When you live in a wonderful place, among loving people and beautiful nature, it is quite easy to forget how lucky you are. Something to think about, right?
At the beginning everything looks like a fairy tale.
When you wake up, the birdsong delights you and gives a lot of positive energy. Also some other, not so familiar sounds of nature make you really joyful and motivated. You do not need much more to feel fulfilled.
Breakfast on the terrace is a fantastic experience as well. Despite the Spanish winter, you can enjoy the warm sun and wonderful taste of bocadillo with serrano ham, fresh tomato pulp and aromatic, local olive oil. Yummy … To this delicious meal you can add some juice made of the sweet oranges. Yes, yes, those, that were growing on the tree over there.
And then it is time to go for a walk. A wonderful stroll through a paradise garden, where sounds, smells and intense colours proudly present the undeniably charming Andalusia. You constantly keep your camera next to you because you want to keep and save the magically painted images that appear around. Exotic flowers whose names you do not know, flying birds and fairy-tale clouds arranged in the azure sky… They inspire and make you feel alive.
However, humans are mysterious creatures. As the time passes, even the most wonderful existence seem to fade and become just a boring habit. There are more and more these kind of mornings, when you do not hear the early birds. Well, your thoughts are too full with routine. And the routine has a dusty ability of closing ears and eyes to beauty. You go to the kitchen to have some cereal with cold milk but food does not give you any pleasure. The annoying duties that you have to do today are constantly in your head and make you anxious. To calm down a little, during the whole breakfast you are staring at the phone screen and reading some irrelevant and negative news from the world. They make you feel so powerless and depressed …
Then you go out to the garden, but only for watering flowers. They start to die of lack of water and you have a pity for them. A moment later you return home because as soon as possible you want to fulfil your obligations. Actually, neither making orange jam nor baking apple pie are no longer the magical activities for you. They rather become some colourless duties.
You totally forget how happy you should be and your thoughts persist around all kinds of difficulties and adversities. The more you think about them, the more they seem real. They take a form of a huge monster, whose shadow easily covers the sun. This monster cannot be defeated, so maybe it is not even worth to fight against it?
This is how the day passes, then the second and the third one … Finally, this is how a part of your life may pass. And you begin to convince yourself that these greys are simply the inevitable colours of human existence.
You are heading toward darkness …
Maybe you would go even further, but the self-preservation instinct of your enlightened nature pulls you out of the amok. Here comes the disgusted voice of your true self, which loudly reprimands all your hidden and deeply rooted weaknesses.
Oh no, my dear, it won’t be that way! Do you realize that the path you have chosen is actually the easiest and the most banal one? It’s easy to give up, give up and not even try to hear the songs of birds anymore. Being happy requires a fight, making difficult choices, effort and discipline. Yes, I know, it’s tough because of all these bills, family problems, diseases …
But that’s why you have to be a warrior and move on! Wake up!
Look around and embrace what you see. You have the sun, hibiscuses in the garden, the sea view and livelihoods. How dare you underestimate this fairytale world? By what right do you desire things above being?
No, not tomorrow. Today, now! You know that there may be no tomorrow…
And at this moment you get up, go towards the window, open it and finally hear the sounds of life again. Birds welcoming you at dawn, cicadas starting their morning aria, and even the croaking of frogs that are late for the evening concert. The trees are dancing to the rhythm of the warm wind, and the smell of blooming oranges is gently tickling your nostrils. You are closing your eyes but they are continuing smiling. Soon you will go for a walk and say hello to the palms and olive trees that you were missing so much…
You know very well that this is not the reality that has suddenly changed. Even rays of the sun are not able to light up the fears of the dark corners of your soul …
But you can do it.
Just allow yourself to hear the birdsong.
Magdalena Szymańska 