The Difficult Art of the Lightness of Being Who We Are

In recent days, I've been reflecting a lot on my life, my choices, my loves, my struggles, and my defeats. Starting midway through my life, I entered a circle of understanding that we must seize and strive to be the best at every moment, possibly stemming from my near-death experience when I was 21.

To this day, I remember what I felt and learned... we are merely passengers on a journey where we don't know the destination or the end. We can only evaluate the path, choose the best routes at each turn, avoid the rocks and potholes, and strive to be a better passenger with each opportunity to stop and reflect.

Being who we are is a very complex process, which depends on our choices and learning, unique to each of us, and on the people we associate with and the environment we live in. In my youth, I went through a very painful learning process, given my shy personality. I was never someone who attracted much attention, except to those who knew me closely. This fact stems from my lifelong belief that people shouldn't act or take actions to be recognized, but rather to help.

In work and in life, I've always believed in doing what I thought was right and worthy, even if others couldn't see it. Obviously, this comes at a price, sometimes a high one, because most of the time, people can't see it. What's insinuated is more easily seen, and what's done quietly remains in the shadows until discovered.

We are social beings, dependent on exchange, interaction, and movement. This tireless ballet of comings and goings shapes us and guides us, correcting our course at every moment, grounded in joys and sorrows, successes and mistakes, light and darkness. In this infinite game of countless outcomes, we shape who we are in the light of the doors we open and close. We put together a film in which, as directors and actors, we choose who will be the main and supporting actors in the plot, ebbing and flowing in the story like waves in a rough sea. In this film, there's no way to control the tides and, consequently, the waves. We can only develop who we are, hone our direction and performance, striving, at every moment, to be better.

Therefore, the path that leads us to who we are is paved, and the construction of each small detail flows with the encounters and disagreements with love, peace, truth, justice, and compassion. By reflecting on each detail and moving forward, we are exposed to the reality of the collective and the ever-renewed impositions of society, in contrast to the needs of each individual.

In this clash between the self and the we, masks are molded and barriers are built, while simultaneously constructing the truths of each being, often hidden from the inattentive eye. These days, facing the storm of life in society with an open heart often leads to an ever-increasing imbalance in the lightness of being who we are.

In a world where being what is expected leads us to the cloning of virtues, being what we want entails immense reality checks and adaptations to endure the road and the path. Being what is expected and being what we want, in social life, are facets that are shaped into the currency of life, seeking a place of balance between them.

This Herculean task of seeking balance leads us to feel more lighthearted and comfortable with who we are and to identify how far we can be in the face of the reality we live in.

We all have rights, but we also have responsibilities. We all have desires, but we also have limits. We all have dreams, but we also have a collective. We all seek love and peace, but we also have intolerance and selfishness. We all seek possessions, but we also have greed. We all should be and respect, but we have an "I" and "mine." We all have a face, but we also have appearances and superficiality. We all want compassion and love, but we also harbor distrust and disbelief.

The difficult art of the lightness of being who we are is directly linked to the ability to see ourselves and others, living as a collective, respecting each truth and choosing the one that best suits the unique being that each one of us is.