On a breezy morning of April 5 2016 she was on her way to the new life.
She wasn’t sure if Chile was waiting for her, though she was very much waiting for it. This is the time. There will be no other time, no other her or them.
Yes, she was not alone. New love, new stuff, new life. That was the plan. New love was by her side, new stuff in her suitcases.
After all the necessarily check-in check-out procedures she was finally in her brand new apartment in one of Santiago’s most famous high-rises. This was the day she was dreaming about for almost 30 years of her life. Not much she knew about the next 729 days.
Day by day her savings were put into action. Not that she dishonored the action, she just couldn’t help hearing the voice inside: before you were losing time and now you are losing time & money.
Oh, fuck it, how many times she heard it before?!
Trains, planes, automobiles — no, not expensive toys, simple necessities, since she couldn’t afford her own anymore, entered her routine. And, yes, she wasn’t working. Well, she was consulting some Fortune-500s once in a while, though nothing big. Why would she, for God’s sake, she’s on her sabbatical (at least this was stated openly to the world), and new love is right here by her side engaged in his disruptive projects from head to toe.
12 months later planes and trains were far beyond the budget, and automobiles were replaced by Uber. She called it ‘911 Uber’, meaning if there was no extreme necessity, she’d rather take a long walk. And, sometimes it was a 45 min walk with bags from a store like Walmart, since a store like Whole Foods was beyond the affordable line.
She was learning to live a new unhappy life without any wish or reason for it.
Why reason? Well, it was always up to her — accept the failure, kick the new love in his old ass and move on. No, not the failure of new life, though the absolute failure of the plan she had in her head, the plan she’d invested so much time in.
On a breezy morning of April 15 2018 she was on her way to the new life.
Though the plan was slightly different this time — the plan was to have no plan.
Her heart was broken by the new love who ended up stealing most of her savings and slamming the door of her own apartment in her face.
She had no new stuff. In fact, most of the old stuff remained in her apartment locked from the inside by her ex-new love.
And yet, she was not alone.
She could hear that same voice inside: if you stay, you’ll die. You are here for a reason. Stay firm on your decisions.
As she moved in with her friend, she couldn’t help thinking over & over: when the most powerful humans on the planet were asked ‘what was the one thing they regret not doing?’ the answer was ‘not making a decision to quit earlier’.
She knew it. This is the wisdom that saved her ass so many times. She used to share it with her teams and her clients.
So, why the fuck she’d waited for 24 months to use it herself?!
Her lessons were simple, yet not easy.
- Create your life. Don’t let life happen to you.
- Stay firm on your decisions.
- Between the follower and the seeker choose none. Be the founder.
- Be yourself no matter if anybody is watching or not.
- Be grateful for all the things in your life you don’t know about yet.
- Dream big, act now.
- Make each one of your days count.
On a sunny day of December 18 2018 she was sharing her story with me on the terrace of her new almost entirely glass house, the wind was blowing her red curly hair, the white lotus tea was warming her cup, and the $200K check she’d signed in front of me was meant to save the lives of the endangered animal species of our blue planet.
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