Today, 21st of December, is the shortest day of the year.
For me, it’s always been a day of relief, especially since moving to the Netherlands, where the difference between winter and summer is measurable in hours of sun and it is so much more consistently than it is in Italy.
It’s the day that opens the doors to an improvement: even if it becomes incredibly cold, I look outside the window knowing that every day gives me a tiny minute more of sun.
Even if I don’t perceive it every day, in a month I’ll realise there’s an hour more, and something gradual will become visible, if I have the patience to believe that things happen beyond my perception.
Sometimes all it takes is to realise that our sadness, our loneliness, our fear is temporary, and that we should trust our micro-improvements and time. We will only see the difference when we take some distance.
(Today, daylight in Amsterdam is 7.29 hours long, while on the longest day it’s 9 hours more. In Italy it’s just 6.)
Empatherapy 