Just came back from my holiday to Basque country, where I spent almost three weeks. I decided to take a break from politics (as far as possible in Basque country lol). To make this easier, my phone randomly decided to die a few days in, so I lost all connection to the world.
I wanted to use the holiday to find myself again. I was dealing with anxiety for the past two-three months, overly worrying about money and the future even though it may not have been needed to do so.
I did some hikes on the rocky beaches and through the mountains for a few days. I spent days on the beach relaxing and swimming. My gf gave me a book that, according to her, was meant to take me away from politics. She gave me 'Fall of Giants' by Ken Follett. For those who have not read it, it's a book about the labour struggle in England, the (build up to) the first world war, fall of aristocracy and the Russian Revolution. It even features Lenin lmao. It's mostly fiction, so she probably thought it would be nice for me to read fiction. I am enjoying the 1000 page book so far, so she was right.
While looking for balance in life, I had my great breakthrough on a rock. I was swimming at the beach when I suddenly felt the urge to swim past the cliff seperating the bay from the sea. There was nothing but cliffs behind it and I decided to go back when I suddenly saw a small rock protruding from the sea. I swam to it and climbed it, facing my back to the land. I saw nothing but ocean in front of me and I sat there for over an hour, staring into the distance. I saw water, incredible clouds, a far away thunderstorm and a boat in the distance, slowly passing by. I sat there thinking how this view will be the same in a hundred years and that I'll be long gone by then. And so will be the people back at the beach, together with all our worries. It made me realize again how little time I have in this place and how much time I spent worrying about unimportant things. When the hour was gone, I felt like a weight was gone from inside my head and my shoulders, and I swam back to the beach.
I enjoyed my stay in Basque country. I tasted the local cuisine, spent some time at the beaches, the bars and in between the Basque people. I enjoyed the countless political flags and (communist) statements made everywhere. I enjoyed the easy and laid back way of living and I feel refreshed. I'm ready to continue the communist fight over here now, and I have a lot of things coming up.
And, importantly, I will start my new job at the Union next monday.
How is life going? Have I missed important things while I was gone?
Seems like we have a similar thing going on. I sent my phone in for warranty repair three weeks ago and still haven't gotten it back. (Should by tomorrow) Instead of getting a new phone, I decided to just kind of disconnect for awhile, started doing yard work and other hobbies. A friend of mine got jailed on a bogus charge so I felt pretty terrible that I couldn't really communicate with him for awhile, but I was able to get his dog and take care of her until he got out.
I've also been reading a fiction book that's got a lot of political undertones called The Dispossessed. About a guy that lives on a planet that establishes anarchism but has very limited resources to go work at a resource rich planet that has capitalism established. Honestly, it's kind of depressed me further. Even though the author makes little attempt to make the anarchist planet seem particularly pleasant, I can't but help but feel that they're my people and I envy their political structure and comradeship. I really need to get involved in some sort of organizing. I'm feeling a bit down tbh.
For the first time in awhile, I couldn't finish this news brief I watch every day. After so many days of watching climate change fiascos and inhumane immigration treatment, I just couldn't anymore. Even though I'm disengaged with social media lately, I feel like my meditations on the world has been leaving me feeling mentally exhausted. I know I'll recover and be able to pick up the good fight again soon. I guess I just haven't had much good news in my personal life lately and all these personal/global issues have kinda weighed down on me. Not really sure if I can just ignore it all. But, I'm better today than yesterday, so I'll just kind of ride that trajectory I s'pose.