Month: August 2024

The perks of being bilingual (when you´re a blog)

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I´m going to tell you something you may already know... But maybe you don´t know, so I´m telling you just in case.

This blog is bilingual.

Every article I write, all 175 of them and counting, you can read in Spanish and English.

White scrabble-like letters forming the word BLOG on a wooden surface

In theory, WordPress is clever enough to detect your browser language and display the most appropriate page for you, but if, for whatever reason, the page displays in the wrong language, you can always change it by clicking on the little flag on the website´s top right corner (once you get there from LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or wherever you see the article link)

I´m saying all this because the other day, I was talking to a work colleague, and he said something like: "I saw that you write articles on LinkedIn, but they´re mostly in Spanish, aren´t they?" I hastily replied that it wasn´t only in Spanish but in English too... In fact, this is something I´m quite proud of: writing in the two languages so that anyone who wants to read me can do so. and also because I enjoy both the writing and the translating. Writing each article takes me a little longer, but it pays off big time.

Because the advantages of being bilingual (going back to the title of this article), regardless of whether you´re a blog or a person, are many. The most obvious one is that you can communicate with many more people, and that in itself is enriching and broadens your horizons.

But beyond that, another advantage that´s fundamental in my opinion is that you have more options, both when understanding others and when expressing your own ideas. Each language has its own vocabulary, patterns and grammatical structures, and when we learn it, we´re literally learning new ways of thinking. We´re making our brains work differently

And that opens the door to new resources, because, at the end of the day, we cannot avoid thinking in words: language is the tool we use to make sense of everything that happens within and around us. That´s why words are so powerful, because they´re not just words... They´re the filters and lenses that conform our present reality, and the bricks we use to build our future reality.

What about you? What languages do you know? And what new ways of thinking have you learned from them?

S.S.- As I hinted last week, I have news! From Monday, September 2nd, I´m opening up slots for new coaching and personal development processes. Do you have a clear idea of the changes / projects you want to tackle this school year? Do you accept the challenge of leaving excuses aside and really getting started now? It´s the perfect moment, contact me, let´s talk about it..

Pre-preparing to get back to school

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Back to school? Already? Wow, the summer went by so fast...

OK, in Spain there's still some time left, but in Ireland, secondary schools are starting at the end of this week, and primary schools, the following week. After some well deserved summer holidays, in the Northern hemisphere it's time to ground ourselves again and make the necessary preparations for this new school year.

Photo of a paper sheet with the world continents drawn on it in different colours, surrounded by a few coloured pencils

By the way, this back to school thing is not only for children: we adults are also about to start a new phase, a new school year. It's a good moment to think about beginning new projects, or maybe resuming some that we may have parked during the summer.

That's actually what I'm doing right now: taking advantage of this moment to set myself in motion again; I'll tell you more details next week. For now, here are a few quotes I'm finding really helpful to tackle my projects with more energy and excitement (and less perfectionism):

Success hinges less on getting everything right than on how you handle getting things wrong.

Michelle Russel

Until you cross the bridge of your insecurities, you can't begin to explore your possibilities.

Tim Fargo

If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.

Ivan Turgenev

How about you? What do you want to achieve this school year? And when are you going to start working on it?

Behave yourself!

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This weekend I´m in León, a city I´m very fond of. This morning, passing by the cathedral, I found myself looking at this statue again, I find it so interesting:

Statue of a father and his son, from three different viewpoints, in León city (Spain)

It´s a father admiring the cathedral (which, in fairness, is a beautiful, impressive building) and trying to get his son to admire it as well, and the son (maybe around seven or eight years of age?) is looking away, completely uninterested.

Does this ring a bell? How often do we get frustrated because our children (or other people) don´t do what we want them to do or don´t like the same things we like? Luckily, this dad doesn´t seem very upset; maybe he understands that, depending on our age and the stage we are in life, our priorities differ, and "visiting stones" (especially with your parents) is not very cool when you´re a child or a teenager.

I admit that I have loads of expectations for my daughters. Over the years, I´ve realised two things: one, that some of those expectations are reasonable and some are not, and two, that if I don´t communicate them clearly, I can´t expect my daughters to read my mind and just know... Even for things that I may consider obvious, because what´s important to me is not necessarily important for others, and that includes my daughters.

Generally, we parents all want our children to "behave themselves", but what does that mean exactly? How do we translate that into specific behaviours? "Behave yourself" is such a generic and vague expression that children don´t know what to make of it; it´s much better if we give clear instructions so they know what´s expected of them at each given moment. Then, as they grow up, our strategy as parents also needs to evolve: less instructions and more dialogue and negotiation. Some things will be negotiable, some will not; let´s be flexible in what we can, and they will be thankful for it, and then they´ll be more likely to listen to us when it comes to the important things, especially if they understand the why.

All this reminded me of a Mafalda comic strip that I always liked. The great Quino and his wisdom, as always:

Black and white comic strip from Quino, showing Mafalda´s friend Miguelito

Here´s the translation: Miguelito is saying this monologue, supposedly talking to his parents:

  • "Behave yourself!" "Behave yourself!" You cannot always behave yourself!
  • Every child in the world behaves well sometimes and badly sometimes!
  • Sure, wanting to be the parents of a child who never misbehaves is convenient!
  • Wanting to be the parents of a child who never gives them work is easy!
  • But it´s unsportsmanlike, and you should know that!

Cousins

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My cousin Nacho and his family are visiting us this weekend, so we´ve been doing plenty of touristy things around Dublin and nearby places; thanks, guys!

It had been years since the last time we got together—so many that our kids didn´t even know each other... And the joy we found was double: first, getting together ourselves and catching up, and second, seeing our kids hit it off, become a team and live a few adventures together (this photo is from our trip to Glendalough yesterday).

All this made me think about how cool it is to have cousins with whom you can share adventures and memories, regardless of whether they´re first cousins, second cousins, or "fake" cousins (for example, your parents´ friends´ kids, whom you may see more often than your real cousins).

So today´s post is a tribute to all our cousins and everything we´ve lived together:

A cousin is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.

Marion C. Garretty

Thanks a million, Nacho, Natalia, Nachito, Rodrigo, Natalia, and Manuela, for all the memories we´ve created this weekend and for the ones yet to be created...