“Sisyphus, the man who cheated death”, is a book published by Spanish author Pol Gise. It has been a great pleasure to read/listen to it and its lesson is one that is worth everything. Keep reading if you’re interested in feeling that trying is worth it. 🙂

Pol Gise is a young Spanish writer whom I met thanks to one of my daughters in a brilliant channel in which he exposes the theater of mythologies with emoticons. I met him, not the other way around, although he speaks so well and has such a sense of humor that there is always a part of me that would reproach him for not greeting me with a hug if we pass each other on the street. Pol is a deeply and wonderfully fertile guy. He has written three fantastic books. As have his“chismecitos” and his podcast. The first, “Hades, the least bad god“; the second, “Hercules, the hero who didn’t want to be a hero“. And lastly, and very recently, “Sisyphus, the man who cheated death“. And his Youtube channel has become for me a sanctuary where I rest from many pods and which undoubtedly puts my mind in a literally fantastic place, in this brutal and sometimes inevitably comic humanity that bring the stories of Greek mythology.

Here is the link to all Pol Gise’s information: https://linktr.ee/polgise

But his latest book, Sisyphus, put me on a vantage point from which I had never contemplated the view.

Pol showed me Sisyphus happy.

OK, let’s go to the beginning…

Sisyphus has a long and intense history, first and foremost a human being, through and through. Witty, clever, cunning, sometimes fucked up. Creative, to say the least. Who succeeds, one way or another. Inevitably it reminded me of our Uvieta and his Death on a grape stick, while he had Thanatos locked in the closet. I won’t go into details, listen to you or read the book which is worth it every moment. And if not, Pol has the story summarized in one of his videos!

I’m not going to get into it, there’s always Google if you’re interested. What is transcendent is the part of Sisyphus’ story that touches us all. The part of his story that we talk about more or less like this: “Sisyphus is the one who was punished by climbing and climbing – to the top of a mountain – a stone that always falls back down.”. The “daddy of frustration” in my universe, the symbol of disappointment, the most phenomenal witness that fucking hope had reason to be in Pandora’s box …. I thought so until I read Pol’s book.

This year my colored stone has gone up and down again and again, in many and varied ways. Somehow, on the one hand because my writing went down to almost zero and on the other because I really believe in what comes out of my brush, I have climbed the mountain dozens of times this year; one and another and another chance, project, idea, path, solution… and the fucking stone goes down again, no matter what I do or don’t do. With shameful frequency I have wanted to quit, kick it and send it all to hell. In the end, no. The stone goes up again, and I push on, usually bitter and angry.

This site (olgasaenz.com) is a result of that. One more stone to climb, let’s see if we can do it once and for all. And no… this one falls too, as small as it seems to be. So much for the story. A tale of failed attempts. One failure after another, after another.

Hope for a day that is not today, precisely. Battling with fear and bewilderment that at times seem to beat me up like a father and master of mine. Tied down by the imaginary calendar, which brings a bunch of also imaginary swords of Damocles: rent, utility bills and similar little details. Tempted to give up every day and start all over again every other day. But exhausted from trying so hard and feeling like I couldn’t make it. Until I read the end of this wonderful Sisyphus. The one that teaches me that, somehow, this trying indefinitely IS the project, IS the true enjoyment of this whole odyssey. That trying is the goal. The only important one at the time of the hours. The real wonder does not happen at the end of the adventure. The True, the Important and the most HAPPY thing is in each brushstroke, in each word, in each attempt, even if apparently I keep on wasting time and the umpteenth trial and error.

And although I often look at the top from below with resentment and self-pity, and feel that no matter how much I want to, I will never achieve it…. Here I am, starting one more painting, writing more letters, more articles, arranging the paintings so that someone will come to see them. Raising my stone of colors once again. Because that’s what Sisyphus is all about, and Living.

The time of the hour is to try, whether you succeed or not. We are in the now, climbing, believing, seeing possibilities, breathing. Alive. Undoubtedly, alive.

Thank you, Pol Gise, for the wonder you bring us in every word and every letter.

And thanks to you, if you read to the end, for reading me, for supporting me and for raising your own stone, which touches us all. The triumph is not to leave it up…. It is to climb it, every time, every day. With or without fatigue, with or without hope. Peace is either active or it is not Peace. And my peace today is in trying with love, singing at times, dancing at others, smiling and laughing as I try. And crying and getting pissed off and sending everything to hell, too!

Therein lies everyday freedom, which in the end is the only true summit that matters.

I’ll leave it there, I’m going to go and arrange the paintings; maybe I’ll get a group today. 🙂 Thank you very much.