Tag: christmas

Advent Calendar, Day 5

MiaLeave a comment
butterfly
Butterfly girl by Duran Duran

For some Christmas can be a depressive time but there’s still a tomorrow after that. Instead of listening to Christmas carols, you can listen to songs that lifts up your spirit. Instead of wishing to vanish from this earth, how about trying to think something positive. Of course it’s difficult to tell a person who actually do suffer from mental illness to get over it. But if you only feel down from time to time, then thinking positive can help.

When I feel down, music is my savor. The lyric in the photo is from a song by Duran Duran. The lyrics say

Now you’re drunk in the dream of your life as dirt
It might last forever, and that really hurts
And I still hope you’re gonna realize
There’s only one kind of happy in that glass of wine

Some find comfort in food or alcohol but that’s not away to feel better. The problems will still be there. You should try to handle your feelings in some other way. Things are never as bad as we think they are. There’s always a solution to everything. The problem with humans are that we think we’re alone with our problems but there are others too who suffer the same way. That’s one of the reasons why blogging is such a good way to express yourself. Not just blogging but writing in general is good therapy. It doesn’t need to be online. I wrote diaries for years and it helped me a lot. Substances are only a temporary solution and it causes more problems. Talking to someone or writing about your feelings is a much more effective way.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday but in recent years it has become less important. The reason is that our family has reduced. Now it’s only me and my father left. We will be going to Riga again this year because that’s the easiest. As a kid the holiday was more important. I think when I’m alone, I won’t be celebrating it at all. Christmas food has never really been my favorite food anyway. I’m a bit lazy to make any and the ones you can buy are not good at all. The only thing I would make myself is a dry cake and joulutorttu (Christmas tart) Christmas won’t never be a depressive time for me because I’ll always find something positive about it. The only time I was sad at Christmas was when my mother had died about 8 days earlier (December 15, 2013) I still get teared up when I think about that Christmas. Nothing felt important. I only wanted to cry. She was the one who made Christmas. When she was gone, it was never the same again.

Listening to lyrics that tells about things that turns into positive is a great boost. It makes you feel better and it helped me cope with my mourning period. For example the Monty Python song “Always look on the bright side of life” No matter how bad things are, there’s always something good. That song always brings a smile on my face. There are a lot of other songs of positive thinking. Even a beat of a song makes me happy. Music all year around and not only at Christmas. That’s the right drug to be addicted to.

 

 

 

Tallenna

Tallenna

My Christmas in Riga

MiaLeave a comment
dessert
Dessert on the cruise ship (Nokia Lumia 820)

My father and I went on a cruise to Riga, Latvia. This was the 2nd time without mother. It’s much easier to go somewhere where you don’t have to stress about Christmas. The food and entertainment are offered on a plate. You don’t have to do anything but relax. We’ve been on this cruise about 5 times. I’ve lost count. You also get to go on shore see Riga for 4,5 hours. This time I’ve had to go alone since dad was stupid enough to forget his passport. Misinformed, he said.

Tip! Always have your passport with you
even if you think you won’t need it

I was very disappointed but then in a way it was good. I could walk further without having to wait for another person. Since we’ve been there before, I knew where to go.

What I like about Riga is the walking distance to the Old Town from the harbour. The best sights are near by. That’s something you don’t find everywhere. In other places you have to go by bus or another transport.
When we arrived to the country the weather was cloudy but an hour later the sun came up. Even if it was windy in some places, it was nice to walk around.

My first destination was the Stone Bridge (Akmens tilts). I walked to the other side of the Daugava river and continued to the Railway Bridge. It wasn’t far away. You see photos of it from the other side but not that often from the side I was on. I didn’t know if you could walk over the bridge or not (and no you can’t)

RailwayBridge
The Railway Bridge, Riga, Latvia (on the right, Latvian Academy of Science a.k.a. “Stalin’s birthday cake”)
RailWayBridgeLeft
The Railway Bridge from the other side

I walked back to the Stone Bridge and over it to the Old Town. I was heading to Vērmanes Garden. I haven’t been there before but I looked on the internet before the trip and I also had a map with me. On the way there, I stopped by the Freedom Monument. I’ve taken photos of it before but this time I got a bit closer to it.

FreedomStatue2

FreedomStatue
Statues around the Freedom Monument

The public garden wasn’t far away from it. The place was quite big. In the summer it’s more lively and there’s more colour. Now it was bland and greyish but still it was a nice place to spend the time.

fountain
Fountain in Vermanes Garden
Vermanes
Vermanes Garden
Stage
On stage

It was already getting a bit darker and I had a few more places to go. I walked to Esplanade park where they have a Christmas market on the edge of it. I was just walking through it but I stopped by to look at the bunnies inside a fenced area. There are quite a lot of them. There are small houses and the bunnies can run around. Some of them chased other bunnies which looked so cute. Bunnies are the only animals I’ve never been scared of.
There’s a few markets across the city. Two of them are in the Old Town. One is close to the Riga Cathedral.

marketplace
Market square

It was closer to 4 pm so I walked back to the harbour to get back to the cruise ship. Even if I was on shore alone, I had a nice time. It was nice to hear some other language than Finnish for a change.

The trip home it was quite windy on the sea. You could hardly walk straight on the ship. It was quite funny. You weren’t drunk but still it felt like you were. After shopping and eating dinner (and we ate quite a lot) we decided to stay in the cabin the rest of the evening. Laying down felt much better. The Titanic movie was shown on TV so why go somewhere when you could hardly walk anyway.

So that was my Christmas in Riga. I really recommend to visit the place. Even if it’s only for a few hours. It would be nice to see it in the summer too. But that’s a trip for another day.