. And please know that there is even more pleasure, entertainment AND long-lasting fulfillment in spending ourselves in creative work that makes a difference beyond oneself. Creative not only in the “artistic” sense, but in any sense of leaving something behind: starting a company, launching a product, developing a real estate project, giving a legal or tax solution, cooking a meal, teaching the young.

That’s what I call extreme fulfilled living, as opposed to sleep-walking through life.

For “real men” only (even if you’re a woman).

Moderation does not apply here.

“I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive”. – Joseph Campbell

Magda Niculescu is a Transformative Coach, equally versatile with corporate clients (Executive Coaching) as well as private clients (Life Coaching).

She has a 15 year international corporate background having built brands, businesses and managers in Central Europe. As of 2007 she made the choice to dedicate herself exclusively to building people, to assist them to unleash their full potential and joy.

She now owns her coaching practice, Rise and Shine Coaching and works with ambitious individuals who want to excel as professionals, leaders and fulfilled vibrant human beings.