No pasa nada, repeat after me.. No Pasa Nada!! I have spent the last two weeks nervous and stressed, shedding secret tears in the bathroom, drinking coke, getting headaches and tummy aches and at the end… you know what, no pasó nada!!
“No pasa nada” has to be one of my favorite sayings in Spanish, if not my absolute favorite. The direct translation is nothing is going to happen, which pretty much means it’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it. I love it because there is so much truth in it, because really at the end of the day nothing is going to happen and even if it does, it’s nothing because you got this. Tell this to myself yesterday, two days ago, or even two weeks ago.
So easy for us to have a positive outlook and the infinite wisdom, after the fact. I can tell you that when you’re going through it, you do not feel that way. Your head is clouded in doubt and anxiety and ultimately affects you on a physical and emotional level. Maybe two days ago this post would have been called “bloqueada” for how much I felt blocked by my own haze of doubt. How does one deal with such stress, when it affects you so?
It was difficult and I whole-heartedly admit that I did not deal with it, in the best way. Living in the midst of a pandemic with earlier curfews and stricter guidelines did not help. They are necessary, they just added more to what I was already dealing with. Ultimately, it’s why we have friends, why we depend on family albeit hundreds of miles away. Sometimes the simplistic notion of just talking things out is the best solution. And when it’s all you can talk about and your friends have already heard it once and twice before, your journal comes into play (I’m most apologetic for having abandoned you when I needed you most). Your journal will never judge or get tired of hearing the same story. It is always there when you need someone to just listen. And when in doubt just tell yourself “no pasa nada”.