When All Is Lost, a Winner Is Born

Today's article is written by Andrea Movilă:

Hello,

I'm Andrea, and for a long time I've wanted to contribute an article, but for various reasons I never managed to. Maybe I wasn't inspired enough, or brave enough to do it, but now I feel the moment has come to share with you what I see, what I feel, or what's on my mind.

Have you ever wondered what Earth is?

You'd probably answer simply: our planet. But what makes it ours? Just the fact that we carry out all our activities on it?

I was thinking about the things we call "ours," but then I realized that we, too, are "theirs" — that there's a kind of reciprocity at play.

Take our name, for instance. It's ours, and yet, we're not the ones who use it most often — the people in our lives are.

The woman who gave us life, we call "our mother." And like any mother, she devotes herself and does everything she does for the good of her children.

Comparing "our planet" to "our mother," I realized there aren't such big differences. Like a loving mother, the planet takes care of you, providing both the resources necessary for life and the environment in which to carry out your activities — an environment in which to grow, to be happy.

How do you make your own mother, who gave you life, happy?

Maybe with the attention you give her through a phone call, a flower, through gratitude.

But have you ever asked yourself what you can do to make our Planet happy? If so, what have you actually, concretely done to make it happy?

If not, now is the time to reflect on this question, given the context we find ourselves in.

Speaking of context, and of staying home — at first the idea of being shut in the house didn't appeal to me at all. I felt like I was, in a way, in prison, unjustly condemned. Then, reflecting on the situation, I realized I hadn't actually been unjustly condemned.

I realized I had been selfish; I had thought and even acted only for my own benefit, not the Planet's.

Looking at this stillness and isolation from another angle, both I and Earth came out winners.

On one hand, Earth gained a moment to breathe, a deep breath of clean air that it badly needed.

I, on the other hand, gained time for myself. Time in which I can do what I didn't do before but always wanted to. I can paint, I can read, but most importantly, I can reflect on what I was, what I am, and above all, on what I want to become.

In the end, I no longer see this "stay-at-home isolation" as a prison or a huge fence I can't get past. Instead, I realize that fence was actually there before, I just never had the time to see it. Now that I've seen it, all that's left is to tear it down and see what lies beyond it.

I'm curious — what have you gained through this process?

Looking at the community I live in, I see people starting to worry about the future. Because of the pandemic, their businesses have been suspended, and the thought that they'll have to start from scratch is weighing on them.

Looking at the bright side, starting everything over isn't actually so bad. It's hard, but not bad, because you already have experience behind you — you know what mistakes you made, and now the moment has come to see what you learned from them, and, why not, to make some new ones. Take it all as a challenge, not as a burden.

How you look at the future, and how you solve problems

I fondly remember our high school math teacher, who used to tell us not to scowl at the exercises, that they were beautiful, even if they seemed hard. It all depends on your attitude toward them.

It's the same in life. Don't scowl at the future, even if it seems like it's going to be hard. You don't know how it will turn out.

By following the process, you'll eventually manage to solve the challenge, and in the end you'll see it wasn't so hard after all. But if you also manage to see its beauty, then you're truly a winner.

In the end, it's all up to us.

It's enough to ask yourself a few questions to find effective answers in these difficult moments.

What can you do for a better future?

Are you responsible, and do you take ownership of all the consequences of your actions?

Are you a worthy example to follow?

Would you follow a role model like yourself?

With love,

Andrea

P.S: the painting is by the author, made using the wet-on-wet technique.