After all the cold and wind, even after learning how to light a fire in our fireplace, I finally got a two-hour glimpse of summertime :)
We went to Ilha de Faro in the Algarve, which is an enormous sand island next to the city of Faro. Some houses were built there, first by fisherman, but it soon became a public paradise. In the Summer it is really crowded, as you would expect, but it is lovely in the Winter. It really is a quiet and beautiful place, perfect to feel the sun on your face and have a nice meal of seafood with white wine. It's memorable, really.
So you fail. You do, it just happens to everyone, sooner or later. It happens to all of them, it happens to you and it happened to me today as well. You do your best and it's not enough. You know you should have been able to do more while you could, that you could have pushed yourself a little further.
You take it personally. You can't help it. You put what you were in your actions and it failed so, in the end, you suppose it means that you failed. You. All you are, all you ever were, all you are yet to be. It all failed. And you cry, because you don't want to feel that again. Ever. Suddenly it becomes so clear that doing your best and running after stuff that matters is worth the pain, the irritation, the time. The energy. The commitment.
So you keep going, because you know one day you will be better and you will not fail so easily. You plan your next victory because you know you'll get there, you just need the time and the patience. You let the lights guide you home, and it will all be fixed, your world will have green meadows again and you are starting to feel stronger than before. The deathly blow that seemed to have destroyed you turns into a little scar, that sometimes hurts, just to remind you, in the future, of what you are fighting for.
"Success isn't permanent, and failure isn't fatal."
Just a wonderful song I found ;)
And, all of a sudden, I'm a fan of The XX... I've never paid much attention to them until now, but I admit they have some amazing songs and a style of their own. People always say their songs are "sexy" and I actually think it's true. His voice and the beat, it all is kind of sexy ;)
Artist: The XX
Song: Intro
Album: XX
All Rights Reserved.
A brand new year, a brand new start. Our deepest wishes renewed by the excitement of a fresh start. A new chance to be, to achieve, to feel what each one of us desires. Let's take it. Let's make this our year. Let's greet every single one of these 366 days with the best of us.
"If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do."
Lucille Ball
It's a fact that people work much harder under pressure and as the end of this first semester in college comes to an end, I start to fully understand this quotation. As more and more things get out of control, I find myself with much more energy and determination, able to do twice as much as all I felt too tired to do in the beginning of the semester.
It's all a matter of setting yourself to do something, and finding in all the chaos and stress the motivation to run and get things done.
Something I just stumbled on and stared at thinking "That was exactly what I needed to hear...":
As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.
Mahatma Gandhi
My latest theory is that everyone needs comforting things or people around, along with challenging stuff. Just to make sure that life doesn't get neither too monotonous nor too cold.
After all the cold and wind, even after learning how to light a fire in our fireplace, I finally got a two-hour glimpse of summertime :)
