MY ROSE GARDEN🌹

A friend once told me, “I can’t sit back and watch a long movie from start to finish anymore. After so many short reels, I’ve lost my concentration.” And yes, it was true. Frightening, isn’t it? We can’t even stay with ourselves for half an hour anymore. We constantly keep our minds busy with something. Is social media really poisoning us? It fills our heads with endless false information and meaningless images, and then, unable to slow down our minds, we end up battling anxiety. Perhaps it is the illness of the century—many people now treat relationships the same way they watch reels: scrolling quickly, passing by. They think it feels good in the moment, but in reality, they’re slowly rotting away without even realizing it.

Of course, despite all its downsides, social media does have its positives. It might sound a little dramatic, but in this false world, I found a rose that makes me smile every single day. Her name is Ayşe. Ayşe has Down syndrome. Unlike many of us, she has no barriers in her heart. She’s my message companion. She never misses a day—always asking how I am, sending me flowers and kisses… My God, what generosity! Happiness is not in the short clips we scroll through, but in the roses we gather along the way.

According to the Harvard University happiness study that has been running since 1940 and Gallup’s 2024 Global Emotions Report, the secret to happiness lies in good relationships—deep friendships, family, and a partner. Decades of research show that people who have these are much happier than others. The studies reveal that having people you can truly trust improves the nervous system, eases physical pain, and helps the brain live longer and healthier. I believe this wholeheartedly, with both my heart and my faith in science. My friends, my family, my loved ones are the most precious roses in my garden. As the Little Prince said: “My rose is more important than hundreds of others. Because she is the one I watered, the one I sheltered under a glass dome, the one I protected from the wind. Because she is my flower.”

I have built a garden for myself out of roses whose hearts align with mine, roses that keep me in balance. Giving them my time, effort, and love is my greatest passion in life. I hope the garden you build becomes a vineyard, because as the old saying goes: “Even if the roses of a vineyard fall into ruin, when hearts find their match, they do not wither.”

With much love…

Şebnem HOŞER