Sometimes there are things rattling around in our heads that turn life into a complete mess. Bills, subscription payments, awkward family obligations, and that constant internal battle that never really shuts up. You know the one. That endless monologue running in the background between one task and the next. For me, it usually shows up while I'm walking without music, sitting on public transportation on my way home, or simply heading somewhere with nothing to distract me from my own thoughts.
Whoever convinced you that life is supposed to be nothing but work is probably carrying around a deep dissatisfaction they don't know how to deal with. But this post isn't about moral judgments or philosophical debates. It's simply my creative response to one of this community's prompts: Show me a reflection, show me a shadow. And that's exactly what I'm doing here. I'm at a point in my life where embracing the unconventional has become part of my everyday routine. For example, I recently discovered the magic of Queens of the Stone Age. A band I'd never really listened to until a few weeks ago, and now their music follows me everywhere, even into my quietest moments.
Something else happened recently, too. I finally stood up to my supervisor at work. She's the kind of person who seems determined to make everyone around her miserable. Most days, she manages to turn the workplace into a combination of frustration and absolute unhappiness for everyone involved. Unfortunately, being arrogant and dismissive is pretty common where I live. But this time I pushed back. I said what needed to be said, and for once I didn't walk away feeling guilty for defending myself. Even more surprising, our boss actually backed me up. That alone felt like an even bigger miracle than confronting her in the first place. But enough about work.
My daughter recently learned how to use Google and do her school assignments on her own. She's ten years old now. The laptop I gave her when she was nine is practically an extension of her hands at this point. Honestly, she uses it better than many adults I know. She hasn't discovered the biggest apps of the moment yet, things like ChatGPT, Gemini, or TikTok, but she's developing her curiosity the same way I did back in 2003. I spent my teenage years searching for meaning in the lyrics of Linkin Park and Avril Lavigne songs. She, meanwhile, has discovered Jane Austen, and I think she may have found a new heroine. Maybe it's time for her to watch Pride and Prejudice on Netflix and begin falling in love with cinema as an art form too.
Shadows. More than anything else, that's what the photographs in this post are about. Snapshots from an afternoon walk through my neighborhood, where I couldn't stop noticing how beautiful some of the things we take for granted really are. I understand a little better now why this community values these kinds of moments so much. Times are complicated in Venezuela, as everyone knows. But life keeps moving. Art keeps moving. Problems continue to exist, and so do solutions. We can, and should, keep going forward. Not by turning complaining into a lifestyle, but by allowing ourselves to express what we feel without guilt or exhaustion. Life is meant to be experienced. Ideally, without unnecessary bitterness. So there you have it: a brief summary of the last five days. The week is coming to an end, and this is my little status report. As they say in Stranger Things: Over and out.
