By one of life’s coincidences, I came across a twelve-second video through a social network where a child (George Little) in a scene from the film Stuart Little, filmed 25 years ago, runs through his house to wake up his parents and tell them: It’s today, it’s today!
On the other hand, I remember Rafael Zavala’s words in a seminar on Leadership and Personal Transformation that he gave at the PAD of the University of Piura. In it, he said that talking or reading a book will not change your life on its own, but that they are a first step.
Additionally, these days I am reading a book, titled “how to Make Good Things Happen to You” by Marian Rojas Estapé, and in chapter 5 she mentions “Reality is not what happens to us, but how we interpret what happens to us”
Now, I will share a current fact with you. My wife Jessica, who works in a multinational company, has been transferred from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Bogotá, Colombia. She has been there since June 2024, but my three daughters and I are still in Argentina. Has this brought some complications? Of course, yes, especially when our second daughter is finishing school and will also study at university here, as well as the oldest who is in the third year of her medical degree. Therefore, our family will be “split”, and our two oldest daughters will have to share a new home and university life from the beginning of 2025. Meanwhile, my last daughter (who will have to start a new school life again, different from our Peru) and I will meet Jessica in Colombia, in this new adventure of at least 3 years.
Trying to link this event with what was mentioned in the three previous paragraphs, I will share with you some personal and family lessons, a product of this situation.
Learning to remember the past as a learning experience
- The path of maturity that has been brought to each of the members of our family by being in a country other than our own, from household chores to interacting with other customs and cultures.
- The creation of stronger ties between the five members of our family, in these three years spent in Argentina, the country that has welcomed us.
Learning to value the present
- Taking advantage of technology, today I can talk to Jessica twice a day. At the beginning and at the end of the day, about deeper topics than just the day to day.
- The girls share more of their daily activities with me. I listen to them attentively, I have understood that it is better than asking or interrogating, if the term is valid.
Learning to look to the future with hope
- In my case, counting, like a child, the days until Jessica comes home to spend a week with the whole family.
- Seeing that the girls (for the moment, the two oldest), are achieving and must begin to leave the “family nest” in search of their personal and professional fulfillment.
- Let’s imagine with joy what our future family vacations or Christmas parties will be like.
At this point in this article, you might say, but look at all the gifts that life is giving you.
- Living abroad with your entire family.
- That your daughters have the opportunity to experience other cultures and realities.
- That they have gotten to know each other and become even more connected as a family, etc.
On the other hand, in my case, you don’t know what my life is like, I am a father and mother, I just lost my job, I have a sick relative and I don’t have money for medicine and more. And yes, all of that is very true and real, because as the saying goes “There is everything in the Lord’s vineyard,” but don’t stay looking at the past with nostalgia and sorrow and the future with anguish, ceasing to value the present and I tell you this from my own experience.
For this reason, dear reader, I invite you to ask yourself: What is the best day?
- To drive with joy in Lima traffic.
- To call and say hello to that friend you haven’t talked to in a while.
- To tell your partner, child, mom, dad or close relative a simple “I love you, and you are important to me.”
- To apologize to that coworker.
- To ask for forgiveness for a conscious or unconscious act committed that hurt another person close to you.
- To decide to be a better Christian and citizen now.
Finally, I share with you a phrase from the 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, Søren Kierkegaard, “Life can only be understood looking back, but it has to be lived forward.”
So, remember what the child George Little said in the first paragraph: It’s today, it’s today! The time to be happy.
Cheer up, if you can, let’s keep rowing against the current!
