Friday, January 8, 2016

January Survival Guide


Some say that time heals. I say time hurts. Time is never ever enough, it won't wait for you and I loathe whoever says that life is too long and boring. Life is overwhelmingly short and chances are you'll be oblivious to the last time you do, see or eat something.

Fuck all your New Year resolutions; it's time for people to live and act like there's no tomorrow, like 2016 is, not the best, but the last year of a lifetime full of broken promises and ridiculous resolutions regarding diet habits, emotional epiphanies and career changes. Make your sleepless nights productive. Feed your brain. Allow yourself to stay in bed to the point of short-term hibernation. Listen to this and pretend you're an anti-hero/supervillain/Bond girl with a temper. Write down your dreams, even your nightmares, and never take your short term memory for granted. Splurge but also save money. Move, evolve and improve. Eat like a pig, repeat your meal and refill your glass like it's Ancient Rome. Make photo-worthy breakfast dishes even if you don't photograph them. Embrace your own existential crisis - I'm certainly embracing mine, 27 sounds like the right age to dive into deeper thoughts.

January is never an inspiring month; it's a bleak, goosebump-inducing, numb, barren hell of a month. 31 days of self-inflicted solitude trapped in this bell jar we call Winter, waiting for those snow flakes to clear the neverending rain out of the streets. There's no way to tell if it's Sunday, Monday or something in between. Waking up in the dark and spending my day off indoors makes me wonder if I am wasting my time or simply indulging in cosy comfort. I light every candle possible so it looks like a pyromaniac's wake and I stay up until late, entertained by an infinitity of Spotify playlists, Netflix, books, masala chai with brown sugar, Duolingo, fancy leftovers (scallops with chorizo, SO GOOD!) and Deliveroo.

I don't want to look back but I don't look ahead either. This year, like all the others, will depend on so many factors that it's hard to tell what's coming next. It's all a matter of time, money, opportunity and let's face it, luck. If we survive January, however, we'll be grand. Long nights, dark days and temperature dropping below zero. Vitamin D is the answer. And of course, whiskey-smoked bacon.

10 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous blog, I'm definitely in love with your writing style! Please tell me you have a novel on the cards? :D it's very gothic and lovely! Now following you on GFC, and definitely hell yes to chorizo xD xx

    elizabeth ♡ ”Ice Cream” whispers Clara | (doing follow for follow on bloglovin or instagram)

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  2. Oh Nancy! We can do this! A week passed already. We will be just fine.

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  3. I rather like bleak Januarys, it's usually when I write my best shit. Masala chai, huh? Been addicted to it lately, but sugarless and milky. Life is indeed too short, don't I know it, and in the blink of an eye you're stranded and have lost something.
    http://bloglairdutemps.blogspot.pt/

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  4. Your blog posts are such exquisite little flashes of gothic fiction. I feel as though I can practically taste and smell the smoked meat and scented candles in this post.

    x

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  5. Janeiro traz em potência todos os meses do ano, e não sabendo o que lá vem,
    importa sempre viver o dia de hoje não como se fosse o último, mas como se fosse
    o primeiro dia do resto da nossa vida. Como se não pudesse haver amanhã. E 27 anos
    é uma bela idade. Não tenhas pressa, mas não percas tempo.
    Tens a Terra inteira à cabeceira da cama! :-)
    xx

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  6. You're such a goth. I love it. You are queen of everything xxxx

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  7. O teu texto é o meu cobertor quentinho no meio de tanto texto positivo de ''vida mais saudável, correr mais, blablabla''. Tou contigo em muita coisa, especialmente nesta frase «This year, like all the others, will depend on so many factors that it's hard to tell what's coming next. It's all a matter of time, money, opportunity and let's face it, luck.»

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  8. The most important thing about January is definitely getting through it without getting hurt.

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