The end. It all starts with ends. Last Friday started with an amazing End, at least for those who were at Selena Secret Garden Lisbon that hosted Creative Mornings Lisbon July event about End. With the proper and inspiring environment, an end is most certainly a new beginning. And that is what Nelson Nunes has done in this Friday morning, surrounded by the beautiful and fulfilling Selina Secret Garden outside space. He shared with us his view and his experiences with end(s).

First, about the place, Selena Secret Garden Lisbon is, as I may describe, a wanna-be-it-all place. It’s an hostel, an hotel, a restaurant, a pool, a co-working space, a soon-to-be rooftop bar… The list of facilities could continue, but Selena Secret Garden Lisbon is much more than those. It’s an art exhibition, a hangout place, a brunch place, an event venue… It’s inspiring, it’s cool and has secrets in each corner. Everything is made with such detail that you really feel like you’re entering some magical place. Opened for only 3 months, this place has already hosted dance events, a cooking worshop, bar drinks and other workshops and private events and has received people from all over the world. This month has also received an inspiring and creative event, Creative Mornings Lisbon. And what a morning it was!

Nelson doesn’t believe in ends or starts, he believes in experiencing. For him it’s what he experiences and his background that has been inspiring him as a writer. He started writing with 19 years old but has started reading with 4, which definitely left an impression on the adult that he became. He has recently published his 5^th book, Preciosa, which is about domestic violence seen by a child, truly inspired by what he has lived in his childhood. It is impressive how Nelson talks about this and other dark places where he had already been. Being close to the end is somehow familiar to Nelson. But it is the way he managed these episodes of his life that really made a difference. Was it an end when he pulled back from a balcony? And at the second time he did that? Or was it just a beginning of something else? “We are already dead” he said, “we are just doing some stuff until we get there”.

And great stuff he has been doing, taking advantage of unexpected ends, such as unemployment, for example. If he didn’t get unemployed some years ago, he wouldn’t get addicted to comedy shows and he wouldn’t get interested in the art of comedy and wouldn’t have written his “Com o Humor não Se Brinca” book, with some of the most known Portuguese comedians.

About his creative writing process, Nelson’s never thinks “I have to start writing this book”, this kind of scheduled pressure doesn’t work for him. He believes that when he starts thinking about some new novel he is already writing it, it is already part of the writing process.

He also has some interesting view about finishing writing a book. Is it the end of it and then it ceases? Wrong! The book is just starting! Because after he finishes writing the book goes to the readers, and that’s when it really starts!

This view of writing, that actually can be about anything else, is really positive and inspiring as it removes the pressure of “the process” to get there, and you can lightly enjoy the journey. And quoting Nelson: “at the end of the day just think: Did you do what you wanted to do with this day?”. And at the end that’s what it really matters.

Nelson is not only a writer but a story teller, in the true sense of the word. The audience was fully engaged with how he embraced end(s) and how he empathizes with his experiences. He admits to be a true fan of failures, they are cool as they open a lot of new opportunities, some not even imagined in the past. So, end is not really the end of something, it is just a fluid passage through life experiences.

There couldn’t be a better place for Nelson to share some sensitive and kind of ending experiences with us as Selina Secret Garden. The area for the event is really cosy, familiar and somehow intimate. And that made it all! Selina Secret Garden is a never-ending place. Perfect match for this month End theme. 

The end.

Or is it just a beginning of something else?…

Text by Ana Sousa 

Photos by Irina Konova