Transformables

Many times I felt lost when it came time to think about what kind of work I wanted to dedicate myself to. There are still times when I struggle to answer the question, "And you, what do you do?" I like many things, others perhaps I don't like as much but I'm good at them, and some others come to me and well, if they sound promising or pique my curiosity, I jump in and try them out to see how it goes. That’s how I’ve had many jobs, all quite different, and from all of them I take away experiences; in the end, that is also what jobs are for.

As a society, I think we have a very rigid idea that people were born to do only one activity, and that after deciding at 18, there is nowhere else to row. That’s where the river ends. Sir, Madam, it’s already decided. You are a Doctor. An Engineer. A Communicator. An Artist. A Dentist. A Carpenter. A Lawyer. A Homemaker. Mom of 3. Don’t you dare want to change. Don’t even think about it. If you do, what a waste of time!

But it turns out that time dedicated to various things is never wasted time. Because, just as we are subjects who can be agents of important transformations, we are also transformable subjects. We can diversify ourselves as long as we believe it is convenient. Changing or dedicating oneself to several different things in parallel is not a waste of time, nor is it being lost in life; on the contrary, there are skills that are completely transferable between careers and activities that we perhaps have never perceived because we are stuck inside our little box labeled "the way it should be."

We can be transformable, like the air. Yes, yes, the air that propels kites, enables life, is energy, fuel, a dryer, a seeder of seeds, and which, when it decides to dress for a party, is a balloon. And there it is, flowing with everything, floating, without complaining about anything. Let’s be like the air, then.

Mural painted for AKBalloons in Toronto.