Daniela Borontiș

Let’s call this girl Dana.

Let’s also say that her birthday happened recently, in a year when a nasty virus rumbled around.

Third, let’s assume she caught it – or the virus caught her, however you want to put it. And for her birthday, she received a lot of energy from all her friends who called her, messaged her or simply thought about her.

But the following day, she woke up with a weird, strong, and frightening pain all over her body. Her bones and muscles never hurt before, the way they did now. It was as if her body suddenly gained 50kg more, and it the same time her bones lost half of their structure – the painful way. The worst part about this virus, though, was that it kept everyone at a distance. No one could enter her room, no one could help her.

So she got up and made fire in the fireplace, so her room got warm after a while. And then, she forced herself to eat, and drink a lot of water (because she always believes that drinking water will save her from everything). Then, she answered a few calls of friends, and assured them that everything is ok. And afterwards, she tried to tame her own demons who were suggesting she might become “one more number” on the virus’ list.

She took care of herself. Held her own hand, cared for her body, listened to her emotions, took a stand when she had to.

She received the most important birthday gift: the feeling of being complete.

There was once a family which had two daughters: Maria and Second. Second’s name was predestined – she was always second in her play, at competitions, at school.

As a child, it was her biggest wish to be the first one. Just once.

But no matter how hard she tried, she never succeeded to be the first in anything.

It is very hard to be the second one. Sometimes, she was really very close to be the first – but then she had a tummy problem, or she received a bad news and couldn’t perform as good. Most of the time, she fought harder and worked harder than the person on the first place. But people are many times blind for these situations. They only care who takes home the biggest prize. Who is so deserving to be on the first place. They are unaware that circumstances change, and affect one’s performance. However, Second didn’t consider herself unlucky. She just had to work harder, and maybe.. next time..

Years went on and on, and Second never finished on the first place. But as years went on and on, she grew stronger and stronger, more confident. She started to see more around her. For example, she saw how much attention the first place always received, and how much pressure it endured. She saw that people always had an opinion about the person on the first place, but rarely one about her. And Second liked that – it meant she was free to be whoever she wanted.

Second place brought her autonomy, and independence. She loved her name.

There was once a little girl with an incredible power.

She could feel what everyone else felt. She easily coloured herself in the same nuances as people around her. Sometimes, even in the same nuances as houses, or trees, or dogs. She gathered energy, happiness and power from very authentic people.

And so, everyone called her Colora.

And everyone loved to be around her. She balanced the colours, in such a way that magnified the positives, and reduces the negatives. When her sister was red, Colora made this red brighter, more luminous, better. Both sister were happy, joyful and ready to face the world.

But, as everything amazing comes with two sides, Colora also took on her the dark, bad times which people were having. When her best friend was dark blue, she turned into darker blue – and felt powerless to help Victor. She had no more strength to lift him up, she barely had strength for herself.

Incredible people are often not aware that they are incredible. Incredible people often do not see the effect that they have on others.

Colora did not see that, as she turned into dark blue, Victor turned into pale blue. But she was a chameleon girl and in time, she learned to take care of herself. She chose to visit the trees whenever she was dark blue – so she would turn green. Or visit the houses, when she was too red – so she would turn yellow. Or the dogs. The cherries. The sky. The water.

Incredible people have incredible powers.

And you? In which way are you incredible?

Today is my birthday.
Well, right now, as I am writing this, it’s still the 11th of January – but I have already decided, since a couple of years, to celebrate my birthday for three days. So it can start now.

With 2021, this blog will also receive a fresh start.

Last year I only wrote a post – and this made me wonder. Maybe I would like to write about something else. So I will.

This blog will be in English, so more of my friends can read it.

It will also change focus – will be about the stories I encounter, small and big. Because I love writing, and I would mostly like to write about people’s stories.

My challenge for myself is to write often, hopefully daily, one story. It helps me, and maybe people will like it. But mostly, I do it for myself.

Tomorrow it starts. It’s a 365 days challenge, with a twist.