Advice from Lenine

I had a little existential crisis last week. Just back from half term break, I faced all the doubts and stress about what’s happening at school. All theses unanswered questions singing in my head, day and night, again and again, leaving me no rest.

So just after town hall on Tuesday, I left the studio, went alone behind the church to think under the sun. And called Mom of course. Started crying a little. She asked me “why did you go to England, if it’s to be sad everyday?”. She also wanted to know where is the Gémina she knows, the positive and funny one, the one who’s never sad. Good question.

She definitely saw that I needed some help, just to find the energy. So she gaves me a challenge; don’t think about everything that worries me for two weeks. Only be positive, because if you are too worried, you’ll start being negative and this will affect your creativity and your relationships. To encourage me, she promised to send me a text every morning with positive quotes.

Here is some of the #morningmotivation from Mum, translated as best as I could from French.

“Ne craignez jamais d’atteindre la perfection, vous n’y arrivez jamais.” Salvador Dali Don’t be scared by reaching perfection, you’ll never do.

“Le futur a été créé pour être changé.” Paul Coelho The Future has been created to be changed.

“Ils ne savaient pas que c’était impossible alors ils l’ont fait.” Mark Twain They didn’t know it was impossible, so they made it.

“Là où il y a une volonté, il y a un chemin.” Lenine (really mom???) Where there is a will, there is a way.

“Il faut garder quelques sourires pour se moquer des jours sans joie.” Charles Trenet We must keep some smiles to make fun of days without joy.

“La sagesse est d’être fou lorsque les circonstances en valent la peine.” Jean Cocteau Wisdom is to be crazy when circumstances are worth it.

Thanks Mum

She’s the one that made me how I am today. She literally built me as if she was an architect (hopefully I will not ending up like the Pisa tower). She gave me my sense of ambition, she taught me that if you want something, you have to go and get it. That if you want to shine, do it with your brain. Basically, she gave me the best insights about life. And we all know that good insight lead to good propositions.

SMP about life from Mum insights

Life. Inner beauty does not age.
Life. There is always a solution, even when everything looks fucked.
Life. It’s always your fault, no excuses.
Life. You’ll always find all the support you need. But not the money, so let’s be a saleswomen during summer.
Life. If your boyfriend does not help cooking, he doesn’t belong at the table. Life. It sucks but it’s gonna be ok.

I also had a skype last week-end with Roman, a french alumni. He was so nice, he gave me time and some good advice on how to continue the year more serenely. Except when we was talking about Brexit, everything from what he said was pretty reassuring. He told me SCA was potentially the best thing that happened is his life. He told me that SCA is like climbing a mountain during a foggy day. You go without seeing anything, but at the end the view is amazing. Thanks again Roman.

I also had a chat Friday night at the pub with Marta. We just remind ourselves why we came from so far, and how lucky we are to live this life.

What I’ve learned is that when you don’t feel good, don’t stay alone with your thinking. Talk with people, from the course or from outside. In general they are really good to remind you that you are not gonna die.

Gem + All the nice people which made me feel better