acceptance – On Life, Hope y todo lo demás…

Another Year

Another year disappears behind me, unnoticed, unceremonious.Once again, my family and I trace our hopes and dreams onto paper, as if naming them might keep them from slipping away. This year, I offer less.No plans. No striving.Only being—and the fragile hope that it will be enough. Time is a human illusion, a construct we cling […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Learning to Stay

What one can achieve in sobriety is deeply personal; it looks different for everyone. For me, the emotional challenges were far more difficult than the physical ones. Alcohol gave me a false sense of self. I felt free, uninhibited, as if I had finally broken the chains of shyness and insecurity. But that freedom was […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Reflections at Sixty: Embracing the Past to Navigate the Future

At almost sixty, I find myself looking back, and in doing so, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of who I am today, who my true friends were, and who I loved most—and who loved me back. While I firmly believe that focusing on the future and moving forward is the best way to live, I […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Why we’re surprised when we reach a certain age

As we age, we often act surprised, as if no one warned us that we would eventually get old. When we are young, we tend to believe that old age happens to other people and that we will never experience it ourselves. This is because our brains are wired to resist the idea of our […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Stop searching, because this is it.

Stop searching for the meaning of life. This is it: there isn’t any. We come to the world alone, we leave alone, and in between, we live, laugh, dream, cry, suffer, enjoy some joyful moments and search for the answers to living a happy life. And that’s it. This is it—the raw truth. But, there’s […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Mujeres con canas; mujeres valientes y bellas.

Todo el mundo teme esas primeras canas. A algunas nos llegan antes que a otras. A veces nos salen a la temprana edad de los veinte; a otras no hasta bien entrados los 50. Pero llegar, llegan y eso es una suerte también. Las canas delatan la edad, pero, por suerte, una mujer puede cubrírselas […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

It’s youth’s time. Let’s lead by example.

It’s not our time anymore. It’s youth’s time. We have failed them miserably and even more when we don’t, as adults, send them a message of hope, letting them know that there may be a brighter future and that they are the change. We cannot cry, complain and only allow them to see the dark […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

The road to getting well is bumpy

Nothing could have prepared me for all this sudden change. As scary as change has always been for me, now I welcome it. I’m reaping the benefits of living in a constant state of uncertainty and have learned that the road to getting well emotionally and physically is always bumpy. All the bumps, potholes, turns, […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

I’ve finally arrived at my destination at 50

I never thought this would happen to me. That I would turn 50 and then 51. I actually thought older people belonged to a different species in my youth. As I got closer to 50 I felt anxious, but once I arrived and became part of that over 50 species I feel somewhat relieved. My […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Why I choose to wear “give-up” clothes

The other night, my friend and I watched a movie where this woman was chastising her recently divorced friend because she was wearing “give-up clothes.” While I found it hilarious it wasn’t so funny when my own friend looked at me and said, “Don’t laugh so hard because you are wearing give-up clothes around the […]