Seems like forever since I’ve posted something on here. Really, it’s just because I don’t have any interesting stories to share. Well, that, and the fact that I’ve pretty much been in a slump. I’ve completed several projects and it sort of feels like hibernation time. I’m trying to figure out what I can do next, or if there is even anything left for me to do. With that being said, I’ve just been in my house chilling: watching the repeat episodes of Scandal that I have on my hard drive, re-reading books, exercising, thinking, thinking, and thinking some more!
I used to visit a bunch of women every day. Lately, I haven’t had the motivation to visit anyone except for my host mom and aunt. However, today I told myself to get out of this slump! I figured that since I am going on vacation in a couple of weeks, I could walk around my community and visit people, despite how I may be feeling. So, I did just that!
I had my girls meeting in my house for about 2 hours. Then, I went to my host mom’s house to eat lunch and watch Matilda. I ended up braiding her hair (she loved it by the way!). After that, I went to my other neighbor’s house to play cards and dominos, and to well- eat again. At that point I felt like I was going to explode, but I kept it moving. I grabbed my host sister and cousin and we walked down the hill to go to the baseball game. On the way, a bunch of women yelled at me for not stopping by their houses. One of my favorites, Dolores, told me, “Oh oh, but Misha, you’re acting brand new. You never come to my house anymore, you only walk pass and scream my name when you’re on your way to the school. You don’t like poor people anymore…” As usual, I laughed it off and sat down with her for a little while as she told me jokes and gave me coffee. When I finally went back home, three of my cousins came to my house to use the internet and do homework. My host mom came over and talked to me about how I have not been to church in a while and she told me that she wanted me to go tonight. Man, I wanted to refuse soooo badly! Uggghhhh, I told her I would go, but I was just saving face and had no intention of leaving my house at 7:30 lol. As soon as I closed my door, my host sister came to my house to get her hair done. Once I finished I tried to kick her out, but she literally would not leave until I put on clothes and went to church with her. So I did… and my church night turned out how it usually does: there was a guest preacher who called me up and started screaming and prophesying over me, and blah, blah, blah…
Long story short- today was a GOOD day!... Wait! Don’t stop reading; there is a lesson to be learned here.
Today I realized that no matter how I may feel or what may be going through my mind, there is always someone to change my outlook and uplift me. Sometimes we take refuge within ourselves. We form this little bubble and we do not want anyone to enter. We hide in our hammocks, close our doors, pop open a bottle of cold red wine and convince ourselves that it is okay to have some “Me time” for yet another day. Buuuttttt, it is in those times of discomfort, those moments when you think you can’t take anything more- that there is something left. There is always something left! It’s just like a marathon: you start the race off steady, pick up the pace a little bit, and eventually you start feeling tired. You think to yourself that you want to stop or withdraw from the race, but then you remember how much time you’ve spent preparing for it and how much you have sacrificed. I did not come to the Dominican Republic to sit in my house, lonely. You did not come from where you were to where you are now just to sit there in complacency! Trust me, I know that a lack of motivation gets the best of us sometimes, but we can always change the “After.” The beauty in every moment is that whatever is coming next or after this current one has not yet occurred. It has no precondition. We are the ones that decide the sequence and outcome. So, you can stay there in that place of discontent and solitude, or you can get up, do something about it- and well, keep it moving!
