Introduce yourself: My life as a juggler… ish. (English version)

I’ve always found that beginnings are hard. “To start” something is a kind of effort that requires discipline, patience, and a special disposition that feels a lot like motivation. It happens to me when I want to start that diet I’ve been procrastinating for months, or when I start a new exercise routine, when I venture in learning something new in a context that’s unknown to me and it also happens when I write. Especially now that I’ve decided to write this sort of introduction.

There’s something that I’ve always sensed reductionist about these types of introductions, because they give the impression they say a lot but actually say so little… I think it’s because there’s so much of us that cannot be put into words that sometimes language fails us short. So, anyway, I hope that with these few words I can give you a more or less accurate idea of who I am. Here we go.

Mi name is Alicia. My friends call me Ali, Alice or Lilix. This last name is a sort of online identity I’ve built during my years-long virtual experience. Thanks to social networks I’ve met amazing people, kept links with friends that no longer live nearby and also made contact with perspectives different than mine, which I value a lot.
You’ll wonder what I do, what I like, how I am… Well, first thing you should know about me is that I’m a juggler.

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Jorge Royan

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I hope that at this point you’ve pictured me wearing a colourful leotard and manoeuvring, at the same time and quite gracefully, an absurd amount of objects of different sizes and shapes. Quite a funny image, eh? However, that is not why I consider myself a juggler.

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That one right up there’s me. You’ll notice I’m not wearing a leotard… Alright, I admit it, I wanted to play you a little joke with the whole juggler picture, but do not feel fooled (see what I did there?), you’ll see how right I am to call me that.
I am engaged to three fundamental things of similar importance, and these are the objects which I try to balance, with a lot of effort and sometimes little grace. I live a professional life, an academic life and an artistic life, so to speak.

My profesional life is currently devoted to teaching. I work with children of ages between 12 and 17, and it is a HUGE challenge. I teach two subjects that I pretty much enjoy: One of them is (Latin American) Literature and the other one is this wonderful subject called Theory of Knowledge, which belongs to a very special curriculum and makes me want to go back to school just to be able to take it. If you’re wondering what Theory of Knowledge is about, I hope I’ll be able to talk to you more about it in the future, but that’ll be a whole other post. For now, I can tell you that it’s intimately linked to Philosophy but they are not the same (or at least not from this curriculum’s point of view).

Now, the words ‘Literature’ and ‘Philosophy’ are key to talk to you about my second life, the academic life. I studied Philosophy in one of the most important universities of my country. I graduated a few years ago, and though I don’t really work in the field, I don’t think I’d be who I am if I hadn’t studied Philosophy. That school taught me how to think, how to write, and how to really read. It taught me how to question myself, how to demand the best from me, how to consider different viewpoints. I acquired invaluable abilities to form a sound opinion about the world surrounding me, I discovered new ways to approach what I knew and thought I knew, and I met important people that shaped my academic and human background. I owe philosophy much of what I am and want to be. I expect to talk to you more about this area of my life too.

On another note, I’ve always had a special affinity to books, so when I graduated university I wanted to go deep in my studies and step into the area of Literature. But since going back to uni to get another pre graduate degree was too complicated (thought attractive) in terms of time and some short time goals I wanted to achieve, I took another path. And that’s how I got into the M.Sc. Latin American Literature, which I am currently pursuing, in another great university of my country.

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I told you before that I also lead an artistic life. I think this one’s the most transcendental of the three, for it’s been a sort of guiding thread for my dreams, my goals and my decisions ever since I was little. I’d like to say that my training has been a lot more structured than it actually is, but as it is the case of every great passion, my relationship with the arts has been rather unpredictable and volatile.

I enjoy singing and dancing ever since I can remember. For years I’ve circulated in between chorales, bands, tributes, conservatoires and arts academies, in which I’ve gained important abilities and met great people.

A few years ago, about 11 maybe, I came across something that connected three of my biggest interests: musical theatre. Not by chance, I realize, it was actually one of my closest friends (also a Philosophy student) who introduced me into this wonderful world, first as an interest, then as a hobby, and helped my appreciate with a whole new set of eyes the musical works I’d admired all my life. About three years ago I decided that I wanted to make this into a long time goal: train myself in this discipline, which I consider both nurturing and complex. But I’ve always liked a challenge. I am fully aware of everything I have yet to learn to even begin to consider myself a professional, even though I have been practicing at least two of those disciplines semi-professionally for years. Slowly but surely, I’ve been facing incredible learning opportunities, I wish that in a not-so-far-away future I can devote myself to this area full time.

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Ojoporciento

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You can now imagine how horrible my timetables are… Yup, just like that, and worse! But it’s so worth it, regardless of the tiredness, the stress, the complaining, the never-enough-time’s… Boy is it worth it. In the middle of all of the chaos that it means to live in Venezuela, to be able to dedicate so passionately to these three things is what gives me the strength to keep moving forward and not give up, no matter how hard it is. It’s impossible to detach ourselves from what feeds the soul and makes us feel that life really is worth living. And personally, I feel like I’d be incomplete if I had to give up one of those ‘parallel lives’.

Woah, I said it’d just be a few words and look at everything I’ve written. At first it was hard to start but then I found myself just feeling comfortable by doing it... That also happens with life, don’t you think?

Well, now you know what I do, and in what way I am a true juggler. If you got this far and did not get bored, and instead you’d like to know more about what I do and who I am, then I invite you to check out my future publications. I’d like to extend this introduction to the rest of my posts so we can learn something new about me every day. I’ll give you a heads up: I like to talk A LOT, especially if it’s about something I like. So be ready, something wicked this way comes.

Alicia.