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Hurrah
to impermanence
A knapsack and nothing else.
I’ve never though about the sabbatical, although I
knew the concept and found it interesting. It’s the
state of being secluded from your routine life, by any personal
reason, with the purpose of reenergizing your personal and
professional life. I’ve always worked for long hours,
sometimes 70 hours per week, invading my weekends, sometimes
neglecting my family and leisure time.
I had a successful career in the human resources area. In
1997 I left my job as a corporate HR director at Citibank
to work as a consultant at DBM – Drake Beam Morin in
Brazil, where I would help people to rebuild their professional
projects.
I enjoyed the experience since its very beginning. I realized
it was a calling. In this new activity I started to see, astonished,
how people lived without a life’s project, people that
did not stop to recharge their batteries, generating crisis
within themselves. At that time I was shaken up by a dramatic
experience: an old-young-friend committed suicide. This triggered
my thoughts.
Some months later, when participating in an international
event in Orlando, FL, I felt that something inside me should
change. The closing of the event would be on the following
Sunday, Father’s Day. I decided it was more important
to be with my family on that day. I was too old to do things
against my will. I left the event and went back home.
During the trip I wrote a project. I would write a book, would
look for sponsors and give the resources to a charitable entity.
I chose an entity that helped people with locomotion problems.
I decided to walk on behalf of those who couldn’t, walking
the Way to Santiago, in Spain. The pilgrimage would favor
reflection, allowing me to play a completely different role.
Instead of a tight agenda and a tie, a knapsack and nothing
else. When I arrived in São Paulo, I shocked my family
with my plans. My son and my daughter thought I was crazy
and my wife also found it weird. The secret inner negotiation
was more complicate: to leave the comfort zone was the most
difficult step of all.
I started the pilgrimage in mid 1999. On the Way, new challenges
were waiting for me. I learned how difficult it is to manage
the body when you walk more than 800 kilometers. I slept in
stables, public places, hostelries, shelters, sacristies and
churches. I threw myself with heart and soul into that deprived
life. It was renewing to live with people from around the
world, of all ages, from a 24-year lady to a 74-year great
friend. I had the privilege of walking different ways in a
single Way. I walked the way of challenge and adventure, the
way of religious experience, historic knowledge, and above
all, the way to a new life.
My agenda definitely changed. Today, I only put energy on
things that really interest me. In fact, some friends and
ex-bosses say that I’m a person with its own agenda.
And they are right. What I experienced on the Way showed me
that I spent most part of my life trying to have. Much worse,
many times I didn’t realize that I was struggling just
to pretend-to-have, not even to really have. On the Way to
Santiago I found out what to be really means, just to be.
Herbert Steinberg
Published under licence of Superinteressante magazine, Editora
Abril.
All rights reserved.
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