Textul de mai jos e scris de Dany acum două săptămâni pentru newsletter-ul bilunar byron. Dacă vrei să primești așa ceva pe mail în timp real, te poți abona aici.
I used to think of January as a quiet time of the year, and an opportunity to take a breather from everything that’s just wrapped up from the year prior. Did I get a chance to take that breather and reflect on all things 2024? Sure. Was it a quiet time? Hell no 🫠
January started just as manic as 2024 had wrapped up: studio work and filming for another project, plus my second ever play at the National Theatre, this time playing the role of the Tatar in Maxim Gorky’s “The Lower Depths”, adapted to modern-day Bucharest. Which involved a lot of preparation and rehearsals! Culminating with byron’s first show of 2025 at the Hard Rock Café, before bidding a temporary farewell to winter. At this point we’re just halfway through January.
I then headed halfway across the world for a solo backpacking trip in Colombia.
First time in Latin America. Hopefully not the last.
And classic me, rather than taking it easy and heading to a beach somewhere in the Caribbean to kick back and relax for a chunk of my trip, I packed in as much as humanly possible and visited a total of 13 locations in 15 days.
I did go to the beach and kick back (for an afternoon), but for the most part I kept myself on the go, making the most of my curious nature in one of the most fascinating countries in the world (to my knowledge anyway).
I stayed mostly in hostels. I also stayed at a friend’s farm. I met incredible people not just from Colombia, but also from all over the world. I took way more pictures than I’m ever accustomed to.
I took a salsa lesson from a real-life Disney character. I ate arepas and empanadas until they were (almost) coming out of my ears. I tried fruits I can’t remember the name of. I played an insane bar game involving beer, gunpowder and a 1.5kg metal disc. I hiked through mountains and tropical forests, overwhelmed almost to the point of tears by the beauty of Colombian nature.
I saw the tallest palm trees in the world (60 metres, saved you a Google search). I slipped and fell on a river. I cruised down another river on a giant inflatable donut. I saw the most alive streets I’ve ever been on, full of art, colour and music. I danced to reggaeton until the early hours.
I joined a jam session at a bar in a hippie village on the coast. I had a taxi driver blasting byron at full volume through the streets of Medellín.
I visited spectacular museums. I drank the best coffee in the world.
I met and had breakfast with a cat wearing a bow tie, named Ulysses.
I bought more books than I ever have on any other trip. I also had an emotional breakdown after finally having the headspace to process more thoughts than I thought I needed to process, and cried for almost an entire afternoon.
And I journaled through the entire thing.
And that was just two weeks! So of course, I came back exhausted, combined with a monumental case of jet lag ✌️But I came back with my heart full, lessons learnt and homework to be done. Big takeaways:
- Give yourself the time to process and take care of your mental and emotional wellbeing. If you’re too busy to realise you’re not ok, you will never know you’re not ok. And you won’t ever deal with it. But you will remain not ok.
- It’s ok to not be ok.
- It’s ok to tell someone you’re not ok and to ask for help.
- The world is a lot smaller and way less scary than some people would have you believe.
- We live on a beautiful planet. It’s even more beautiful when you see it for yourself. Go see it, if you can.
- For the most part, people are awesome. Wherever in the world you are.
- Jet lag is a b****. So are turbulences. But you get over both of those.
The “Sindromul Impostorului în 4 acte” tour continues into 2025, as do our club shows. See you all out there.