Radical holidays, a complement – 01/03/2024 – Zeca Camargo

I’m 60 years old and I’ve had a tough year. Before you call this column a mockery, I say that it is a loving tribute to Caetano Veloso’s sincere appeal and that it began more or less like this.

Just before 2023 closed, a mini-statement from you overshadowed the tired end-of-year agendas not only in conventional media but also on social networks. On December 15, Caetano announced that he was going on vacation. And that they would be radical.

With his usual elegance, he asked everyone to respect his summer peace, delicately and brutally announcing that he would not accept any form of media interaction. And she spoke to my heart.

Especially since I’m also going on vacation. Yes, after a long period of intense activities. Or, to quote Caetano correctly, super hard.

I haven’t felt this need for a vacation in a long time. In recent years, work and leisure have mixed in an almost organic way, something that seems to be positive. Only not.

I precisely needed a routine to be able to celebrate her absence. I’ll explain better: in the last few months, I’ve been passionately involved in a project that has consumed me a lot.

I now present a live program on TV, from Monday to Friday. And that demands a lot from me. So, to take this vacation, in the last few weeks I did two programs a day, one recorded and the other live.

The intensity of this work made me crave free time like never before, which I’m about to enjoy. Yes, from today I embark on a destination that I haven’t been to for a while and that I want to revisit like a teenager revisiting a passion.

I really want to disconnect from everything. I don’t have, by far, the demands Caetano made in his outburst, endless requests that range from public activities to issuing opinions. But the need for a break spoke directly to me.

I was already planning this vacation and when I read your message on Instagram, I wished I had written it. Perhaps never with the elegance of someone asking to distance themselves from those who “would touch me most with their call.” But with the same honesty as someone who wants to take a break from everything. Which is exactly what I’m going to do over the next few days.

I won’t stop writing in this space in two weeks, you have my word. But for the next 15 days I plan to be absent from our much-pleased presence on social media.

Having resolved what is logistically more complicated, the break from work, I realized that the gap in virtual communication really only depends on me. That’s why I want to put my intention in writing.

I’ll be there on Instagram, but as Balu sings in Mowgli’s adventures, I’ll only be there with what’s necessary. On Whatsapp, I’ve already warned my close friends about the silence, and those who aren’t so close, I believe, might not notice I’m missing.

Phone conversations will definitely be quarantined. The closest contact my affections can hope for is a postcard.

I want to take the idea of ​​an extreme vacation even further, not on a whim, but to remind myself what it’s like to experience a trip without having to share every minute of it.

When I arrive at my destination, I want to commit only to my longing for that place and my spontaneous curiosity. What a pleasure it will be to take a photo not because it would make a good selfie, but simply to save a moment.

Am I asking too much of myself? Perhaps. But I think it will be a nostalgic exercise for this traveler. And I will strive to go out into the world like this. Only.

Because it’s necessary for me. To Caetano, more than ever, thank you very much.

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.