LIVIA'S BOOKLET

  For International Overdose Awareness Day🎗 There is a temptation to make an overdose story simple. To say someone made bad choices. To say they should have known better. To say their family should have seen it coming. To reduce a human life to the substance that eventually took control of it. But human beings are rarely that simple. Behind addiction there may be grief that was never addressed, trauma that was never treated, loneliness that became unbearable, mental distress hidden behind ordinary conversations, pressure, poverty, dependency, or simply a vulnerability that no one knew how to recognise. None of these things make every decision harmless. But understanding is not the same as excusing. And compassion is not the same as approval. Overdose can happen when a person's body is overwhelmed by a substance or combination of substances. Sometimes a person knows exactly what they are taking. Sometimes they do not know what is in it. Sometimes tolerance has changed. Sometimes su...

  I used to think change would announce itself. I imagined there would be a morning when I would wake up and suddenly understand that I had entered a new chapter. Perhaps there would be a sign. A door closing loudly behind me. A beautiful sunrise. Some unmistakable moment that would tell me, You are no longer who you used to be. But life rarely changes so dramatically. Sometimes, transformation happens quietly. It happens in the day you stop explaining yourself to people who have already decided to misunderstand you. In the moment you realise that not every unanswered message requires another message. In the afternoon when you choose peace over proving your worth. In the evening when you look back at something that once broke you and realise it no longer has the same power. You simply become different. Not overnight. Not perfectly. But gradually. There are versions of ourselves we have to mourn before we can become someone new. The woman who stayed too long. The man who kept hoping...

  A Conversation About Stomach Cancer The body does not always shout when something is wrong. Sometimes, it whispers. A little discomfort after eating. A loss of appetite that seems temporary. Unexplained tiredness. Feeling full sooner than usual. Indigestion that refuses to leave. A change in weight that nobody can quite explain. Because these symptoms can resemble ordinary stomach problems, it is easy to dismiss them. And that is part of what makes stomach cancer so difficult. Stomach cancer, also called gastric cancer, begins when abnormal cells develop in the lining of the stomach and grow uncontrollably. It is a serious disease, but it is important to remember that experiencing one of its possible symptoms does not automatically mean someone has cancer. Many of these symptoms are caused by much more common conditions. The important thing is persistence. When something in your body changes and does not return to normal, it deserves attention. Possible symptoms of stomach cancer...

  International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism There are some tragedies that leave more than ruins behind. They leave an empty chair at the dinner table. A mother who still listens for footsteps that will never come. A child who grows up knowing someone through photographs rather than memories. A husband who keeps an old shirt because it still smells faintly of the person who once wore it. A family that learns, unwillingly, how grief can become part of the architecture of a home. Terrorism is often discussed in numbers. How many were killed. How many were injured. How many buildings were destroyed. How many lives were disrupted. Statistics help us understand the scale of tragedy, but numbers cannot tell us who those people were. They cannot tell us who loved them, what they dreamed of becoming, what made them laugh, or what ordinary plans they had for the following morning. Every number was someone's person. Someone's child. Someone's parent. Som...