There are opportunities when we feel disoriented, sad and even afraid. In those moments, normally, we feel that our brain is blank and we do not know what to do, how to respond to the vicissitudes we are living. Some people turn to a friend, perhaps a trusted relative, some even choose to stick their head in the sand like an ostrich so as not to know anything about what surrounds them.

One of the exits that has become fashionable in recent years is the figure of personal coaching who with his knowledge is able to guide or channel the negative feelings that people may be suffering. Coaching is really a tool, or a set of tools for individual and professional development. It is the art of self-knowledge. But coaching is, especially, a professional practice that seeks to achieve significant achievements in the personal and/or professional life of the individual.

According to the previous concept, we can intuit that some people, with the indicated knowledge, can help us to solve problems and reach our objectives. That is to say, these people, prepared and trained, can see the person that we are and help us to be the person that we want to be. Obviously for that they will use exercises and techniques that will not only serve to overcome obstacles but also to achieve objectives.

Although it may seem unusual, literature can sometimes work the same way. A good book can not only entertain, it can also serve to guide the reader in a given moment under a borderline situation. An essay, a short story, a novel and even a poem can help us to see ourselves reflected in the lines we read and imagine in that story: that is, there is an identification between reader and character. Thus, we have books to which we return again and again; books that we recommend and that make us reflect on life. These books, which are not self-help books, contribute greatly to alleviating a sorrow and even to helping us make certain decisions. Let's leave here three great poems that will not only change our view of the world, but also the way we approach our problems:

Don't give up

Do not give up, you're still in time to reach and start again, accept your shadows, bury your fears, release the ballast, retake the flight.
Do not surrender that life is that, continue the journey, pursue your dreams, unlock time, run the rubble and uncover the sky.
Don't give up, please don't give in, even if the cold burns, even if the fear bites, even if the sun hides and the wind stops.
There is still fire in your soul, there is still life in your dreams, because life is yours and desire is yours too, because you wanted it and because I love you.
Because there is wine and love, it is true, because there are no wounds that do not heal time, open the doors remove the locks, leave the walls that protected you.
Live life and accept the challenge, recover laughter, rehearse the song, lower your guard and extend your hands, spread your wings and try again, celebrate life and retake the heavens.
Don't give up please don't give in, even if the cold burns, even if the fear bites, even if the sun sets and the wind stops.
There is still fire in your soul, there is still life in your dreams, because every day is a beginning, because this is the hour and the best time, because you are not alone, because I love you.

This is perhaps one of Mario Benedetti's best-known poems. In it we see how we can never give up, that we always have to fight. From the same title we find the firm thought of not giving up in the face of any obstacle. The lyrical voice accepts that we can find obstacles; that there can be cold and loneliness in the way; that perhaps after the storm, the sun late to appear; that we must open our hearts, not only so that the bad comes out, but also so that the good enters. This poem is a hymn for those who are sick and feel that they lack strength, for those who are tired and short of breath, for those who are disoriented and need light: never give up, because perhaps the end of something is the beginning of everything, and there is always time to begin.

---

Roll the dice

If you are going to try, go all the way.
Otherwise, don't even start.

If you are going to try, go all the way.
This can mean losing girlfriends,
wives,
relatives,
jobs and,
maybe your sanity.

Go all the way.
This can mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
This can mean freezing on a park bench.
This can mean jail.
This can mean mockery, scorn, loneliness...
Loneliness is a gift.
The others are proof of your insistence, or
how much you really want to do it.
And you will,
despite the rejection and the disadvantages,
and it will be better than anything you've ever imagined.

If you're going to try, go all the way.
There is no other feeling like that.
You will be alone with the gods
and the nights will be lit with fire.

Do it, do it, do it.
Do it.
Until the end,
until the end.

You will lead life directly to the perfect laughter.
It's the only good fight there is.

Throwing the Dice is one of Charles Bukowski's best-known and most quoted poems. In it we can see how the lyrical voice suggests to us that if we are going to start something, we must take it to the end. We must not leave anything halfway, unfinished, do only a fraction. We must give everything, 100% of our strength, of our spirit. It is true that the passion with which we assume things can take us to the limit, hence we can live negative experiences, but also positive because reality is suffered, but also enjoyed. With this poem, the poetic speaker invites us to roll the dice, to participate in the game, not to remain as spectators. It's betting on action, on life, because whoever plays has two possibilities: lose or win! Then we understand that expression reiterated in the poem: Do it, do it, do it; and that is that doing it is the only way to reach the end.

---

Love after love

The day will come
in that, exultant,
you're gonna say hello to yourself when you get there.
to your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the welcome of the other,
and say, sit here. Eat.
Once again you will love the stranger you were to yourself.
Give him wine. Give him bread. Give him back his heart
to your heart, to that stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, and who knows you by heart.
Download the love letters from the shelves,
the photos, the desperate notes,
tear out your own image from the mirror.
Sit down. Make your life a feast.

This poem by Derek Walcott is perhaps one of the most extraordinary poems of self-love. But not of the unbridled and vain egoism, but of that love that comes with time. In these lines, the lyrical voice tells us that the moment will come when we will accept each other, that we will recognize each other, that we will be able to live with the other that we also are. Self-esteem involves admitting your defects, assuming your shortcomings, recognizing your limits and loving yourself as you are. At the end of the day, who better to love us than ourselves?