Yesterday, I read someone in my network – speaking in the context of the new challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence – saying that self-awareness, knowledge, education and therapy are the privilege of the few. As I read it, I was shocked. I understand my instinct reaction, I did not want it to be true, but I know it to be. But as many things that are wrong in our societies today, it should not be. I was the first one in my family to go to university, followed by two other cousins and my sister. We are part of the first educated generation in Portugal, however we are the daughters and sons of parents and families with very little education; so even though I went to university, it has taken me decades to know how to take care of myself, from an emotional and mental point of view. My parents taught us the value of hard work, respect and family. We were lucky, considering where and when we were born, but mental health, well-being and happiness was far from our families’ values then. Life was about having bread on the table in a sustainable manner. In other words, having a good job.

I started doing therapy the year I turned forty-one, it would have been wonderful to have done it twenty years earlier, but it is okay, for it has changed my life in a radical manner and I am in gratitude for it. For example, although I always dreamed of writing, I literally did not authorise myself to do it. It was first through therapy and then self-awareness that I was finally able to accept and embrace the fact that I was born a writer, that it is my call, the way I express myself, a lifestyle. Everyone should have the right to an adequate standard of living, as the Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child put forward. For only when we have a dignified life, are we able to access education, therapy and the benefits that come with it. And this is what I wish for everyone.

In the years before therapy and self-awareness came into my life, I did have one thing in my life in the way of well-being that I came across as a young university student in England: walking in nature. I did not reflect about it or its benefits, it simply felt good. Walking, whether in cities or in nature, is still one of my favourite activities today and I have many good memories about it: a walking holiday in Scotland, doing a section of the Way of Saint James in Spain with a group of friends, or walking my beautiful, late family dog Afrodite over the coastal cliffs in South Portugal.

Today I am going walking with a friend. We usually go on one of the forest walks around where she lives and it always feels like a real treat, especially as we don’t do it often. In my daily life, as I live in Strasbourg, I walk around the city, which I also love. We are lucky to have the river, parks and to be very close to nature walks and cycling paths and I take as much advantage as possible. I take long walks to go to some of my favourite cafés, to the market, or just to stretch my legs and feel the movement in my body after a day sitting working or writing.

Often, what creates health and well-being is easily accessible, namely nature, physical exercise and good company. But when we are unwell or when we have too many worries in our plate, even these simple life pleasures seem difficult to reach. The significant personal changes I have been able to make in my life are a combination of things: supportive friends, an excellent therapist and the will to be better. From my experience, self-esteem is a foundational pillar of well-being and, as I have learned with my therapist, it is not an abstract concept, it is about doing what is good for us, the things we enjoy the most. When she first told me this, it sounded a little vague to say the least, but I trusted my therapist and so I went out there and tried. I authorised myself to spend a whole morning in a café reading a book, I went for walks, took long baths and in the end, when I least expected it, I learned that I had developed a good self-esteem. Sometimes it’s as easy as that, if only we allow ourselves to do so.