This is me… is it you, too?
Anna Rodríguez Casadevall
“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
That is the top regret people confessed to palliative nurse Bronnie Ware during the last weeks of their lives.
The day I learnt about it, I decided I did not want that regret in my life. But I also knew I would certainly have it unless I started taking responsibility for my decisions, for my life and my actions.
So I started daring.
And I still am.
A couple of years ago, my mom gave me a special Christmas gift: my childhood diary.
I immediately went back to those long summer days, secret love messages and big dreams. And a page with a very clear message caught my attention:
“Sundays are too boring. From now on, I will take my bike, ride to China and disappear”.
Well, big dreams may come true.
Shortly after turning 34, I was offered a job and moved to China to live one of the most intense and fulfilling periods of my life.
Once more, I proved myself that daring, despite the fear and uncertainty I felt, was worth it.
And no, my family is not a family of travellers, expats nor diplomats.
And no, my budget was not unlimited.
I persisted in following my purpose, kept getting closer to what made me happy, gathered a bunch of resources and willingness to take risks.
And took risks.
And that difference is my life
Shortly after coming back from living for some months in Peru. I was chatting with my colleague Ramon and, after a while, he looked me in the eyes and told me:
“Do you remember when you told me the world is very small? You see it possible and you do it. Moving around the world is something normal for you, that is the difference”.
The difference that, over the last 13 years, took me to help organizations, universities, students, and individuals to reach their goals in a global world, both imagining, creating and implementing at an international relations department, and as a lecturer.
But, before that, I studied a Degree in Translation and a Master in International Development to understand the world and try to make it a better place. Psychology -ongoing degree-, integrative coaching, work process and Intercultural Studies to understand what brings people together and what (some think) separates us.
By the way, I also wrote a book, awarded and published by the University of Valencia: Life Satisfaction, Empowerment and Human Development among Women in Sex Work in the Red Light Area of Pune (Maharashtra, India). The Case of Saheli HIV/AIDS Karyakarta Sangh.
Geography
I am from a town near Barcelona (Catalonia) and several projects have been the excuse to live in Germany, Czech Republic, India, Peru, China, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Besides, I feel lucky to have visited more than 20 other countries for work or for pleasure.
In 2017, I decided to pack light and live in different places working, discovering and studying cultures, ways to see and understand life and the world, from micro to macro.
And I am far from being done… How could I find a better global lab than the world itself?
As great artist Linnea Johansson writes:
To fly, you first need to take your seat belt off.
