27/10/2021

It's okay not to be okay

Sometimes there is darkness
and you just want to sleep,
you can't find a reason
to wake up and live.

Sometimes you are forced to smile,
to hear that you have to be fine,
to hide that you are struggling
and feeling that you keep going down.

Let me tell you
what The Chatterboxes taught me:
it's okay to not be okay,
it's okay to be afraid,
it's okay to ask for help.

Masks are great for Halloween
but I prefer to see who you are.

We all cry
as we are all human beings.
We all are allowed
to make things wrong
and to learn
from those mistakes.
We all need some time off
and look after ourselves.

Your mental health
is more important
than what others think.

13/10/2021

Pleasure

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it is "a feeling of happiness or enjoyment".

According to my last weekend, it means six hours and a half with heavy traffic but full of imaginations, twisty roads from Portugal where dropping the disappointments over the cliff, the sun on the face with the eyes closed after lunch with family, the music from Sin con tacto loud on my headphones on the way back.

06/10/2021

To be back there from here

On Monday I was back home. I was back in England from the corner of my room in Spain. I was back to them. I suppose that somehow I was also back to me. I was back and it was different because I had already returned during these thirteen months, and when switching off the laptop it remained the frustration of taking decisions without thinking enough about them.

I was back in those early days when it was hard for me to understand English. I was back in those days when I discovered that I could follow all those conversations. I was back in those early days when we experienced Zoom exhaustion. I was back in those days when nothing else matters but to enjoy the session with them. I was back and when switching off the laptop there was "just" the happiness of being volunteering again with them.

Yesterday in the morning I was talking with another volunteer and we discovered that both of us were walking for hours on Friday thinking about the endings. We came to the same conclusion: even if we don´t realize it, we have changed everything, and WE are the ones who have made everything to change, for the bad points and especially for the good ones. And that's something to be proud of even when it´s hard to close that door.

In the afternoon, I had the opportunity to be online again on my organization. They were there, in the office where I spent so much time. And I could hear the noise of the session. I spoke again in English not afraid of all my mistakes but feel really happy. I was back in that January when, without thinking too much about it, I decided to apply for a volunteer placement that I didn´t know so much about. I was back and when switching off the laptop, the screen was lighting.