@tibianchini
1 year ago
Public
Story boxes
Today I began to dismantle the stock of RHJ in São Paulo. We've finished our partnership, and I need to return the books that are here.
The feeling is... I don't know. It's that part of life is gone.
Every boxed book, every empty bookshelf, came to mind the beauty of the full stock, the new books that arrived, and that I always separated one to read at home. With each box closed, the sound of the tape reminded me of the accumulated tiredness of endless fairs, where I knew so many lovely, interesting, artists.
Anyway, it's hard to realize that life is all about cycles, some that we're never ready to close, some that we don't even dare start. I keep thinking about what I could have done best (and, yes, I have the self-criticism to know that I could have done many things better). I keep thinking about the past I've lived, more than the future I need to decide.
I'm melancholy. More than that, I'm nostalgic. And that's sad, because every year, I have less life to live and more things to remember... I can't handle it. I can't look ahead. Even if I do, because next month, I've got benefits winning, now without the salary I was counting on.
Aren't I supposed to be desperate? Maybe I am. But the pain of loss, of nostalgia, of what "could have been", is complex; a person like me feels much more than any other.
And the worst thing is that nostalgia is a sweet pain, a pain from which we feed and comfort ourselves. It's not a pain that sticks us, that we want to get rid of. She's a seductive, engaging mistress who holds us to the false illusion that we need her. Nostalgia makes us think it's a good thing to feel, when, in fact, it's just something that should be kept.
"Face forward," they say. "You're much more capable than that." "You have potential for so much more." But I don't know how. I live in endless mourning, attempts to fail, pain and longing and disappointment. But I dress up in the best mask, with the best outfit and the little good in me to show up and create and pretend I have some success.
Today, with the books leaving, I feel like I've lost something intangible, something I'm going to miss and I'm going to ream. I'm going to think a million times about the times I was going to the Box, where I was fixing the books and making plans. I'm gonna let it hurt, even if it's a very fleeting and melodramatic thing, because that's who I am, and I don't know how little.
Today I lost something that couldn't fit in a box. I'll be back tomorrow to tear down the shelves.