How Practicing Active Mindfulness Saved Me From Depression
Currently trying to reinvent myself while aspiring to become a better human and a more humane sentient being.
I’m a middle-aged human currently focused on finding new and mindful ways to be on cloud nine in 2024. I’ve had my fair share of “real jobs,” and now I’m pursuing my life dream as a digital ronin, writing and sharing insights about living a more rewarding life.
I started as a graduate of the University of Porto with an MA in Languages and Literature, and to this day I’m a teacher above all else, but I did quit teaching this one time, went to Boot Camp, and ended up serving in the Portuguese Army for seven years.
Afterward, I traveled to Belgium and worked in Project Management for the European Commission for another five years.
My time in the “European Meatgrinder” was the stuff of legend.
How I dodged a bomb
However, life as a singleton ex-pat in Brussels can be harsh. You don’t get enough rainbows, and even the sun can be hard to spot during wintertime. I still remember December 2017 and how we only had 10 hours and 19 minutes of sunlight during that month. Specialists noted how this was a historical record that had no parallel since 1934.
“From December 1 until January 30, at sunrise, Belgium had exactly 30 hours 26 minutes of sunshine. The average for 30 years is 103 hours.”
According to Weather Online, the south of Portugal in December 2017 had 178.8 hours of sunlight; hence you can imagine how sometimes I would feel like a fish out of water.
However, the worst moment of my stay in Belgium happened on 22 March 2016. This was the day of the Brussels bombings. At 9:11 a.m., a bomb went off in the Brussels subway.
