365 days project 2. Day 53. Random messages

   In yesterday's post I pledged that books can bring happiness but today the Universe chose to show me another way to reach it: random messages received from people surrounding you. They're like receiving flowers even if it's not your birthday or a special occasion: unexpected and definitely welcome!

  The day was really, really dark and gloomy and I barely dragged myself out of the bed in the morning. One of those days when all you want is to stay in bed and sleep till the day is over. I won't bore you with details. You probably had the same type of day. But when a friend sends you a very nice message and hugs to help make the day better, the whole perspective changes. 

   It's so interesting how small gestures like that lift our spirit so easily! We all want to be important and when someone thinks about us, a little light bulb lights up and sheds light on an otherwise dark day... 

   So we love receiving random messages that make us feel important. Let's pay it forward and make someone's day happy too! :) Spread the love!

365 days project 2. Day 52. Happiness is just a book away

   I always loved reading. When I was a little girl I would read all the fairytales I would find in our library and my grandparents' library, any book, no matter how old and wrinkled, if it had illustrations or not (though I loved to look at the pictures). I loved being my favorite characters' fellow and go through a multitude of adventures together, but what I loved the most about fairytales were the happy endings. I always enjoyed that part because no matter what happened everything was ok in the end and the good prevailed. 

   Books have always been my friends, my comfort, my heaven. They have taught me lessons of true, deep, amazing friendships, eternal love and wisdom conquered through a series of surpassed challenges. Not all the books have a happy end just like not all life stories do but for me books themselves are my happy ending... of a day. No matter how stressful or hard the day was, books always make me smile and bring back that inner peace.
   See? Hapiness is just a book away... at least in my case :)

365 days project 2. Day 51. Wild animals

   I usually see humanity in a romantic way: focusing on its good side, on what restores our faith in it, on the selflessness and help given to others. Therefore I tend to forget there is also a negative side of it: the hate, the fight for resources, the selfishness, the wish for power no matter the cost, the purpose achieved no matter the means. 

   Yesterday I went to the "Swan Lake" ballet show organized in for free in open air in the Central Park by the City Hall and the National Opera. It was supposed to be one of those amazing moments when you just gaze in awe at the stage and you are thanking the heavens you are alive to witness such beauty and grace. Instead, people were fighting for seats and standing in front of seated people just because they would view the show better from there, not caring there were dozens of people behind them. It was literally a battle of the fittest right there, a battle for resources. 

   I was one of the people seated behind the standing ones. I tried to be reasonable and polite, to explain the matter in a nice way, but the people wouldn't care and didn't want to move an inch so that the ones behind could get a glimpse of what was happening on the stage. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the show at all. I felt frustrated, upset and disappointed the whole hour and a half when we stayed there. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. Then I found the explanation: whenever something's for free, people turn into wild animals fighting for power and resources.
   Therefore, lesson learnt: I'll just go to the Opera or the Theatre and watch ballet shows or theatre plays there. This way I make sure I find the good people there instead of the wild animals. I don't know about you, but I'd rather stay as far away from the "savannah" as possible...

365 days project 2. Day 50. Pain

   I'm speechless and in shock. I literally can't speak. I feel like someone hit we very hard and I am out of words even if I want to scream and shout. A(nother) young, talented, amazing girl died. Christina Grimmie was 22 and she was shot at her own concert. I didn't even know the girl and I've never seen her sing or be part of The Voice but this news just hit me so hard, just like any other news about young people dying. In times like this I always ask myself the same questions: WHY do good, young people die while bad, (old) people don't? Why the heck does the Universe allow bad, terrible people to go on with their lives while amazing people are dying at the beginning of an amazing life??? Why??? 

   I'll never understand how life works. I'll never understand what this all means. What are we supposed to learn and why are we here? Why is it all so random and why we can't control things like these?
.... I'm speechless and in shock. Today another amazing girl died...

365 days project 2. Day 49. 13 (of the best) years

   Today's our anniversary! 13 years. Our lucky number. From deskmates in highschool, to best friends and sisters forever since then. Julia and I went through a lot together. One day we could write a book about it. And man, it would be so thrilling!

   We're so different and yet so alike! This detail always surprised me during these 13 years. We learned so much from each other, we leaned on each other, we cried together, we laughed so much, we cooked a ton of things together, we spent Christmases, New Year's Eve, all our birthdays and sometimes even the whole summer together. 

   She's my half. The cold, rational half when I am too emotional, the shoulder to cry on, the wise and understanding friend anyone should have. She's my best friend and I would never want a better one. For the past 13 years she's the sister I never had. 

   Cheers to you, to us, to a lifetime together, Julia!

365 days project 2. Day 48. Perfect-ation

   Being a parent is very hard. The hardest job you ever take on. I don't have to be a parent to realize that. Working with them daily for the past 4 years helped me know them very well by now. And this is what I saw:

  Generally, parents want the best for their kids. Many of them want their children to do what they couldn't do, have what they couldn't have and all in all, have a better life than they had growing up. Everything sounds very good in theory but practice is very difficult. 

   As a parent, when you want your child to have a better life than yours, you will have the tendency to force him to do things he might not want to because you already played this game called life and you know the stages. If you do so, not only you are forcing him to go in a certain direction and you forget to be mindful of what he wants, but you will also have sky high expectations of him. And when you want him to be perfect, he will fail. He will fall and he will break and he will break you. Because flowers might be perfect but people will never get there. 

   So, as long as parents have perfection expectations of their kids and they treat them like their favorite toys and not human beings with their own will, needs and desires, everybody's life will be harder. Not to mention, kids might grow up and become something their parents wanted but not what they wanted. Who's going to suffer more? The parent or the child? What about both?

   Parents want the best for their kids. But they tend to forget their children have their own personality, their own desires and that they are not identical copies of them. This is the trickiest challenge parents have to overcome. If they do that, their kids won't be perfect, but they will surely be happy :) And when you're happy, who cares you're not perfect? :)

Note to self: Read this again when you become a parent yourself!

365 days project 2. Day 47. Relax, catch up

   Some days are perfect for unwinding in the middle of a sunlit park with your best friend and good books. 

   I know life passes us by, but rushing doesn't make it better. I always loved people who took their time walking somewhere, who enjoyed the surroundings and seemed so at peace with their life. 

   I took my time getting to work today and then I decided to enjoy this beautiful weather to the fullest. It's starting to smell like summer and holidays. Two more weeks of school and then we're off to wandering the world! Can't wait to relax more and more and more...