Hello friends,
how are you today?
Here I am as promised with this article. I am currently tucked up in a blanket, it’s winter in South Africa although anytime between 10:30 and 16:30 it can feel like spring or even summer on most days. This article is in no way about complaining, it comes from gratitude mostly and shares a comparison just in case you have never lived in Europe, never lived through an experience like the below and it’s also to give you a feel of how things are set up in Europe or even in South Africa.
You know, the truth is that you have no idea, absolutely no idea how resilient you are. Trust me, in every one of you, there is a warrior especially if you’re forced to live through difficult experiences, challenging times and circumstances. If you can keep that little voice in your head quite for many hours you will find your resiliency and all your strengths coming through. Now, this is nothing like when I was homeless for two very cold months in Spain and even after I sorted out a temporary “crib” in a hurry for that winter in Spain, it was one of the coldest winters including autumn in my entire life purely because of the circumstances. When I release my third novel you can truly understand how cold it was. That year Spain received snow, that year the windows in my room had air coming through, it was a very old flat, my first real experience in finding a proper place to live now that I knew Madrid, Spain was the place I was settling down in. Each person that paid rent there for the room could keep the gas heater in their room for two hours only each day anytime between 18:00 to 22:00. We could not buy our own heaters either and plug it in our rooms (a story for another time).
It was a three-bedroom flat and many old buildings in Spain never had radiators installed. It happened to be really close to the place where I was recently hired to work, and before the winter got in, I didn’t want to settle for anything that was really far from the place I worked and I also had a budget. I was twenty-five years old at that time, it was the year two thousand and four. I remember even having a sleeping bag in my bed and I could literally feel the weight of the blankets on top of me. The minute I got back into the flat there was nothing to do, there was no lounge. I would climb back into bed so that I could feel warm again to get productive. That winter everything out of work when I wasn’t with friends, was done with everything spread out on the bed as I sat under the blankets. It was so cold that I could see the air that came out from my lungs being released into the cold air. Can you imagine waking up to that? Knowing that your thick pyjamas are going to be the very thing that loses its heat in seconds and that everything that touches your skin is going to make you shiver. Getting up into that air was something I dreaded daily, but luckily I used to prepare my clothes the night before so that I could get up, feel that fresh air for the least possible time, grab everything I’ve prepared to wear including my towel and run straight into the bathroom. That was the only way to do it. Even if the shower was a little sprinkler in the end, at least it was hot.
Trust me, after living in that flat, I tried to ensure I look at everything properly before I choose to rent somewhere else.
So, what two days of not having electricity taught me? It taught me the following:
- I am a very blessed individual.
- Thank god for my parents and the rest of my family.
- I am lucky to be able to get what I require in my home without having to ask someone for something, still paying for it and then having to deal with backlash afterwards.
- I am grateful that there’s an entire home where I can choose where I am comfortable in and put a fire on if I wanted or the gas heater.
- Sat with my father on Father’s Day for once near the fire, no electronics, no work, nothing to do but chill and hang out with my dad.
- Do nothing, wow! Sleep early, this was a really odd but a nice feeling.
Wait there’s more…
See, it’s nice that in times like this interdependence naturally occurs and isn’t it nice to be in that place? Think about how independently people operate, and their thoughts around not needing anything from anyone? There are tons of people who live like this in the United Kingdom, not so much in Spain unless you are a foreigner. These kinds of situations bring people together, each one is doing something to create comfort.
The two days with no electricity reminded me that times could be worse, like the time I mention above and that these two days left confirmation of what it means to be surrounded by unconditional love, bonds that last no matter what argument happened when and where, just be, it’s okay, no stress this too shall pass. I mean if it wasn’t for the collaborative work than just being solo, would you have been able to do all that? Would you be able to have a nice home-cooked meal arrive onto your plate and still feel the warmth of love after that which leads you into another day where love stands out stronger than not having electricity? I hardly felt anything, probably just that initial feeling of waking up in the cold here and there but there were many positives, like the motivation to get out and about quickly so that I could have mum’s chai. To have hardly felt any difficulty or inconvenience was confirmation that I am certainly made of more than ore.
Just trust, this and more is What two days of not having electricity taught me.
Yours sincerely
T. Dench Patel
Thank you for the comments and support. Thank you for offering to donate if there was a donate button on here. I prefer not to take donations. You can support by either purchasing one of my books (Paperback or Kindle), The South African: True Colours, The South African: Roamer or my children’s book Light. These books can be found on Amazon mainly and other sites in your country.
The audiobook for The South African: True Colours is available on iTunes, Apple and Audible. The South African: Roamer and Light will be released soon.
Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to re-evaluate them.
