TAKE IT EASY (Joke is on me)

Days and years are passing by but we can still feel the bitter taste of the pandemic left in our mouths. Lungs were squished under the heaviness of new regulations and our senses got mixed up by the tone of informations so it was only a natural response to shut down everything that was happening around us in order to breathe and calm down. One would think earth started to spin a little bit slower. Like the world stopped for a second.

 

I would like to believe that the world has wholeheartedly slowed down since the pandemic, reflected and learned from mistakes humans make but that would be my inner romantic self not knowing that the world has its own agenda ruled by a patriarchy system that needs a couple of years of generational work to finally breathe like a normal human being. By normal I mean like a human that is valued and celebrated by every inch of a vulnerable self.

 

Veni, vidi… vici…? Not really. We have all seen the mess we made but have we won? I don’t think so.
We passed the pandemic but have we learned something? I think we still have a long way to go.

 

Same logic that exists in the world of social media can be placed in the real world too. Our mind is conditioned to a couple of seconds of attention span and I believe we are viewing pandemic the same way. We are seeing it as part of the past. For some time during and post pandemic it looked like this will be the radical change and the opportunity the world needs to heal, but I think we got sucked in the same wheels we were running before. Many will say there’s not much time in our day-to-day lives to reflect and change. Who can blame us? The world is spinning forward and so must we. Lives continue, mouths have to be fed.

 

As much as I wish the world would slow down and take it easy all together, I don’t believe I will see it in my lifetime but I would gladly like to be proven wrong tho. Please. 

 

There was this short period of a peaceful feeling in the air during the pandemic when we collectively took things slowly and with more ease. Uff. These were the times. Cynicism aside, they really were. People taking care of themself and each other, solidarity on a whole nother level, lots of home cooked meals and long walks in nature, new hobbies and lots of reading. And what about now? To be honest, I think as a society we are back to the same route of eating bad food with no time to appreciate nature and lots of books on a night shelf left unread. 

 

As we were dealing with a pandemic and all of its complexity and the sense that the world and our lives
have taken a slower approach, there is another aspect of taking it easy that I want to write about. 

 

Trigger warning: There will be a lot of take it easy in this column and to my younger self that would be annoying af. Just sayin’. 

 

Truth be told, I don’t have a good relationship with people saying take it easy when I’m in some kind of a situation. I really don’t. I’m a soft soul, I love deeply, feel deeply, care deeply, so when I hear people saying take it easy, this alines in the same category as they were trying to say I’m too much, my feelings are too much. My mind can hardly wrap around the fact that somebody would say this to a fellow human being, you know, to say stay small. I think when we are told to quiet our voice this is such a violent act.

 

Taking it easy boils an angry twitch in me. It’s nothing more than a bypassing form of saying I don’t care about you or your feelings. Yip. This rubs me the wrong way from every possible angle.

 

Peace doesn’t come with taking it easy. It comes with dealing with stuff and growing up. Being an adult is hard and it sucks at times, but growing up is a doorway to freedom. I don’t need to take it easy. All I need is to breathe and calm down my nervous system. Listen to my body and heart to see which boundaries were broken and work on what triggers me. All of this with intention and care.

 

I get confused when people want to be perceived as easygoing and cool and use this term for every occasion possible. Huh. You lost me at that very second. If you don’t have an inch deeper understanding of the world around you and you’re only walking on the surface of the Universe, I have a hard time taking things seriously and when I don’t take things seriously, 

 

I’m lost. Fact.

 

I also get confused when people say no worries when there is literally no worry made and everything is just a projection of their own inner worlds. Like there is some subconscious understanding that there is always something wrong. We as humans are wired to see situations as binary. Good or bad, right or wrong, light or dark, but there are millions upon million hidden gems between one side and the other. 

 

I don’t like when people are projecting themselves onto me. Really not a fan. I am not you and you are not me and that is the whole beauty. I like to be seen as me and would like to know you for who you are. Not how you project me. See me for me. Just me. All of me. Not how you expect me to be. 

 

There is a heavy weight upon becoming our highest self.
‘Coz society. ‘Coz capitalism. ‘Coz generational trauma.
‘Coz, well, everything. But you know what?!

 

Don’t take it easy. Breathe and live with every emotion there is. 

 

Emotions are not scary.
Our view about them is.
Our response can be. 

 

Live to the fullest. Embraced emotions are a path to healing ‘coz healing brings us freedom.

 

Don’t take it easy.
Take it however you want.

 

Love.

TAKE IT EASY (Joke is on me) je neobjavljena kolumna, ki sem jo napisala za New Edge magazine, 2023.

Moje delo lahko podpreš s skodelico kave.
Ali več njih za še več energije. Hvala iz srca <3