I’m sitting at a table in a pizzeria in Konstanz. A day off, shopping, relaxation. I’m waiting for my meal, the place is pleasant, the sun is shining, and music is playing that stirs the feeling of beauty in ordinary life. Why do I so often fail to notice this beauty?
I also work in gastronomy, and it’s been quite some time. I remember the joy of life I felt when I first went abroad to work. A miserable salary, countless hours of truly hard work. And yet, I felt unbelievably free. The morning walk to work along the seashore, that feeling of being able to buy jeans during a break without having to ask anyone for them. It was wonderful, and when I recall it, I feel it again.
Now I’m further along. Many thoughts have passed, many things have changed. But reality shows it’s a beautiful day, I live in an even more advanced country, the technical possibilities are amazing, and I’ve already built something for myself. And yet, I’m often closed off in my own head, in my thoughts, and from the world I mostly perceive only the impulses that awaken negative feelings. Why? What has changed?
Where did this desire come from—for great wealth, for a beautiful woman, for an extraordinary life? Why, when the simple one is so beautiful. Maybe it was the phone, the one I bought with my very first paycheck, and the social networks that appeared over time… I don’t know, but I’m not glad that it is this way.
Now I have a new colleague, a boy, young, just as I was back then. Incredibly full of life. When I watch him, I see what I’ve lost. When I watch him, I see where I need to return.