01/09/2025
๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ | "๐ฐ'๐
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐."
I don't want to live my life always rushing and unsteady, but it's a shame that I already am. From busy schedules to nights where everything feels like a blurโwhen am I allowed to just lie down and feel the clock tick past me? There's this Swedish concept called "fika." It means "to have coffee," but it can also mean to slow down and socialize. To let everything pass you by and not have to worry about the next thing, to feel every sensation, to relax, to have coffee. And it made me wonderโ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐?
I have been floating my whole life. Floating from different groups, from different places, from different peopleโand it never felt like I truly belonged. Though, I never had to worry because I was too busy to even care who was with me and who had left. Time felt like a storm, and I had to do everything before it destroyed me. I was never at rest, never at peace, and never relied on anyone to carry my burdens with me. It was just me. But on slow mornings and lazy Sundays, I hoped someone was there I could share a cup of coffee and some stories with. I hoped I had the luxury to be at ease, to slow down. And I hoped someone would be able to ground me down and unpack all my baggage with me.
But what does it actually mean to slow down? I initially thought it just meant to avoid burning out or shining too bright. But it can also mean to let the breeze flow through you, to not have to be on survival mode in every breath you take, and to just sit down and decompress. It means to have people who will laugh, cry, and share all those burdens with you. It means not having to withdraw the lump in your throat and just letting it all out. Feel the tears like they're the river of all the sorrows you had to endure, and let them flow naturally until they find the ocean, where they travel far away from you.
The concept of "fika" is not just about sitting down alone and decompressing on your own; ๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
โ Mahiah Mae Ochavillo
Pubmat by Asea Rotimas