On autumn evenings, when it gets dark earlier and I find myself walking in dim street lights or with no lights at all, I go back in time, to a street in Tulcea, walking next to my mother. Gospodinov wonderfully wrote in his novel Time Shelter that it is such a pity that certain experiences or smells do not have names and we evoke them only by words we use to describe them, and always making comparisons. And living similar smells or experiences, you go back in time to those memories and find yourself in the midst of them.
This is what autumn evenings can trigger in me. And when a memory calls, I realize I am not afraid of dark or other monsters. Or maybe just the despair one. But I have learned ways to face it, and I look over my collection of encouragements and praises that I’ve gathered from strangers and people I know and love for some years now, to help me move on and keep my eye on my goals. It helps a lot and I surely recommend you do the same!
It’s similar to
what I recently learned from a course by Ronald Heifetz, one can endure through
failure or despair if one stays in touch with the good that one’s doing.
