Do you also have that one friend who is always ready to share the most current details of their emotional life with you?

I do.

On one day he would say things like:

“An asteroid can hit the Earth, a dangerous epidemic can break out (apparently, this was before Corona), a brick can fall from a roof under which I’ll be walking and crack my skull…

But that does not matter. I’m in love. And it feels so damn good.”

Then, two months later, he would be surfing a different wave of emotions:

“Is there something wrong with me? ***k no! ***k no, no way, what the ***k should I do when… (description of an injustice done upon him) …that ***ch, ****ing *** ***ch!”

A few more months pass, and he summarizes the story with a zen smile:

“Apparently, we were not a good match. Many risk factors I overlooked from the outset. But it was beautiful. A lot of nice memories!”

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I am happy for him in his good moments. I feel for him in his bad ones. But knowing him so far, now I always see that how things appear to him today might be very different to how they will tomorrow. Hence, whenever he gets too emotional, I tell him in a quiet voice: “Chill the ***k down.”

My friend’s name is Lukas. He does not really talk to me. He writes into his little black journals. Time to time, I pick one of them up and read. Often I’m surprised by the crazy things going on in his mind. Sometimes, I just smile when I see him get upset for an absurd reason.

We’ve been doing this for more than 10 years now. A fascinating journey. I would say, I know him quite well by now.

Perhaps better, than I know myself.

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