Winter is here, that was the marking point into entering a new phase, a new season that brings its own habits along. It meant closing the windows in front of the early morning cold breeze, and the escaping odor of the Jasmine in the afternoon. It is marked by closed curtains and carpets that fill every inch of the floor.

It was the season when moving from one room to another comes as a mission. A mission, where you dare to leave the warm room into the freezing one next door. It was the season that once you’re home you change into the most comfortable outfit and take your place around the fireplace. Once you got a place, it is yours till the end of the night. It is the afternoons that were marked by the smell of popcorn and hot chocolate. It is the long night hours, where if we are lucky enough to catch a satellite signal, we will watch a movie, but most of the stormy nights were replaced by playing cards and exchanging stories around the fireplace.

Those moments just seem so far away, as if the past few years were enough to change the lives we are living. Today, winter is here, meant a change in the wardrobe, adding a scarf, and a jacket to an outfit. It is no longer a change in a habit. It is moving your daily battle from under the sun into the storm.

Our days have become a constant battle field, a battle to maintain who we are, to maintain the face that we were raised up to, to keep the standards that we have no matter of the effects of the outer world. It is the struggle to keep your head up, to force a smile on your face, to shed your eyes away from strangers that are strong enough to look you in the eyes and lie into your face. It is a struggle to reach a faraway dream and maintain an honest reality. It is throwing yourself in the crowd, ready to get hurt until you reach the other side of the road.

Life is no longer marked by the change of the seasons, everything has changed, and it is keeping the strength to maintain your head above water is what matters. Everything has changed, life has become harsher, but deep inside you will always be the person with a cup of hot chocolate by the fireplace.