The dawn of an adventure

©MCD_Antiparos

You know that time when the sun rises; when hardly anyone ever gets up to see it, but often some stay up past dawn to witness it before falling into bed? That majestic hour when life begins again as a new day commences. It signifies a new start and symbolises that there is always another chance for things to get better.

A new day is like embarking on an adventure. You don’t really know where it’ll lead you, but you need to get up and go in order to find out.

The hardest decision to make is always the first step you’ll take. It’s like diving into the sea. If you take it step by step the water always seems colder. But if you simply dive in, it’s actually refreshing.

We ponder too much.

All we need is to find the right people to support us, to hear us out when we simply need to babble on for a while, to say something that will soothe and reassure us, to help us get back on the right track when we lose our faith on the path we’ve taken. But mostly, we need people to walk that road with us. Because it’s in the hardships and the little things that we realise who are worthy of being part of our lives.

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The perfect white

© Dale Rogerson

When you have a blank page staring back at you, there is something wanting about it. If you consider it, it’s full of opportunities, prospects, potential. The possibilities and stories with which to fill it up are endless.

There is something intrinsic about the colour white. It has class, elegance, purity, authenticity. It is like a diamond in the rough. It can be anything.

Perhaps that’s why we associate white with beginnings. Because it stores so much hope.

That’s why snow makes everything look pretty. Because it covers life’s imperfections and makes even wilted flowers look full of life again.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

The life we dream and that we live

He looked out of the window at the cloudy skies. He was physically in his living room, sitting on his couch. But mentally he was far away. Perhaps even on that airplane crossing the sky.

He had never been on an airplane.

He had never even left the country.

He was afraid to leave. To take a risk. He was too much a coward to change his life. He lost too many opportunities and people because of this. And all he had left was to dream. But even that was too much. Because he knew deep inside that those dreams of flying away would never be realised.

On that very plane, there was a girl who travelled all her life. She knew very well what it was like to change environments every now and then, yet longed for somewhere to settle. For some place and someone to call home.

She had just finished reading the romance Erotokritos, the rhymed verses themed around love, honour, friendship, bravery and courage. It was the story of a young man who fell in love with a princess and did whatever he could – even facing exile and sacrifice – to gain her love. But to the young reader, it symbolised more than that. It was an allegory that true love surpasses every hurdle encountered; that when there is a will there is always a way; and that it’s not about finding someone who chases you incessantly or who evidently ignores you, it’s about finding someone who never stops caring or fighting for you. It’s a story about someone who feels deeply and has no problem in showing it in every way possible.

Life is the sum of our actions. These are what make us who we are. What we have the strength to do and what we don’t. What we choose to change and what not. It is who we want to be and who we have the power to become.

A mission to the end of the world

He gained a newfound optimism for life when he was given something to look forward to: a new mission to Tierra del Fuego – the Land of Fire – in search of a mythical treasure.

As a veteran explorer this was most possibly David’s last assignment. But he was thrilled that it was in a place known as the land of fire and ice, situated at the end of the world at the southern-most peak of South America, and hosting inimitable natural beauty and wildlife.  

The past couple of months were hard on him. Having faced health problems, divorce, loss of loved ones, high fines for debts and a series of daily challenges, which he thought he would never survive.

Yet, he tried to bring to mind all those seemingly impossible missions he had completed successfully. If he could handle circumstances other people didn’t even dream of, surely he could conquer the difficulties of daily life as well.

But depression got the better of him, nonetheless. He found no joy in living and saw no real sense in anything anymore.

Until he received that call, telling him he was the only one for the job. He was thrilled to be the single person most suitable for this mission of a lifetime. Like a phoenix rising from its ashes, he felt reborn, renewed, in preparing for his travel.

He may never find what he was looking for. It was indeed considered impossible that the treasure even existed. But he would try with all his forces.

In the least, he would find himself, and perhaps comprehend that sometimes the treasures we seek are not across the world but right next to us.

Thoughts for everything New

As the sound of fireworks begins to fade and the cheering begin to silence, you find yourself unconsciously crossing your fingers and hoping that the lights will never dim, the laughter will never stop, and that smile that has illuminated your face will not diminish.

In the New Year, we all wish for one thing: that we have 365 days of health, happiness, love and prosperity ahead of us. That they are filled with new opportunities, new chances, new prospects and new experiences.

We have a blank slate to do things we’ve never done before. But we want to be with our loved ones, with people who constantly have us on their mind and in their hearts. We want to maintain the happiness and euphoria of the season and wish for its duration to persist through time and challenges.

In these first days, we hope that we can pass through the New Year with as few difficulties as possible, determined to make the most out of the time and moments that lie ahead.

May this be the year when our expectations are met, when our dreams are fulfilled, when our ideas become reality, and when we resolve that all we want is exactly the life we have. 

Happy New Year!

Waiting time

We wait, we postpone, we move to another time. We keep finding excuses not to do something, not to meet someone, not to fulfil a commitment. And we keep telling ourselves that there will be a better moment to do so. “There will come a better time”. We try to persuade ourselves.

But that time never comes.

Because there is no right time.

And there is no better time than now.

If we keep waiting for the perfect moment, we will never do anything. Because that moment will never come. It is up to us to take the moments we have and make them perfect to achieve and accomplish all the best we can.

We are too coward to take a risk and try our best and instead we prefer to postpone “for some other time”. We end up never taking a chance and in the end even that – seemingly perfect – moment is gone. And there is nothing we can do about it.

We shouldn’t live a life regretting the things we didn’t do or lamenting the fact that we don’t have time.

There is time for everything. You just have to set your priorities right.

The rule’s exceptions

It is said that there are exceptions to every rule.  Sometimes those very exceptions even prove the existence of the rule. Confused? Don’t be. While some argue that rules are made to be broken, most agree that to every rule there is almost always an exception. One that will sometimes reinstall hope and optimism when lost. The one-in-a-million chance.

It’s refreshing, for example, to realise that not all people are the same. That we don’t all fit into a mould or into the stereotypes we all love to forge for each other. Not all citizens of the same nationality exhibit the same traits, nor do people of the same gender. Persons of the same age are not all whatever we group them up to be. Take the easiest example to follow today: the present young generation is addicted to technology to such an unprecedented extent, diligently recording itself accomplishing so little. They are lazy, often ignorant, and lack substance in their mentality. But that is not always the case. There are those who use technology mainly for what it is meant to be, to communicate, to keep in touch, to facilitate their lives. But they do show interest in the world around them, volunteer, think, react, often act to bring about change we only talk about. These are the exceptions that serve as buds of hope in a world drowned by crises.

The very potential of the existence of exceptions is what also stirs up the positive “what ifs” when deliberating over choices. It is what makes you consider that it is better to take a risk and make it happen without thinking too much about it. Because, overthinking just makes things worse. It extinguishes the excitement and the optimism that things might just work out. That they might result in the way you hope.

It is these exceptions that embolden you to take the leap. You may fall flat on your face, but doesn’t that (rare) chance of you landing skillfully on your feet make it all worth it? For those times when the exception is actually better than the rule?

 

Also part of Daily Prompt: Contrast

The unlikely bull-fight

«If you could go back in time and relive one moment, so you could do it differently, which would it be?” Mike asked his grandfather a question that he had thought about a million times before. It was a seemingly easy question; one which, however, was very difficult to answer. Because, really, if you were given the chance, would you want to have a do-over?

Grandfather Joe thought about it for a few minutes before answering.

“I’ll tell you a story,” he said.

“There was once a young boy. He was raised in a poor family and began to work from a very young age. He was imbued with the mentality that that is what people should do – earn their living in any way possible. So he worked in various jobs – from farming, to sheep-herding, to a cabin boy, to a waiter, to a teacher, to an office assistant. He did whatever he could find, because he believed this was the best way to earn experience.

One day, a renowned matador came to his village. He offered a bull fighting show, which gathered the entire village into the town square and at the end of it, he made a very interesting proposition. He said that he would give a tonne of gold to the person from that village who would be able to subdue the bull. Everyone had seen that the bull was very aggressive, and indeed very tough. No-one deemed themselves capable of such a feat. But the young boy stood up and declared he was up for the challenge. “I’ll do it,” he said decisively. The villagers gasped. They were certain he would be devoured by the bull in no time. But, at the same time, they were all intrigued to see what would happen.

So the boy stepped into the middle of the town square. He took the matador’s symbolic red cloth and waved it in front of the raging bull. The latter was snuffing air out of its nostrils, shaking the ground as it prepared to attack. The boy swerved as the bull scraped past the cloth. The animal became angrier. It missed again and again. Its rage increased with every miss. But the boy remained composed and continued. To the audience’s amazement, he then dropped the cloth and allowed the bull to run straight into him. But the minute the bull lowered its head, protruding its horns, the boy swiftly grabbed them and in an acrobatic move jolted himself above the bull’s head and onto its back. The bull-fight quickly turned into a rodeo contest with the bull kicking and screaming angrily at the unwanted rider. But the boy then struck a nerve on the bull’s neck with a sudden move of his right hand, and the rage abruptly ended. The village square sunk into silence. The boy climbed down the bull’s back, as if he was dismounting a horse. He approached the dumbstruck matador and asked calmly “may I please have that tonne of gold now?”.

The matador was amazed. The villagers broke into loud cheers and applaud. The matador was forced to keep his word and handed over the tonne of gold, but he asked the boy the one question that was on everyone’s mind: “how did you do that?”

The boy responded calmly, “I have done so many things in my life, things which many consider are demeaning or unworthy, but I regret none, because everything has taught me something and most of all I have learnt that you need to grab every opportunity that presents itself at that precise moment because it may never come again”.

“So,” concluded the grandfather, “to answer your question, if I lived again, I don’t think I would do anything differently. It’s not about regretting the things you did. It’s about regretting the things you didn’t do when you had the chance”.

 

Also part of Daily Prompt: If I could turn back time