All the small things matter

They really do!

A good old friend of mine sent me a set of 3D-printed doors I can use with sci-fi board games like Zombicide Invader or Nemesis.

This may sound silly, but this little improvement to the visuals of some of my favorite ‘Ameritrash’ games of all times made me happy.

There’s little to nothing to be happy about in the news, for sure. I try to focus on my day-by-day tasks, trying to keep anxiety and the fear for the future at bay. But it’s no light task, if you ask me.

I’ve been in a very bad place in the last months. Felt overwhelmed, insecure, sad, and angry. And my mental health has been seriously compromised. In years, I’ve lost interest in many things that I used to love. I’ve been playing the guitar since I was 11. I’ve never been a great instrumentalist, but dude I loved stroking the chords, playing with full distortion, trying my best to shred without sounding ridiculous (as a matter of fact I failed miserably :D ).

In 2017, I even recorded an extreme metal EP with some friends, you can find it here on our official Bandcamp if you’re into blackened death metal. Then I just quit. Stopped practicing, stopped playing, even stopped enjoying it. If someone brought a guitar at a party, for example, I just pretended I’ve never played.

Then something clicked. I don’t know why. I was at my mom’s in visit. Went to my old bedroom and my classic guitar was there, hanging on the wall on its support. I grabbed it, tuned the strings and strummed a bit. My wife was delighted, and asked me to bring the guitar home with us.

So I did, and all of the sudden I started picking it whenever I could, playing and learning some songs, singing aloud, having a good time. I’ve even brought it with me at a barbecue party, and we all sang together like we were 15 again.

I realized how much I missed music. So I enrolled to a guitar class, and I am still attending lessons. The teacher is also setting up some bands to practice together, and I am both excited and terrified.

The little thingies I got to improve my boardgames, playing the guitar, even singing along with my daughter in my car, all these are just small things, but they do make me feel better.

At the end of the day, these little things matter more than you can think. We’re living terrible times, with all the horrifying things happening across the world but sometimes you need just a small candle to make a little light in the room.

It won’t fix everything, I know, but it does help. Most of the times.

Hope you can find your little things that matter. I really do.