It's better to have painful scars than to live life untouched. I heard this sentence a few days ago from a psychiatrist on a book promotion in the Croatian Journalist's Association, and I have to admit it didn’t leave me indifferent. Thinking about it inspired me to create this small post. In life we ride on many different emotional roller coasters, we rise and fall, some with more scars, some with less. Having scars is not a shame, they are the things that differ us from others. We live life only once and it has to be enjoyed. Make mistakes, don’t take things for granted, risk more. Eat more ice cream and less green beans, fall in love, plan less. Don’t waste time on waiting for a big shot or the “perfect moment”, while missing small satisfactions.

This is a poem of the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda which packs his philosophy about life into simple words.

Pablo Neruda – Die Slowly

He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace,
who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience,
dies slowly.

He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones "it’s" rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.

He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,
who is unhappy at work,
who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,
to thus follow a dream,
those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,
die slowly.

He who does not travel, who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace in himself,
she who does not find grace in herself,
dies slowly.

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops,
dies slowly.

He or she who abandon a project before starting it, who fail to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know, he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know,
die slowly.

Let's try and avoid death in small doses,
reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead
to the attainment of a splendid happiness.

Pablo Neruda