Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 23 degrees, warm, sunny and overcast.
And again, it is Friday. It has been a long week. Yesterday, I received a short message from Julie and answered, but we both know there is no future.
She has two of my jumpers and a Panama hat. When I go back to England, I will ask for them back unless she has already thrown them away or donated them to a charity shop.
I am sad, very sad, more for putting myself in such a situation than anything else. I saw the signs from the first day we went out. But because loneliness shouted louder, I am now almost feeling sorry for myself. I am not, but I nearly am.
Now it is time to move on. We are always moving on. Time never stops in our lives while we are alive. Even that is debatable in spiritualism. Even death is a form of moving on. Our adaptability to move on, to adapt to change, to accept that what was once an essential, accurate part of our life is no longer so, and the degree to which we are capable of doing that defines our true intelligence and force.
All my life, I have been adapting to change, separation, and, above all, disappointment and deception.
Our ability to accept and adapt to disappointment and to restructure our lives in the face of loss defines who we are. Something rigid, solid, and brittle can easily break, snap, or shatter on the slightest impact. In contrast, something more flexible, able to bend, turn, twist, and absorb impact, has the power to maintain itself through diverse situations, enabling it to survive.
We are all survivors of the world, the society we live in, and our marriages and partnerships, except that we’re trying to maintain all these things to survive. While what we’re living through bombards us with diverse difficulties and challenges, we fight to keep our heads above water, which means that, besides being survivors, we’re also hardened warriors.
Sometimes we give up, or at least we want to, but with the law of nature always hanging over us, we continue in our battle no matter what.
Life is not for amateurs, so let’s not be amateurs. Let’s face what it has to offer, including its challenges, see what we can gain from it, adapt to it, improve, and go ahead. We are here for the experience, and the longer we live, the greater the possibility of better and more rewarding experiences, which depend on us.
In Brazil, we sometimes joke that Brazil is not for amateurs. Still, when I hear this or when somebody says this to me, I reply saying that Brazil is not for amateurs, but unfortunately, it is run by amateurs.
Everything in our lives is our own fault, and accountability and responsibility follow. As soon as you understand this, life becomes easier and more fluid. Fluidity equals speed, and speed equals greater adaptability to move on and improve.
It all comes back to us, and it is all our fault. When you accept that, everything becomes clearer.
Exercise in the morning, a few classes in the afternoon, a meeting with Alex, who is developing my site, and a bottle of wine in the early evening.
In bed by 11 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
