Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 24oC, warmish, sunny, and slightly overcast.
Wednesday, the middle of the week and everything is good. The classes are going well, and I am taking some very nice photos of Aterro and Flamengo. Early morning photography is very gratifying.
The light is perfect, there are few people out in the street who could spoil a shot, and the energy and atmosphere in the morning are different; they are purer. This is how I have realised that I am a morning person; everything in the morning is better, including sex.
Getting up early, exercising early, resolving problems early and doing housework early allows you to make the most of the day. You have that extra energy in the morning, so if you know how to take advantage of this, besides being intelligent, you can get a lot done quickly and easily; having the rest of the day free to do whatever you want is priceless.
Doing things and getting a lot done early gives you an enormous feeling of realisation and reward. If you have realised many things before midday or even earlier, you have a feeling of mission completion and usefulness, giving you a sense of pride and power.
You begin to look at yourself in a different way with a certain feeling of power that you had not before. You start to look at other people differently when you notice that they do not seem as productive or efficient as you.
It is not a feeling of superiority or arrogance but just an acknowledgement that when you know how to do things better, faster or more efficiently, you know that you are going in the right direction.
I am fifty-seven and have not built materialistic wealth until now; sometimes, there is an internal battle within myself: why haven’t I got a good car, house, money in the bank, financial freedom, etc, if I am reasonably intelligent and capable?
It is partly due to my own limitations, where perhaps I fear real success. This feeling probably comes from my childhood; I am dealing with it, but it is not easy. I am already breaking this barrier. If I had stayed in England and not come to Brazil, things would have turned out differently, materialistically speaking.
Coming to Brazil has been a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, with many more lows than highs. Brazil has only had political and economic turmoil in the last forty years.
It is at a turning point of either getting better or a tragic dive for the worse. At this exact moment, it is getting gruesome in Brazil with this left-communist government led by a notoriously corrupt leader who is trying to put Brazil back 50 years so they can lead the people into a dictatorial regime of ignorance and poverty for the next fifty years.
Of course, I am hopeful; I love Brazil, the people, and the language; I love everything about Brazil except the politicians and the problems with their corrupt, self-centred politics.
It is not easy to live and stay in Brazil; I have said many times that the only real reason I have stayed so long is because of my daughters; without them, I would have left a long time ago.
So, am I a loser? I do not have my own place or a car. What do I have? Some clothes, an enormous amount of experience, and sometimes wisdom that I have collected from 34 years of eating a lot of shit and being here and surviving here alone.
I know that I am in the process of change. I have invested in and prepared myself for this change over the last year and a half, and now the jump is happening. Long live Brazil and me, too!
In bed by 9.30 pm.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
