01/07/2024
Only you know about your journey…
Sometimes we need to revisit our journey to keep moving forward, especially when we’re looking to overcome phases, do different things, start over, study something new, find another job, live abroad, leave one project to embark on another, among other moments between stopping and starting again.
Austin Kleon in ‘Keep Going’ quotes: “The creative journey is not one in which you are crowned the triumphant hero and live happily ever after. The real creative journey is the one where you wake up every day with more work to do” (p.13). In other words, do it, keep doing it, and things will happen.
In light of this, replenishing myself, my ideas, and future projects, I did the exercise of recalling 10 things I’ve done and am very proud of:
1. I learned to ride a bicycle only at age 11. It’s never too late, right?
2. As a child, I cleaned my grandmother’s house and made bead jewelry to sell in front of my house. Entrepreneur, right?
3. I officially started working at 15. I’ve dealt with many types of bosses and teams, led groups, held various job positions, dealt with a lot of people, and learned a lot. It’s been almost 20 years of work, and I’m only 34 years old.
4. I completed my degree in Portuguese Language at a public university that is among the top 2000 globally according to CWUR. I passed the entrance exam, finished in 4 years studying from Monday to Friday at night, from 7 PM to 10:45 PM, while working from 8 AM to 6 PM in a position of great responsibility. I even managed to achieve academic honours, attaining the highest evaluation in the course.
5. I completed my Italian citizenship process and Carlos’s, searching for each certificate, going after corrections, translations, and apostille, without an advisor, just with courage. Those who can’t afford a professional service know how exhausting it’s to learn how to do all this and literally do it. I learned and managed in 7 months.
6. I restarted my life in another country. I left a town in Brazil for a city on another continent, a new place, new cultures, new languages.
7. I learned to communicate in other languages. I managed with Italian in Italy and continue learning English and Spanish in London. In the beginning, relationships and opportunities were without the language. It’s challenging not to have anywhere to run!
8. Together with Carlos, my husband, I developed an online Portuguese course for foreigners. I learned to edit videos, create promotional material, and studied a bit of content marketing.
9. I established connections with many people online. Through YouTube and Instagram channels, I interviewed interesting people with a lot of stories and professionalism, and also connected with and helped many followers.
10. Now sold, but we had a paid lot in Brazil, which later became part of the payment for our house completed by so many hours of work here and currency exchange. I re-educated myself financially after having taken out some loans in my life.
Easy, right?