She stepped onto the sand with firm feet, forsaking the false shortcuts she had once chosen. She had sailed through her previous life with sails hoisted, carried by the breath of other voices, countless ideas, and many pieces of advice. And so, arriving where she never wanted to be, she reached nowhere. Today was the first day of an entire year that promised to reveal the new, and among all those there, contemplating the colorful sky and drinking champagne, she awaited her first promise of the future, coming from within. She wished to translate herself tomorrow and the day after into many versions of herself, to refute the old sadness and cultivate an inner prosperity that would bloom into maturity.

Tired of raising walls to hide the infinite blessings sought, or trying to predict which side of the coin would show, she abandoned her fragments, her shards, and her beliefs: jumping seven waves, lighting seven candles, picking seven roses, hopping three times, placing notes in her shoe, clean sheets, eating lentils, pomegranates, grapes, bay leaves; no longer would she entrust her good fortune to destiny. Now, she was her own good fortune, no longer waiting for the sea to bring her beautiful shells or dull stones; she resolved to decorate her life herself, with new shapes and different colors. She would row against the tide, but with the wind in her favor… She, for herself…🙏🏾❤️

©️ Beatriz Esmer