"They may say" (a poem)

They may say

there's no such thing in life

But I dare

to speak out, dream and fight

They may say

I must compromise to survive

But I dream

and create my own world in life

They may say

there's no magic left aside

But I believe

in sparkle, rainbows, love, feeling alive!

Is happiness a taboo?

Blast from the past again.....

It was one day in junior high, I must have been around 14 years old, and as I was walking down the stairs with a friend at school I say to her "Oh, I'm blissful!". There was a boy walking in front of us and by the time the word "blissful" was heard he turned and looked at me and I must say it was a....kind of weird look, kind of. 

My first thought at that moment was "why did he looked at me liked that, I said nothing weird, I said something completely normal and pleasant". My second thought was "is happiness something weird for some people?".

Here we are almost twelve years later (oh, time passes so fast....!) and I have been thinking for a while....

IS HAPPINESS A TABOO?

And maybe we're afraid of happiness deep down? 

Is it so weird for other people (or let's say the society) to express your happiness openly?

What, you have to be like "oh, I'm fine...", "ah,I'm ok..."?

Well, sometimes I feel (and everyone else as well) BLISSFUL!

And more than happy to express it......!

;-)

Being confortable outside my comfort zone

My first contact with the phrase "outside your comfort zone" happened about 3 years ago, through a TV series (I think I was already trying to get out of mine, but I didn't know there was a phrase about it). So, about 3 years ago I started writing about exiting my comfort zone and...try to make it happen! Yes, it was pretty hard and it went like one step forward, 2 steps back.

Until.....2015!

This glorious year....when I found myself into chaos, having not a single stability in my life for a while. And that's the point where something magical happened!

Having nothing to lose I started doing all the things that I was afraid or hesitant of doing:

* I volunteered to an art festival

* I asked others to go out more easily

* I started talking more easily to people around me

* I participated in workshops 

* I added my artwork and photography prints to my handmade objects brand (Daily Art by Angelina)

* I decided to bring my art photography to the next level and work towards making it a profession (Angelina Mavrogianni Photography)

* I started my first band (and I'm thinking of starting a second one too)

* I started getting used to talking to people I didn't know well (to do all the above I had to accomplish that too)

* I started publishing my poems to this blog (http://themicrocosminsidemymind.blogspot.gr/search/label/poetry)

* I started creating small videos with a cappella covers of songs I love

These are some examples of the things I accomplished during the year and to do them I had to go so outside my comfort zone....!

There were the good and the bad days, the days I was so much into doing something new and the ones when I didn't have so much courage, but I fought a lot, I worked a lot and today....

....the truth is I don't know where my comfort zone begins and ends anymore. 

I'm a little bit tired of trying so much sometimes, but magical things do happen outside your comfort zone and I've reached a point where the first thing that comes to my mind each time I accomplish a task is "what am I doing to do next to challenge my comfort zone?!".

Plus, I have started feeling comfortable with...not feeling comfortable 

and that's a marvelous feeling!

"Snow White" (a smartphone photo)

"You lovely pain" (a poem)

*Note: This poem was written during a migraine crisis, when I was lucky enough to be functional. Maybe these words was a way for me to curse the pain away, maybe....

Dear pain,

you who run through my brain

and you're warming up my blood

You lovely pain,

that your voice, so sharp,

is puncturing my ears

Dear pain,

you I can hear in silence

calling my name

You lovely pain,

that I can feel your touch 

upon my so fragile skin

"Again, and again, and again" (a poem)

You can stab me

again

and again

and again

and for as long as you like

Twisting the blade making sure that I won't survive

But I will rise

from the ashes you burned down

Each single time

I'm going to pick up every piece,

reassemble and rise

again

and again

and again

You can stab me 

as long as you like

but I'm ready now;

ready to fight

The chicken with the big dreams

And that's the phrase I used to describe myself to someone the summer that passed.

I'm a coward, a proper chicken, 

but there's a certain point when you'll have to toughen up, exit your comfort zone and do something to come closer to the things you want from life.

It takes courage, faith, work and good breathing,

 but then when you stand and you see (literally or by imaging it) what you've done you feel....

like a totally powerful person, 

like anything can happen, 

like you can accomplish anything,

 like happiness (well not "like", it's pure happiness),

like "if it feels so nice why I spend so much time chickening out of it?!",

like you finally got it (and definitely not by chance)!!

And you're reading this from the girl who was too afraid and insecure to have her own band, to show off her art, to sing something she wrote in front of others, maybe sometimes to lay eyes on a guy she really liked, to think herself as an artist, to follow her 100% real goals for life...

but so long.....!!

What's coming next?

Cause I'm ready.