Because this is a special day for my project it only made sense for me to introduce you to someone who has changed my way of looking at the world. I won’t name names yet, but human beings refer to them as mentors, I like to call them giant cliffs that one would want to explore, learn from, conquer and in the end enjoy the view with.
Last year, when my mentor, G.G. Marquez died, I was determined never to sit and wait around for something I want to just fall into my lap. I said to myself that any dream is worth exploring and any idea is worth unpacking. It all started from there, from a feeling of regret and the thought that I will never find someone else again that I will look up to as much.
Many months later I met someone who changed my entire perspective on things. I was fascinated on every single one of our meetings and more than once I lost myself into his words. When you meet someone like that, at first it’s only normal to be intimidated and slowly, your curiosity grows and knows no limits. You want to learn and understand it all, you want squeeze everything out of them and you feel like a sponge that fills itself with knowledge and runs home desperately trying to not loose a single drop on the way. After those first few meetings, if you are anything like me, you will start to feel more comfortable, not knowing that the next step is actually getting out of your comfort zone. A person like this, a mentor, or whatever you’d like to call them, will always bring out to light the best and the worst in you and that’s when your work begins. You have to accept your worst in order to believe you can be the best.
I must admit I struggled a lot in the beginning. I used to listen to all the words, analyze them, but still was trying to find a way out, a small escape door that would have ensured what I longed for: an easy path. I fought with my own thoughts so many times, thinking that it doesn’t matter that it all made sense, that wasn’t my way and my perspective. Until one day…
As a story hunter I feed myself with other people’s stories. I cherish every word they share with me and treasure every emotion they let out in front of me. When it comes to my own story I was used to dismissing anything that would hurt or get me out of my comfort zone. Until that day… A day that I will never forget and that completely changed my path and my way of looking at things. A day when I had to face my defects with no escape door around and no way of turning my gaze away. That was the day when I really started to listen and when I understood that it’s not enough to treasure one’s story, you also have to immerse yourself in it in order to truely understand it and learn from it.
So, this post is a thank you note. Thank you for metaphorically slapping me when I needed it the most. Thank you for making me doubt myself and constantly ask questions about my view of the world. And thank you for being tolerant even when I probably drove you crazy. 🙂 I still have a long way to go, but that’s the thing about learners they never stop learning.
P.S. Anyone can be your mentor and guide. You just have to listen.
