If life is made of chapters, the 29th of my life is called “discoveries”. Not just because this year was the year of many “firsts”, but also because I learned and discovered many new things about myself, life, the universe and everything.
To start, I discovered that travel outside Brazil is undescribable: there’s snow!, things in the first world work indeed and there is an airport that is smellier than my home (Hello Charles de Gaulle). I discovered that walk in the snow is REALLY funny, but that snow flake hurts. Also discovered that India is louder than I anticipated, but proportionally amazing.
I discovered new incredible podcasts (Gugacast <3 pt-br), beautiful french musics and new happy ending lesbian movies! However, Mamilos (pt-br) is still my favorite podcast, Sandy & Junior (pt-br) keeps being my favorite band playing on Spotify and Carol (2015 dir. Todd Haynes)…
it was Carol she loved and would always love. Oh, in a different way now because she was a different person, and it was like meeting Carol all over again, but it was still Carol and no one else. It would be Carol, in a thousand cities, a thousand houses, in foreign lands where they would go together, in heaven and in hell. (The Price of Salt)
Still in this chapter I discovered that the saying “who seeks healing” is one of the most absolute truth in the universe, and it is also a valuable way of add few years in our life. I discovered that few words are as terrifying as “cancer”, even if it follows “it was discovered early, early stage, easy treatment, it will be all good”. Also that we find strength where we did not even know we had it, that life starts to gain new perspectives and that fear in the eyes of the people we love hurts more than any needles.
I discovered that general anesthesia are quite funny, when you wake up it is all done! That eight hours fasting is evil, but nothing compares to restrictive diets, specially zero fat or salt. That peanut butter with honey you learn to like and that fruits with coconut milk and oats can satisfy any hunger.
There’s a whole world beyond Overwacht! I discovered that Windows can be fun again, that even doing a blind test I choose Pixel camera (is that really a news?), that there are a lot of great Youtube channels (pt-br) out there and that, whenever in doubt, deep breath and meditate.
2018 taught me a lot of things such as be resilient, be strong, believe more and have more patience – well, I confess we are still working on the last one. But, more than ever, I learned to accept that each chapter has its own rhythm. That some are much boring than and no fun than others, while some are a rollercoaster of emotions. This was full of discoveries and I am looking forward to start the 30th to see what life has reserved to it.
After all, we can’t control what life offers to us, however we can always be prepare to face it the best way possible. 2019, I am here open-hearted waiting for you.
See you soon 🙂