Roman Malanke

Thank You, Year 2013

Continuing my 5-year old tradition in the final post of the year I want to remember and reflect on what happened in my life during last twelve months and share some of my resolutions for the year to come.

2013 was great in so many regards, but it was also the saddest year of my life, because this year I lost my mom. She passed away in September, leaving our family with great memories of her love and the legacy of all the goodness that she poured into us. Let her soul forever rest in peace in the kingdom of heaven. I’m very thankful to God for that last visit that I paid to my parents’ town one week before mom died and for the quality time I was able to spend with her then. I’m thankful for the last car drive where we peacefully talked and she was sharing with me her wisdom about love, relationship, and about being a real man. I’m especially grateful for that big hug that she gave me when I was leaving their house. My mom was the one who early on formed in me all of those little good habits that eventually gave me all I have in this life. Thank you for that, mom…

2013 Retrospective

In 2013 I kept and strengthened all of my good habits further optimizing my life. This included regular exercise, running, swimming, sleeping well, eating well, staying on a budget, blogging in English and Spanish languages, and many others.

In 2013 I sharpened the focus in my personal growth and development areas. I continued building my polyglot persona by regularly practicing Spanish and taking on Italian and Romanian. I further deepened my knowledge in Economics, Finance, and Marketing by reading lots of books and taking self-study courses.

In 2013 I travelled to 3 continents, including the first ever Asia experience in a business trip to India, a great work and pleasure travel to the USA with my wife, and an incredible-value-for-money vacation in southern Spain.

In 2013 I grew as a professional and a leader, growing my team and expanding my duties at work. I made many new work-related connections in Ukraine, USA, India, Argentina, UK, Israel, and other countries. My professional network on LinkedIn grew to well over 500+ real business contacts.

In 2013 I became part of Euromaidan, the big movement of Ukraine’s people and, I believe, of the whole world’s democracy. The peaceful war of a noble nation against corrupt criminals in power will continue in 2014, and I surely will be a part of it until common sense and dignity wins. A drop in the ocean, but a very determined drop.

2014 Resolution #1

In 2014 I will switch completely from Russian to Ukrainian language in my daily life. Starting January 1st I will only use Ukrainian at home, at work, and on the street when speaking to anyone who understands Ukrainian. The only place where I will still use Russian will be in conversations with Russians who don’t understand Ukrainian.

I decided to do this for a couple of reasons. First, my old dream is to live till a day when all Ukraine will speak Ukrainian. Now it’s finally time for me to make my own contribution to materializing that dream. Second, I want to show my civil protest against the filthy Soviet style methods Russia uses to try and control the situation in Ukraine. I don’t want to speak the language of liars. No offense to millions of the good people in Russia who just like us Ukrainians hate Mr. Putin and want to live in the rule of law.

2014 Resolution #2

In 2014 I will read the Bible. End-to-end, all books of the Old and the New Testaments. A little bit every single day, the very first thing in the morning. I will use Ukrainian translation in a beautiful leather-bound book that my wife (acting on behalf of Santa) gifted me this Christmas. I will also refer to the famous King James Version in English and will track my progress using a wonderful Bible app.

Reading the Bible is also something I’ve wanted to do for many years now, and now I finally feet like I am ready for this commitment, both intellectually and spiritually. 2014 is going to be a great year.

2013-12-31