Martina pozzi

© photo by martina pozzi

I believe that this Pandemic has changed the way we see things for many of us, or at least has certainly questioned and shaken some preconceptions.
An example is the position that certain companies took regarding home working: from denying themselves to being obliged to adopt it, they have discovered the many positive and productive faces of it. But my intervention wants to shed light on another reflection that had generated in me this experience.
My lockdown took place in a 38m2 studio apartment with my boyfriend, in Barcelona, away from my family and my native land, (to date 3/7/2020 I have not yet been able to return), in this situation where we had to rebuild the dynamics of daily life all in one space, Daniel and I had to invent two offices, two-sport, and recreation areas, all of which made it coexist with the basic functions of a home.
This difficult Tetris has put the couple's relationship under test but not only, it has put each of us in comparison with ourselves individually.
As if we were placed in front of a giant mirror in which only we could see ourselves and nobody else, we were forced to can look and rediscover our own "I" which (especially for who was only in quarantine) was who we had to deal with the most.
During and after this lockdown, talking more and more with friends, I was a witness (at a distance of course) of how many of my loving people have gone into crisis precisely because from one day to the next they suddenly had to slow down the work rhythm; they were forced to stop apply their “no stop running lives” and so they are found with so much free time, impossible to spend seeing, touching other people and so they hopelessly finding themselves alone to deal with themselves.
I realized that this happened because without their job or their sport they felt displaced as if in the absence of these things they had lost what defined them, they had lost their identity.
This feeling of bewilderment has affected both women and men without sexual distinction, it is the crisis of those who are not well with themselves, of those who always need someone else or something else to feel complete, happy, as if who we are really depended on from something external to us.
This is why after this experience I can answer to the question "who are strong men and strong women nowadays?" that for me it does not depend on the sex of the individual, it is not strong who has the most profitable job or who is more "bossy", who apparently owns everything.
I am convinced that the really strong people are those who during the isolation they did not fall apart.
Who was like reeds in the wind: they folded without ever breaking during this hurricane.
Thanks to this Pandemic I rearranged the scale of life values, I rediscovered the fundamental importance of being well mentally, physically, and spiritually. Keys that open the doors to personal happiness.
According to this reasoning, strong people are for me, those who possess great inner strength, great moral integrity, and a deep knowledge of one's "I".
People who for this reason, are self‐confident, are inclined to have happiness always with them, because if you know you well, you know what keeps you alive, what feeds you, for what or for whom you wake up every morning, who or what you need to do to retain happiness, to feel the satisfaction of being living a full life, in every little moment.
Strong people are those who are at peace with themselves, self‐confident, who must not prove anything to anyone, who is truly happy and at the same time have enough love and empathy to make those around them feel better.
I tried to be part of these strong people during these months of lockdown and only thanks to Art, to doing my manual collages, I managed to be strong, to be happy, full of hope and optimism for me and for all the people I love that had needed it.
The happiness of the soul, hope, optimism, mental health are the weapons of precious power, hidden inside each of us, to males and females alike, without any gender distinction.