TheEveryDayProject

When I start to believe that I might be a social animal after all, I jump in a plane for an inter continental flight, surrounded by the most despicable humans – and it hits me: no, I am not Aristotle’s human, craving society’s approval, acceptance and immersion – it is impossible. I literally cannot stand all these people. So according to the same Aristotle, I must be a beast or a god.

Situation on the left – there is that one person that when he breathes you can feel his intestines rotting. You understand that he is slowly decomposing and at this rate, he might even die on this flight. But he doesn’t – he still breathes and even with his mouth closed you can feel the insuportable stench of his stomach, even with my sweaters and scarf covering my mouth and nose, I think I will faint because of the unbearable and constant smell.

In front of me – must be a large man. One of those that needs mostly an entire row to be comfortable, rather than the RyanAir version of long distance flights. He is, of course, reclining his chair: ”Ça va?” he asks. ”Ça va pas!” I respond with tears of despair, feeling my cap knees crushed under his weight. He continues to recline Insensible to my visible pain and verbal vociferation.

Situation on the right – there is the extremely agitated teenager, he moves up and down, he stands a lot with his ass level next to my head (feeling like pinging his butt with a needle, I don’t have a needle!); his girlfriend dropped something under her chair and he starts searching occupying the whole couloir with his butt up. Again. He’s done with that, he starts picking his nose, he’s unhappy with the meal and his girlfriend starts to ask anyone who’s willing to donate the little Gouda’s cheeses – cheese and bread is the only thing he can eat. His restlessness is giving me an anxiety attack.

My left companion, starts as well, to search something that he keeps in the backpack – he decided to store his backpack under his chair. Now, obviously he doesn’t have space for his legs, therefore he decides to enter into my VERY personal space with half of his body. Meanwhile his breath didn’t ameliorated by miracle, as I hoped, and I am having a hard time to breath trying to avoid the unbearable odour. I want to scream. I think I WILL scream.

The big one in front does not have space obviously and he is just pushing himself in the chair maybe, just maybe, some space will be found in the immediate vicinity of – you guessed it – my knees.

Meanwhile, the teenager starts to read a comics book by using the light of his mobile phone – that goes directly into my face. My eyes are filled with pain from the unfriendly device. The light is cheeky and wants to go off but the zealous reader does not give up and refresh it every 7 seconds by making a light effect that is meant for a techno club.

”Excuse me, I ask the nice flight attendant that gave me some water, seeing me dying slowly in agony, how long do we still have?” ”Let’s see, what is the time in the Metropole(aka Paris)?” ”I don’t know, this is why I am asking”. ”Ok, she says without losing her smile 😊 – it is 02:00 am, so we still have 3hrs55 minutes”.

Meanwhile, a fairly large man is falling over me because he tripped in the darkness on the teenagers legs spread all over the coulouir.

I get another anxiety attack. I am not sure I will make it. I think about my empty island 🌴 and it feels like a dream.

This story is a pamphlet and should be treated as one.

Les Guadeloupéens – as much as you can find them – and you cannot see too many unfortunately – they are the epitome of happy life. They live on a constant “happytude”and they are kind and optimistic, having that kind of “joie de vivre” you can only find in some particular regions of the world. Their approach to living – as far as I could see from my modest interaction with them – is that life is made to be enjoyed. To dance, to swim in the ocean, to eat healthy and have a modest approach on the materialistic world. I thought 💭- of course, is easy to regard life lightly with this kind of beautiful and amazing nature, having the sun always shining. The sun rises fairly early here and sets again around 18hrs. The thing is that, when the sun is up so early is not hard to wake up early – I experience this here everyday. Come to think of it, if I have to wake up before 7am in Brussels feels like purgatory. So I can experience a different kind of morning with the nature being so generous.

The attitude is to put some optimism in any sort of situation. If there is a traffic jam and you ask – “is this a very busy hour to drive around? This road is jammed?” – the answer will never be yes, but something like: “no, the road is fine, just better to avoid it sometime” 🙂 how freakin’ cool that is?

Again, doing a parallel with Brussels – the hell comes loose in the traffic hours peak. And people love to complain about traffic, is just a pandemic of our times. Of course we should never compare because there is never a traffic jam here.

Another thing that strikes me – the amazingly wild nature. Is the kind of nature untamed by the humans and that is the most beautiful that exists. I’ve seen a lot of amazing sceneries during my (not so) extensive experience as a traveller – and I love it when humans live in harmony with the nature without trying to restrict it in any way.

Ok, bad poetry comes easy here – so you will forgive me for the above.

I’ll go take a dip in the impossible turquoise sea and finish that book.

Namaste 🙏

“Roudoudou- french nickname that technically means caramel candy” 🙂

You ought to know that while I am writing this (or rather try to upload pictures), I am on a secluded magnificent beach and right next to me there is a little girl drying her labrador friend with a towel. Yes, I know.

First time I went to the south of France it was a dream. And sure, all the other times, but first times are always the most memorable, right?

Even though Guadeloupe is on a (almost) different planet, it is France all the way darlings. You get the Caribbean Creole vibe AND all the french goodies: even the amazing baguettes, minus the pretentious and/or tasteless stuff.

The locals are genuinely nice – in this sense not really french like. And the local food, oh my god, the food.

There isn’t yet any strange creature , in the water or land, wanting a piece of me so far, so good.

So there is an accurate picture of me for a while:

Plus the cliche and cultural (in)appropriation of this trip:

Voilà, on popular demand the report about Guadeloupe so far.

La vie en (est) rose babes!

Namaste 🙏

I have never been a fan of birthdays. Especially mine.

For various reasons. Well, why i would celebrate getting one year older? and why all the fuss about? i mean, since i am an adult (!oh, well, let’s just assume that i am one) i can have cake anytime i want, if i really want something i will simply just buy (going along with the bolder assumption that i am a functional adult, ha!). Plus, my birthday is in January – which is very close to all the end of the year craze and madness.

And let’s be honest, if we need a reason to drink we can find plenty of occasions, no need to add the pressure of a birthday.

Therefore, this year i decided to donate my birthday. Since 2018 was a particularly difficult year and i have learnt that a bit of help would go a long way, i thought it would be nice to be able to pay forward. I am truly blessed and grateful to have a hand of good friends that put up with my constant whining and helped me by simply being there.

I chose  to help “Centre de Prévention du Suicide – Belgique” because is the most obvious option for the cause i want to support.  I think is necessary to help organisations that help individuals pro bono –  making a huge difference in one’s life by lending a  helping hand.

It feels like depression is (still) taboo and mental health issues that continues to exist among otherwise intelligent individuals it is (!) perplexing. Because of the unjustified stigma, a great majority of those suffering from depression will not get treated. They will suffer in silence ashamed of their emotional vulnerability.

Depression is definitely a deeply personal thing and opening up about it in a society that is not equipped/comfortable talking about it makes it even more difficult.

So, you can call me a dreamer or an idealist but i think change starts within us. We all can and should be doing something to improve our condition and, if possible, help others too. You might think is pointless and a small contribution doesn’t change much, i tell you the smallest effort pays off.

Below you can find a link where you can donate for my cause.

Have a fantastic year and don’t forget to fly!

Love ya all!

https://www.facebook.com/donate/379662326129946/?fundraiser_source=external_url

https://www.preventionsuicide.be/fr/

Is that time of the year again. When you start making your balance, count your sorrows and blessings. You know, like in accounting. Add, subtract and see how much credit and debit you have. You all get the idea.

So here It is what I’ve learnt over the past year:

1. If you think you hit rock bottom, think again. Bottom can be much deeper that you’ve ever envisaged. Don’t underestimate your feelings.

2. Anger will not help. Even tough some anger helps, being angry at the world is just making your life a hell lot more miserable.

3. At some point I was a firm believer in karma. You know, that belief that you receive back everything you throw In the universe.

Well, let’s just say: I am starting to doubt karma.

4. Never underestimate the kindness of people. Never. I am grateful for all the people I met this year, their grace, goodness and humanity. And even more grateful for my friends. You all know who you are and obviously you will never know because you are not reading my blog, ungrateful bastards.

5. When you think you lost hope for good, something truly good will happen and your hope will be exceeded by some kick ass reality. #viatabatefilmul

6. Be humble. Do not let anyone transform you to the point of being cruel. Is a valid lesson.

7. Maybe the most important lesson I got this year: don’t force things. Love is not an exception.

8. Is not your job to fix other people. As simple as that.

9. Give more. Living with less, doesn’t mean having less.

And this:

10. No good deed goes unpunished. I’ll tell you all about it over a cup of coffee.

So, my dear friend. I am grateful to all. Good and bad. And! an end is not a bad thing. It’s just a new beginning. I’ll stop now, I get a vibe here(!) but I promise all the above applies. Here’s to a graceful exit!

“There’s a trick to the ‘graceful exit.’ It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, or a relationship is over — and let it go. It means leaving what’s over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving up, rather than out.”

XoXo

Not long ago, I’ve been asked what humility means to me. Just some minutes before having an experience that could bring to the surface the opposite of this very state.

One question that was supposed to be simple. Ask yourself this. Difficult ha?

A few weeks later I am still thinking about it. It didn’t occurred to me (before), that I might not truly grasp the meaning of humility completely. Of course, you might say, we are all aware or we think we are certain of things that, actually, we don’t truly understand until something comes up and change the whole perspective about it.Perspective my friends, is either a blessing or a curse.

Humble? Of course I am, I thought. Stay humble and it will pay off they say. Off course, I am strong in my beliefs and some harsh few hours of reality check up will not get me. I KNOW myself.

Turns out that I can still surprise myself – and not in a pleasant way. Well, in my defence, the experience managed to surface in me exactly what they predicted – the opposite of humility. And judgment took over. Not out of fear. But rather anger and little understanding. I formed an opinion that might be contrary to the belief system that we are all brainwashed to adhere to. And you will tell me each one of you: I got this. Nah, you don’t.

The thing is: nothing is always black or white. We can look at humility from an ethical stand point. I am not a good person if I don’t stand with it and rather go against? Or, in some cases being humble is not in our best interest. And who got any winning from being humble anyway? Just take a look at the Jesus guy. I mean he’s famous, indeed, for more than two thousand years now, but was it really worth it?

Or pretending to be humble in order not to stand out. Because we all desperately need to fit in.

Humility has some big shoes to fit in. If you manage, chapeau to you and if you don’t, that’s ok, don’t beat yourself up.

Or, at least, that’s how I try to convince myself. Don’t be humble. Just be you.

Let it be uncomfortable.

Slow down, observe and let it be messy and very uncomfortable. Some raw feels within you will be awoke. The best move at this point is try not to tidy up. Allow yourself to feel the mess, immerse in it. Feel the sensation of it all. Because sometimes things need to be unresolved for a while, allow yourself space for introspection and seek your truth.

Namaste