The Wind That Hits Your Face…

Every action creates a reaction. Every wind creates movement. Every small stone thrown into the lake becomes a celebration.

There are moments when a simple act of change triggers so many things at once that we don’t even have time to think whether they are good or not so good. But in some way, they are: movement.

A simple “no” opens so many blocked paths that I often wonder why I didn’t do it sooner. And if it’s always this simple, what causes so many mental blocks? What creates the barriers that keep the wheel from turning, new things from happening, and old concepts from fading away? The solutions may be within everyone’s reach, but perhaps we need to go through more winding— and consequently more painful — paths. Maybe that’s how we learn to truly value the final achievement.

There is no real joy in what is simply handed to us without effort, persistence, or sweat… at least, that’s how I see it. Feeling the sweet pleasure of being free and making our own choices is far more meaningful when we’ve known the opposite. So, do we need to suffer to understand pleasure? I don’t know. I only know that when we find the way out at the end of the tunnel, everything becomes clearer and more obvious — and that feeling of freedom we experience is as intense as the wind hitting our face, whether on a motorcycle, a bicycle, or even a simple bus.

Original text from my former blog (in Portuguese) Frenéticas SA published in 2007.