Mariella Gattini

I hope you are ready to celebrate the holidays with those around you in peace and kindness, because this hasn’t been a good year for most people around the world. Covid and the flu are still around, so it would be wise to get vaccinated to avoid getting seriously ill, since the number of infections has gone up, especially in California. I was inoculated with the Covid vaccine that was released in September, and my arm was swollen for around four days. The flu vaccine didn’t have any repercussions in my body. Vaccines are not the panacea for all your problems, but at least it’s an indicative that you’re doing everything possible to protect yourself from the most dangerous viruses, and by doing so, you’re sparing those around you from your own germs. It’s never too late to get vaccinated.

This month I added a new essay called Peter Panish, inspired by all the craze about living forever, backed by a multimillion business that needs to recover all the money invested, so they are going to keep bombarding us with press releases of how this temporary body of us can, in fact, extend itself indefinitely. If that doesn’t happen in your case, according to this rationale, it’s your fault or it might be that you’re naturally inferior to those who live forever. Since the multimillion industries of diet and of exercise are actually failing us on the everyday basis, this new craze wants to take their spot.

If you want to deny the fact that we are all going to die at some point, by all means follow them, but don’t tell me later that you weren’t warned. Our bodies, just like the world we live in, are never permanent, and always renew themselves naturally, but only to a certain extent. Lengthening our lifespans would only make sense if we can also expand our sense of community and our ability to grow as human beings, but these people are only focused on the deceitful technicalities of life, a life of an obsessive consumerism that will only benefit the few.

A reasonable, healthy diet and some daily exercise will suffice to keep your mind going, because good food and movement will infuse in you some energy and a positive state of mind. And never forget to sleep as much as you can. After a good night’s sleep, everything looks possible again.

After all, this is the one life, and the one body, we get to live and cherish until our last natural day on earth, and it’s precious. I value my life, in the same way I value yours, so I’ll always going to have room in my heart for you. Happy Holidays!