I’ve drafted a goodbye note from the company I’ve worked at for many years. It’s emotional to leave after such a long time, but it feels almost impossible for me to authentically write a social media post about it. Whenever I read other goodbye notes, they all seem to sound the same, and honestly, half of them probably aren’t genuine.
The second issue is that for someone to truly connect to how I feel, they’d have to read carefully, pay real attention, and even then, if they don’t know me well, I’m not sure they’d relate.
And now, with so many people using AI, it’s even harder to tell what’s real. After several drafts, I ended up choosing something quick and dry, just the facts. Maybe even that’s too much.
Perhaps the only real way to convey how I feel is through actual human-to-human interaction.
emotions
Our kids, our world
The moment they do things you’ve never done or could have done, you look at them, amazed, a life coming from you. Such magic, such an incredible moment, yet so easy to take for granted. You created something better than yourself.
When they fail, it hurts so much, far more than when you fail. The pain can be so deep that you sometimes need to be alone, to hold it and sit with it until it moves on. You want the world to be kind to them, but the world is a tough place. You can’t know the future or guarantee anything. For yourself, that was never a big issue, but it’s a heavy feeling when you think and pray for their future.
Our kids. Our world.
My hope for today
Walking down the street, I look at the people around me. They don’t look the same as they did twenty years ago. They feel less familiar. More serious. More angry. It’s as if they’re sleeping less, as if their minds can’t find any quiet. Those who talk, talk louder. Some stare at endless videos on their phones, right there in public, ignoring everyone nearby. A few finish a smoke or a snack and just throw it on the ground.
And yet—sometimes, one out of many offers kindness. A smile.
I hope I meet them today. I hope they’ll still be here tomorrow.
Birthday wishes
These days, the bar is very low. You can quickly congratulate someone on their birthday in one of the countless chat groups you belong to, write a short sentence without any real meaning, and you’re done. You’ve “done your part,” but no one really pays close attention. It’s just more digital noise, digital pollution, and wasted time.
I still remember calling someone on a landline for their birthday—full of intention and presence.
Even when someone writes a deep, personal note, you need to be in a particular state of awareness to truly appreciate it.
I don’t share these empty wishes, and I don’t want to receive them either. That probably makes me seem like a weirdo.
Many years ago, I chose a few people with whom I exchange personal wishes. I chose them because something in their energy resonated with me. They are the select few who lift my energy rather than drag me down or waste my time with shallow, meaningless one-sentence messages.
And this has continued for years—beautiful and almost effortless.
Mental wellness – why emotions
“Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. ” U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
“Being mentally well means that your mind is in order and functioning in your best interest. You are able to think, feel and act in ways that create a positive impact on your physical and social well-being. ” Singapore Association for Mental Health
Before we start let’s talk shorty on association: There is a negative association to the word Mental. Same as there is still to some extent to words such as Wellness, Mindful, Empathy.
The word Introvert’s association has improved a lot with Susan Cain’s Quiet but I think it’s safe to say that it mainly made introverts feel a bit better or more accurately to get to know themselves better. Outside the Introverted “community” it is still associated to being shy, non-assertive, no social, not daring, not charismatic etc. I am stating it because mental wellness will probably go in a similar route as introversion. And both are only in the beginning of their journey in the path of improving our lives.
So there’s a still a long way for Introversion but back to mental wellness. One of the biggest facts driving the importance of mental wellness is the proven connection between our mental state and our physical state. The most sarcastic Doctor, believing only what she sees in a prestige research magazine will confirm it [see some reference here]. We don’t need research to know that our mood [mind] gets down when we don’t sleep or eat [physical] or that we get sick or feel muscles pain [physical] when are stressed or in the midst of a conflict or a big decision.
Now lets talk some emotions. Emotions are part of our mind, which is a concept many argue about what it includes, how it relates to our brain and body etc., but I think that a good definition might be something like: an abstract layer, buffering between our physical us and the world. We see the world through it and it impacts how we are seen by others. Emotions, therefore, are included in our mind. And the mind plays a huge part in our life, how we experience it and what we achieve.
There are many reasons why emotions are so cool:
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