Learning to live? Sounds funny isn’t it…

THE ONE SUBJECT WE SHOULD ALL BE EXCITED TO REVIEW OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

My dear friends,

Do you feel sometimes the world swirls around at such a high speed or in such an unpredictable movement that it’s hard to grasp what is really going on?
Do you at times look around you and take the time to realize that all these nameless faces have a life of their own, millions of stories, miracles and faithless dreams out of a multitude of motivations but born of our common human heart… Do you ask yourself the question: “Why is it that we know immediately how to breathe but we have to fight to learn how to LIVE?”

Lately the pace has been even more crazy than usual… The recording of the album is an everyday marathon, the rehearsals and preparations for the tour in China and Japan is like getting ready for a wedding; we want everything to be perfect! Setting up for the Bla Bla Bla this weekend, giving the finishing touches to the amazing bootleg package that will be presented that day. Plus many more videos, pictures, texts, interviews, designs, anything related to this amazing journey we are creating with Your Favorite Enemies, it is like boiling oil on the oven ready to explode and set fire to the whole place! It’s hard to contain ourselves and at the same time we have to stay focused not to miss anything as we want nothing less than the best for our family, for you.

In that tornado of projects and good news, challenges and pressures, the occasions to learn and grow are numerous! We encourage each other to live every moment…but what happens when the “moment” is a failure of a project? What happens when that “moment” is an invitation to do something really amazing but really stressful too? You heard me say or write many times that I’m getting prepared for the upcoming tour on a musical level but also on a personal level and I have to admit that my desire to be prepared didn’t expect so many occasions to overcome my own limits, insecurities and shortcomings… My desire to LIVE for real is pushing me to FACE reality and see what I’m made of and then decide if I want to change or not. The good thing is that I believe I can change things; I can overcome things that kept me in failure so many times.

I am learning how to live really… sounds funny… sounds weird even but when I look back at how I was, how I wouldn’t let anyone influence me or challenge me, how I just hoped to stay out of trouble and put up a fine face, how I really couldn’t feel anything… I couldn’t live much… no big joys, no big pain, no big deal, no big anything… But the day I tasted LIFE that was outside my box, outside these borders I thought were ME, the day I believed I was meant for more than this golden cage of safety made of my illusions about the world, about my friends, about how life is supposed to be lived and about myself, On THAT DAY I knew I would not want to go back… I would want to not only taste a full life but embrace it and share it.

One of my sisters was encouraging me the past weekend. She was telling me how I didn’t need to try to be someone, that the more I “tried” the less I was myself with all that is good in me that others can enjoy. She told me that I was probably the only one not believing truly that I had what it takes to fulfill my destiny and be “good enough”. She was right. Her words gave me strength and helped me see my life differently, it gave me perspective… It was nothing new to my ears but it was a definite sign for me that I’m worth giving the effort, in order to go beyond my usual thinking and usual way to find security and purpose.

Our life can be a tornado; our life can be more like a silent dew… We can be happy to breathe, we can also be excited to learn to live and create life around us! At this point, I’m still in a state of unbalance, holding on to my family, trusting their love, relying on their faithfulness, growing from our sharing. Every day there’s an invitation to live the fullness and intensity of life…it’s up to us to accept it, pursue it, expect it and learn through it!

-Miss Isabel