Being Alive Is All That Matters

Hello everyone, Hector here…

This post isn't really about soccer… or maybe it is.

A few nights ago, Venezuela was struck by two major earthquakes within 30 seconds of each other, one measuring 7.1 and the other 7.5. Because they weren't very deep beneath the surface, the shaking was even more intense, and it lasted over a minute. That might not sound like much, but when the ground is moving beneath you, a minute feels like an eternity.

I'm not entirely sure why I felt compelled to share this here. Maybe it's because my family, my friends, my people are all there. Maybe it's my way of processing an indescribable feeling: living in one place while your heart and soul remain in another. I just wanted to put these thoughts down and share them, in case they resonate with someone.

Over the last several years, Venezuela has been through so much: a pandemic, prolonged electricity shortages, political turmoil, one of the largest migrations of people in modern history, and now, just as things seemed to be turning a corner, these earthquakes. It makes you wonder how much more people can endure.

Not being there through all of it is its own kind of hard. You're grateful your family is safe, but there's an emptiness in not being there beside them. Moments like this pull you back to what actually matters.

If you woke up today, that alone is something to be grateful for. So many people didn't. We spend so much energy on things that, in the grand scheme, don't matter much: not getting enough playing time, not getting the recognition we feel we deserve, comparing what we have to what someone else has. It's easy to lose perspective.

That kind of awareness brings us back to gratitude, and gratitude is where everything good flows from. When we operate from a place of gratitude, we stop feeling like anything is missing. And when nothing feels missing, there's a lot less room for stress, bad moods, or anxiety over the small stuff.

I'm not sharing this looking for anything in particular. I just know that life, which can feel like such a big deal day to day, is actually very small and can change in an instant. That's exactly why we have to make the most of everything, appreciate the small moments (which are usually the big ones), keep smiling through adversity, and stay focused on what's right in front of us, because not everyone has that same privilege.

As for Venezuela, we'll keep fighting, because that's what we do. This one hurts more than I expected, but we'll get back up, keep moving forward, and keep that same relentlessly positive energy and drive to leave our mark on the world.

Hector