A few months ago, I was walking through the streets of Spain under a merciless sun. The thermometer read 42 degrees, but, curiously, I was barely sweating. Now, back home, the heat feels different. Here, with much lower temperatures, I am on the verge of melting, as if the entire environment conspired to exhaust us not only physically, but also in spirit.

To accompany this reflection, I have chosen a photo that I took in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, where I came across a plant that seems to defy the rules of nature. With its elongated stems and its faint, almost greyish green colour, it gives the impression of being dry, of having succumbed to the relentless Mediterranean sun. However, it is a living, strong plant that, as its common name suggests, “immortal flower”, retains its form and beauty even in the harshest conditions. In its stillness and resistance, this flower offers us a lesson.

The Xéranthème fermé does not claim to be immortal, but it seems to have accepted its reality: to flourish in the midst of the most severe heat, to stand upright when everything around it gives way. What does it teach us, who often give up at the first heat wave, at the first difficulty that exhausts us? Perhaps we do not need to be immortal, but we do need to learn to resist, to find beauty in the moments of greatest exhaustion. Just like this plant, we must understand that our roots and our environment define us. And if we do not surround ourselves with what is necessary to flourish — green, life, freshness — our internal seasons will be endless summers of exhaustion.

Back in Spain, the urban landscape seemed more balanced: trees, well-kept gardens and parks full of greenery that gave life to every corner. Here, greenery is scarce. Plants are dying in emblematic spaces such as the Plaza del Carmen or the little park in front of the Teatro Principal. What should be a small source of freshness and color is almost a metaphor for what we lack to feel good in the midst of so much heat.

And the weather not only shapes our environment, it also affects our mood. In this hurricane season, the crushing heat seems to intensify every emotion. Sometimes, no matter how optimistic we get up, the heat drags us towards irritability without us being able to avoid it. It is not enough to simply endure the heat; we need spaces that help us breathe, that give us back the feeling of relief.

When I look back at the “immortal flower” I feel that we can resist, yes, but also that this resistance can be more bearable if we take care of what surrounds us. Isn’t it time to surround ourselves with more greenery, more life?

I am told that there in Spain the climate is already cooling down, while here we are still in the midst of suffocating temperatures. But if we do not take care of what surrounds us, of making beautiful our streets and facades with life and color, there will be no season in our spirit that will relieve us from this constant summer.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez