KISS #168: Hitting rock bottom gives us the opportunity to start over...
Hitting rock bottom gives us the opportunity to start over...
I live in a South American country called Venezuela. Surely many of you will have read and heard that we are an oil country with the largest oil reserves in the world, you will also have read about the serious political, social and economic crisis we are going through since the year 2000 and very specifically, what we had to live through between the years 2016 and 2018, when superinflation and the devaluation of our currency turned us into one of the poorest countries in the region, but also one of the most battle-hardened. Because one thing is to HAVE and another is to BE.
Before that date, I do not remember having problems to buy clothes, to travel, much less to buy food, but it was in these years that our history was split in two: the time when we had everything in hand and when we began to value every grain of rice we put in our mouths.
At that time Venezuelans had to reinvent the word resolver: baking soda or lemon was used as toothpaste and deodorant, detergent was used for washing, washing dishes, but also as shampoo for hair. A package of milk was a luxury and if we managed to buy it, we used it with a sense of scarcity. Every coin that fell into our hands was used for what was essential and important: we prioritized the truly indispensable, leaving aside the trivial and superfluous.
I don't know how many times I cried because if I had so many things, I felt I had nothing. But one day I realized that having hit rock bottom forced me to look for tools to get to the surface. I understood that I didn't have to have a closet full of clothes, but to have useful clothes; I didn't have to buy a lot of food, if not enough to take care of myself and my loved ones. I also learned to see the person next to me, across the street, and to share and help others.
It is said that human beings have two orientations: To Be or To Have. I learned that I am not what I am because of what I have, be it a lot or a little. I lost many material things in those years of crisis, but I never lost what I am, my essence. With only one pair of shoes, one pair of pants and one flannel I kept my dignity intact, my energy, my joy, my creativity and my hope in the face of adversity.
There are forms of life that expire in time, that give way to other more mature, more real forms. The life I had was one of squandering; those years taught me several lessons, but the one I apply the most today is that I do not need many things to be well: there are more fundamental things that are not material things. At that time I got rid of a lot: beliefs, habits, goods. I had to start from scratch, but without much, and that's okay, because it was less weight. Sometimes hitting rock bottom makes us not to be the same: it makes us to be different and better.
The images are from my personal gallery and the text was translated with Deepl
Thank you for reading and commenting. Until a future reading, friends
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Interestingly, though, these are two that can (mostly) be changed. Not always. Some people, by dint of their psychological make-up will always understand better the value of the material than the immaterial, and I imagine for them, it's quite hard to shift to the being mode. But yes, for the most part, we make an active choice. Or sometimes, are forced to a choice, as it seems was the case for you :)
But you are quite wonderful, and perhaps this turn inward, this forced lacking contributed in some ways to that. What a beautiful reflection :)
Amiga, thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you that I loved your post about the woman and the moon yesterday. I read it to many of my friends and they also liked it. It must be because we witches like to talk about the moon and feminine power. Hahaha- Thanks for your comment. Regards
This image belongs to millycf1976 and was manipulated using Canva.
Thanks for the support, friends. Many blessings to all of you.
Sending you some Ecency Curation votes!
Thank you so much, @melinda010100 and the entire @ecency team. Success
Nice to read 🥰.
I understand the lifestyle of being hit with a bit of life hardship and one just need to be a good 'manager' of what's available to live and not cry over not having enough. That lifestyle from family background helped me a lot especially during school days because I didn't have close to what my friends had but I was content with the less around me. Never did I feel awkward in the midst of friends because my dresses were perfectly clean and ironed always
Exactly. You can have only one pair of pants, but if those pants are clean, you won't look any less. Knowing how to use the few tools we have will make us survive in this consumerist society. Greetings
Exactly 💯
This is so inspiring! I am so glad I read it because we may get so caught up in our own problems and fail to be grateful for what we have. Rock bottom has a way of bringing out the best in us… we see our full potential then!
It is easy to complain, to lament over spilled milk, but what is important is what we do with what we are living and what we do to change that situation. There are always solutions to our problems, we must be smart to find which one is the most suitable for us. Thanks for your comment, friend. Regards
I cannot even imagine what it felt like to have your world change so completely and so quickly! I don't know how many Americans could weather that kind of abrupt change, especially the younger generations who have never had to go without anything. They seem so emotionally and psychologically fragile. Gen X was raised just a couple of generations away from people who had to live through the Great Depression so their survival skills and resiliency were inherited from those generations. I see so many children here in the US who have things it took my generation half our lives to achieve and a lot of them take it for granted. Do you envision things getting better in Venezuela anytime soon?
Oh, my friend, that's my dream: that this is over now! But power is a vice and these “people” are clinging to power. It is a monster with a thousand heads, the kind where you cut off one and a thousand come out. I see no solution, especially because the military is with the government. In fact, there is talk that this year we may repeat the crisis of 2016 (May God protect us). In these days I was reading that the children born in those years, are malnourished children and lacking in many vitamins (they have low weight and size). Hunger negatively influenced their development. How sad. When this government falls, we will have to rebuild a country that stayed in the last century, not only economically, socially and even in education. Thanks for your comment, Eric. I embrace you
Sending you all the love Nancy to you and your country.
I'm very good friends with a Venezuelan guy who now lives in Ireland. He used to work for me, but moved on a few years ago.
He was an excellent engineer and a great guy, a genius with automation, so this new AI world will be great for him and his skillset.
I remember talking to him six years ago or thereabouts when Bitcoin was €5K and I advised him to convert their families money from Venezuela into Bitcoin. Yes it was volatile, but at least it was protected. He listened and those assets have gone 23x so he's a happy boy and his family is set up which makes me very happy.
But back to your post, I admire you so much and I feel you learned a lot through this adversity. We don't need much really at all, when we step away from the marketing machine. Life is actually so simple especially when we have a family.
Nature - free
Smiling - free
Dreaming - free
Family - free
Music - free if you play it yourself or know someone who does
Love - free
Oh, you thrilled me with your comment, my friend!!! Not only am I happy about the story of my fellow countryman, who is surely better off where he is if he is outside Venezuela (in Venezuela, right now, they can investigate people who have Bitcoin), also because I feel identified with what you say. Those things you list, give me a lot of happiness. Thanks for your #ttt weekly, that also brings me joy. Thanks and hugs 🌺