Breathe Words

    One of the things I have learned in recent years is that Chaos is a 'social state'. It does not choose people by financial condition, skin color, or fame. We are all subject to it. It is impressive how life can suffer a seismic shock in just a few months. I say this from personal experience. Right now, as I write, a family member has just left the ICU due to a heart problem. It was more than twenty days of hospitalization. Nobody slept, terror consumed us, and fear—I don’t even want to recall. 

    For a long time, I believed it was some sort of persecution by God, the universe, or life itself. Soon, I realized it was not. I was in a hotel near the hospital where my relative was, with my mind racing. I didn’t want to go out to eat, so I ordered something through a delivery app. I stayed in the room trying to distract myself with the second season of Wednesday. It is easy to isolate yourself when the world is collapsing around you. The next day, at breakfast, another guest sat at the table to have coffee with us. I was with another family member. We greeted each other, and within seconds we were already sharing our problems. That person’s husband was also hospitalized with a serious condition. 

    At that ordinary moment, where people meet and exchange experiences, I had an insight. Life was not picking on me, no—it does this to everyone. As a tarot reader once told me, we are on the hero’s journey. Problems will always be part of our routine. At some point, the world will shake our structures, and we must have an umbrella to shelter under.

Inner Strength, Willpower, and How Not to Give Up

    If you turn on the TV and watch the news, it is only tragedy. In my country, there is even a television program that reports nothing but tragedies. People dying, people being raped, people disappearing, accidents, corrupt politicians deceiving their voters. It never ends! 

    I find it contradictory when people say “this world is ending” or “these are the end times.” The world has always been this way. Let me bring a religious perspective now—the Holy Bible, Christianity’s sacred book. Read chapters from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and even before cuneiform writing, it was always the same: brother killing brother, incest, people enslaved and stoned, rape, crucifixions, people burned alive. Was the world ending at that time too? But people today say: “Ah, because now it’s worse.” Worse where? Are you sure? 

    In the past, a woman could be stoned and nothing would happen, but today homicide is a crime under the law. So, the world has always been in chaos. The question is: how do we survive this? If you think this article will give you the roadmap, you are mistaken. I do not have ten commandments for surviving chaos. I am just another person, like you, trying to stay strong. But then, why share this? Because sharing is a way of surviving chaos. I would rather speak and share my feelings with people than bury myself alive in sadness.

No Motivation to Live, Collective Chaos, and Resistance

    I have dealt with chaos since birth. I have a health issue, an anxiety disorder, that has caused me much suffering. I have lived with it since the age of ten, but I only began effective treatment at eighteen. Can you imagine how much I suffered until reaching adulthood? And how much I have suffered since then? But do you know what is beautiful? I survived.

    Whatever you believe in, whoever you believe in, it will keep you alive. What I want is for the scales of justice to be balanced for all of us. Will we face chaos? Yes, but we will also experience joys and victories. I want the pendulum of Hermeticism to be real—that it swings to the left and to the right, but never stays only on one side. And it will swing! 

    We must accept that chaos is also collective. In moments like the Covid-19 pandemic, we witnessed a shared chaos. Thousands died daily in my country. Mass graves were opened every day. I lost a close relative, and saw people around me lose loved ones too. It was one of the greatest collective chaos events I have ever experienced. Yet, even in collective suffering, resistance becomes our strength.

The Hero’s Journey and the Power of Overcoming Problems

    The world is changing, but the change is slow. It may feel like we cannot see progress, but things are happening. Thousands of years ago, it was normal for a woman to be stoned for adultery, while the man went unpunished. Today, there are laws against femicide. That is progress. 

    In ancient Rome, people were enslaved for debt. Today, in my country, the worst consequence of unpaid debt is having your name listed on a credit protection service. Humanity is gradually learning empathy, slowly ceasing to be unconscious animals. Much evil will still happen, but when we stand as resistance, those who bring chaos lose their strength. 

    I also believe in past lives and reincarnation. Sometimes I wonder what mistakes I must have made to go through what I have endured. But then I realize: we have all made mistakes! It is not punishment, it is not persecution. It is life. God, or the universe, can sometimes seem cruel, but even so, we survive. 

    Suffering teaches us resilience. Like the story of the Three Little Pigs, chaos is the Big Bad Wolf. Those who build on a weak foundation will fall, but those who construct a solid base will endure.

Be Strong, Be Resistance

    Life is not simple. There is no magic formula to survive on this planet. Surviving requires discipline, constancy, desire, and effort. I commit myself every day, and I hope you do too. You have one life, and you are responsible for it. This body you are using is a loan.

    That’s why I invite you: be strong, be resistance, keep your inner strength, and never let discouragement win. Chaos always passes. Storms dissolve, but we remain. Believe that even in the face of pain, loss, or crisis, life goes on and we are still here. Be a warrior in your own hero’s journey, don’t give up, because tomorrow will come and it will be different. You are not alone: we are resistance, and together we move forward.

If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment. This will help me write more for you. Be resilient! You are strong!

Samantha Leal.