Tag / Feelings

by Gibran Cruz

This Christmas Feels Heavy, and I’m Letting That Be Okay

I don’t know exactly why, but this Christmas feels heavy.

Been thinking about it since the start of November, when everyone seems to get into the holiday spirit. Maybe it’s the cost of everything, how even simple things feel stressful instead of fun. Maybe it’s everything happening in the world, the constant noise, the feeling that so much is out of my control. Or maybe I’m just tired—bone-deep tired in a way that rest doesn’t immediately fix.

Whatever the reason, I’m learning to let myself say it out loud.

I don’t feel especially Christmassy this year. And for the first time, I’m allowing that to be okay.

This season looks quieter for me. I’m doing less. I’m simplifying. I’m skipping some of the extra gatherings and saving my energy for the people under my roof. Not because I don’t care—but because I do. Because I know my limits, and I’m choosing not to push past them just to meet an expectation.

For a long time, I thought Christmas had to feel magical to be meaningful. That if I wasn’t fully in the spirit, I was somehow doing it wrong. But this year, my goal isn’t magical—it’s manageable.

If I can make it feel warm and special for the ones I love, I’m letting that be enough. If all I can do is get through it with some sense of peace intact, I’m counting that as a win.

I’m also realizing that joy doesn’t always look the way we expect it to. Sometimes it’s not loud or sparkly. Sometimes joy looks like rest. Sometimes it looks like boundaries. Sometimes it looks like choosing peace over pressure and letting go of the need to perform happiness.

I’m not doing Christmas wrong.

I’m doing the best I can with where I am right now—and that has to count for something.

If this season feels heavy for you too, I hope you know you’re not alone. And I hope you give yourself permission to let this Christmas be softer, quieter, and kinder than usual.

Sometimes, that’s exactly what we need. 🎄✨

by Gibran Cruz

It’s Later Than You Think

Yesterday (August 10) was my 4th wedding anniversary and it’s been a bittersweet roller coaster of emotions. Ahmed and I closed the distance July of last year and, four months later, we were back doing long distance because of a job. So I did the math today and we’ve been physically together a total of 7 or 8 months max out of the 4 years of marriage (cue the sad violins).

Thinking about how time flies by, and how little time we’ve spent together, reminded me of a phrase immortalized in a song:

The years go by, as quickly as a wink. Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.

The obvious message is that we should have fun while we can, before we get old and die. But for me it has a deeper meaning. It’s about time passing by and not getting to spend it with the person I thought I would share every moment with. Life is fleeting. It’s better to have had your wish than to have wished you had.

by Gibran Cruz

My 2024 Trial Has Ended…

This past holiday season was a bit harder than others. I said goodbye to the year that ended and welcomed the new one with hope for better days. Some of us made “new year’s resolutions”… promises to ourselves that we don’t intend to keep. More often than not, the new year is a continuation of the previous one: same feelings, same hardships.

January ended (at last!) and with it our 2024 trial. I know some people are expecting a year full of happiness. Maybe it will be sad for others and, for a few of us, it is just another year turning pages of a calendar.

Each person lives their year in a unique way. We realize we are not the same people we were a year ago. We met people who walked with us into the new year… others we had to leave behind. In spite of all the challenges, difficult moments —and the happy ones we can’t get enough of—it all seems worth it.

After the clock struck 12 a little more than a month ago, our wishes for others were the same things we wanted for ourselves… year after year after year.

by Gibran Cruz

I Am that I Am (Erin’s Monologue)

“Myself. My self.

That’s the problem. That’s the whole problem with the whole thing. That word, “self.” Thats not the word. That’s not right, that isn’t…How did I forget that? When did I forget that?

The body stops a cell at a time, but the brain keeps firing those neurons.

Little lightning bolts, like fireworks inside and I thought I’d despair or feel afraid, but I don’t feel any of that. None of it. Because I’m too busy. I’m too busy in the moment. Remembering. Of course. I remember that every atom in my body was forged in a star.

This matter, this body is mostly empty space after all, and solid matter? It’s just energy vibrating very slowly why there is no me. There never was.

The electrons of my body mingle and dance with the electrons of the ground below me and the air I’m no longer breathing. And I remember there is no point where any of that ends and I begin. I remember I am energy. Not memory. Not self. My name, my personality, my choices, all came after me.

I was before them and I will be after, and everything else is pictures, picked up along the way. Fleeting little dreamlets printed on the tissue of my dying brain.

And I am the lightning that jumps between. I am the energy firing the neurons, and I’m returning. Just by remembering, I’m returning home.

And it’s like a drop of water falling back into the ocean, of which it’s always been a part. All things… a part. You, me and my little girl, and my mother and my father, everyone’s who’s ever been, every plant, every animal, every atom, every start, every galaxy, all of it. More galaxies in the universe than grains of sand on the beach.

And that’s what we’re talking about when we say “God.”

The cosmos and its infinite dreams. We are the cosmos dreaming of itself. It’s simply a dream that I think is my life, every time. But I’ll forget this. I always do. I always forget my dreams.

But now, in this split-second, in the moment I remember, the instant I remember, I comprehend everything at once.

There is no time. There is no death. Life is a dream. It’s a wish. Made again and again and again and again and again and again and on into eternity. And I am all of it.

I am everything. I am all. I am that I am.”

by Gibran Cruz

When I Die (Riley’s Monologue)

When I die…

My body stops functioning.

Shut down. All at once, or gradually, my breathing stops, my heart stops beating.

Clinical death.

And a bit later, like, five whole minutes later…

My brain cells start dying.

But in the meantime, in between…

Maybe my brain releases a flood of DMT.

It’s the psychedelic drug released when we dream, so…

I dream.

I dream bigger than I have ever dreamed before, because it’s all of it. Just the last dump of DMT all at once.

And my neurons are firing and I’m seeing this firework display of memories and imagination.

And I am just… tripping.

I mean, really tripping balls because my mind’s rifling through the memories.

You know, long and short-term, and the dreams mix with the memories, and…

It’s a curtain call.

The dream to end all dreams.

One last great dream as my mind empties the fuckin’ missile silos and then…

I stop.

My brain activity ceases and there is nothing left of me.

No pain.

No memory, no awareness that I ever was, no…

That I ever hurt someone.

That I ever killed someone.

Everything is as it was before me.

And the electricity disperses from my brain till it’s just dead tissue.

Meat.

Oblivion.

And all of the other little things that make me up, they…

The microbes and bacterium and the billion other little things that live on my eyelashes and in my hair and in my mouth and on my skin and in my gut and everywhere else, they just keep on living.

And eating.

Uh…

And I’m serving a purpose.

I’m feeding life.

And I’m broken apart, and all the littlest pieces of me are just recycled, and I’m billions of other places.

And my atoms are in plants and bugs and animals, and I am like the stars that are in the sky.

There one moment and then just scattered across the goddamn cosmos.

Source Scrapsfromtheloft.com

by Gibran Cruz

My Egyptian Adventure: How It All Started

I’ve wanted to share all about my relationship for the longest time. But for some reason, this part of my life feels so special that I wasn’t ready yet. A lot of people had asked me a thousand questions since I came back from my trip to Egypt so I guess it was time I shared a little of it.

I met Ahmed back in 2019 on a dating website. But before you say anything , no, I wasn’t looking for love in all the wrong places. Someone suggested I check the website out and since I was single, why not look at some profiles? I got a message from that cute egyptian and soon enough we exchanged Instagram accounts. I have to tell you that it was a recipe for disaster: he was looking for something serious and I just wanted to meet people and make new friends, he’s all fit and I’m all fat. A few days and insults later, we decided to delete our dating profiles and give it a try. You can like someone because of their looks you know, but you fall in love with their soul and that’s what was happening to us. You can say we met each other by chance, but stayed together by fate.

He was everything I didn’t know I always wanted. We tried our best to get to know each other using every social and messaging app available to us and of course, we met each other’s parents via video call. Did I mention he was very serious about this relationship? As a heart attack. So it wasn’t a surprise that I wanted to impress him on Valentine’s Day (here’s how) and guess what? It worked! He asked me to marry him that day and I said yes without thinking about it twice. I was more than happy. We made it official the next month and that means we told our families. His family was very happy and supportive about it. Mine thought I had lost my mind. Maybe I did lost my mind for him?

A few weeks after that, the Covid 19 pandemic was announced and it felt like the whole world came to a halt. We saw our hope dwindle as airports and borders closed and traveling was restricted. We never stopped looking for options. Then my friend Sean suggested we get married online. Ahmed and I discussed the option for some time. He still jokes about it and tells me it was worse than a job interview. I mean, he was applying for the husband position after all! We married online on August 10, 2020. Yes ONLINE! Yes, legally. It was kind of a secret. I didn’t want my family to call me crazy until after I was married. To my surprise, they were ready to support me in my decision (after saying we were crazy of course). It took us around 4 months to certify, translate and legalize papers to have our marriage registered in both countries (US and Egypt).

Fast forward to February 2021 after months of texting, talking, video calling and sleeping together “on calls”, my brother took my son Jay and me to the airport. Ahmed and I were finally ready to start writing the next chapter of our love story in Egypt! Our journey to Cairo was a mini adventure… but that’s a story for another day.

Long distance relationships are not easy. Closing the distance takes time. So until then, we will keep writing the most beautiful love story. Our happily ever after.

by Gibran Cruz

Giby’s Misadventures…Now streaming.

I started this year thinking that it felt kinda like a trial subscription to a streaming service that you can’t cancel. Three months into it and I still ask myself “What will happen in today’s episode of Giby’s Misadventures?” I mean, last season in the show that is my life was incredible. It was full of unexpected things like making it through a pandemic (we’re still doing it) and getting married. Even I didn’t expected that one but turns out that it was the best decision of my life. Will tell you about it later.

I’m starting this season with a different cast. People who I thought would always be there for me left and others who left in the previous season came back. People I never gave a chance are now recurring characters in my show. Of course I’m always grateful to the ones who stay no matter what goes on in the show. I’ve made a few mistakes, I know, but I keep learning as the show goes on.

Contrary to a show you see on TV, There’s no pre-written script. There’s a lot of improvising going on. I’m learning that things don’t always go the way I plan them or the way I think they should. There are things that go wrong and I can’t always fix them. Sadly, some things have to stay broken even if I wasn’t the one who broke them. Turns out I don’t have an unlimited supply of props in this show.

I visited my husband in Egypt last month (Episode 2?) and I learned that you can actually forget about bad times for a while and keep looking for better ones as long as the people who love you are by your side. But that whole Egypt thing is a collection of stories that need some time to tell so I will be writing about it soon.

So stay tune for the next episode of Giby’s Misadventures. Now streaming on My So-Called Life.

by Gibran Cruz

Hold On…Before It’s Too Late (Stay – version 2.0)

Sometimes we write the words we wish to hear. Because I know how it is for your soul to be tired. Tired of living the same day over and over again because every day is a repetition of the one before. So predictable, it actually hurts. Four letters in my mind: SSDD (same shit, different day – Stephen King described it perfectly in his book Dreamcatcher). People who can’t understand our feelings will give us detailed instructions on how to change our lives. It isn’t so easy for us,  the ones living the life others say is so easy to change. We don’t need instructions. It isn’t like we don’t try. It feels more like we’ve spent our whole lives trying and it becomes a race without a finish line, with no real way to win so we can finally say “I’m here, I made it, this is the life I always wanted”.

I know the feeling of wanting to disconnect yourself from the rest of the world or maybe just disappear for a while. After constant reminders of how you are not good enough you start to feel that it must be true, because after all, you’ve always felt like you don’t belong. So you wish you can just leave everything and everyone for a while, knowing they might not be there when and if you come back; of course you try to stay for as long as you can. A little support would be a lifesaver at this point but how to explain, how to talk about the secrets you don’t want to say? But we do, we stay… each time for a little longer because it is expected. We are adults. Maybe we stay because there is someone who will miss us or maybe because there is someone we always miss?

I’m scared that someday I will not find the courage to stay when all I want to do is to escape. Though sometimes late…I have to say it to myself: STAY. Stay because you’re missed. Stay because you are loved. Stay because life goes on and he makes it worth staying every day. Stay even when it’s taking a little bit more time to change; but sometimes what we are doing is changing the life of someone else. Whatever you do, know that there are people who want to understand… that they can’t live without you, and you don’t want to live without them. So Please, STAY.

by Gibran Cruz

Love of Mine

Few days ago I stumbled upon a video by motivational speaker Daniel Habif and what it said resonated with me. It reminded me of the importance of giving priority and attention to your partner in a relationship. A lot of relationships “go cold” because we make a simple mistake: we stop giving the same attention, priority and details once the courtship phase is over and  “we are sure” we have the other person. I watched the video a few times and spent quite an amount of time writing what it said in English, so I could send it to my S/O. I shared it with him not because I though he was failing at it, but because I want to build the best relationship possible with him. One in which both can feel that we are taking care of each other and giving the other the love we deserve.

Because of this, I wanted to share the part that captivated my attention the most and really touched my soul. I hope it talks to you in the same way it talked to me.

“For me it’s about winning her over 31 times a day, a month. This requires commitment, focus, art. This is about that if life goes round, you go around with her. It’s about her always being on your priority list, it’s about her being the responsible of your “what do I wear today?” It’s about praying together, it’s about being three: God, her and you. It’s about you getting lost, to find yourself in her, it’s about who you are, for her to be. It’s about making her laugh and that you’re the one who ends up melting with her laughter.

Stay with whoever makes space for you in her/his life, because in her/his bed … any stupid one does. It’s about not falling in love with the white dress, neither of the wedding, nor the ring, nor of the house. It’s not about looking for restaurants with stars and VIP lounges, it’s about your best neckline, being your brain. It’s about not wanting to change the other and the other for that very reason decides to change everything for you. It’s about that in a sick world, she is your medicine! It’s about you losing, so that the marriage wins. Many, many say that if you love something, you should let it go. Please! Only a coward would let go of something he loves and does not fight for it. If you do not get it, at least you will know that you gave your life for something higher than you: LOVE. If the gold gets oxidized, it was not gold. If love ends, it’s not love.

And please! Learn this darling: not because you have reached at the end or in the last place to someone’s heart, this does not mean that you are the least important. For me this means, that all the previous ones were not important enough to stay forever. There are those who look for their better half to complete his lost half, but there are some others, that we are looking for a complete person to make orangeade together… for our lifetime.”

– Daniel Habif

img_0955-5

 

by Gibran Cruz

Say What You Feel

We live in a world that makes us hide love when our love or the person we love doesn’t conform to the norms of society, culture or even religion. Sadly, this what teach us to hate so openly and love in secret. We forget that we walk through this world for just a moment in time. That people will not be with us for an eternity and that we run out of opportunities. Because of these reasons, say and do what you feel.  Love as much as you can today because there might not be a tomorrow. No secrets… Share your love for the world to see.

img_0955-5