La Vida Tombola
Throw him into the river and he will rise
with a fish in his mouth – Egyptian proverb
I was listening to one of my favourite songs last night; La Vida Tombola by Manu Chau. Full volume! It got me thinking, how is life a lottery? How is it more of lottery for some compared to others?
I guess it starts at birth. We are not asked to be born. Our parents chose when and where. Where we grow up means we might be fortunate or not. And where we are born might determine the passport that you carry with you for the rest of your life.
It’s easy to see how for so many, being born in a less developed country has a knock on effect on opportunity. If you don’t have access to education or job prospects, then how do you prosper?
But over many years of of living and working in different countries, its been heartening to meet so many people who have had the drive to move from developing countries to change their lives. We’ve come to know people from most corners of the globe: Mauritius, Lebanon, Zambia, Costa Rica, Kenya, India, Ethiopia, Cuba, Philippines, Sri Lanka. The list goes on. In one international school that we worked in, the teaching staff comprised 41 nationalities. That’s people who got up and left their home in 41 countries in search of a better life. They took that gamble. They played the international moving lottery.
And then I am reminded of so many who do the opposite. They live life carefully in one place. They complain about their lot. But they don’t change a thing. In some way I understand why. It’s difficult to change your life. It’s really difficult to move and adapt to new places. It takes resilience. Real guts. Cojones.
I can recall a few individuals who I worked with in U.K. They had grown up with access to a decent education. They had the potential to do a lot with their life. But they also had plenty of excuses. They sat on the fence. It’s probably easier that way.
So we have some choices. We can take a gamble, to live a different life, in a different place. We can play the game. There will be ups and downs. Maybe we will win…”a thousand rockets, a thousand friends”. Luck has nothing to do with it.
La vida es una tombola.
Have you played the international moving lottery? What’s your story?
Maggie M/ Mother City Time
Oh yeah! Understand exactly what you are saying. We have lived the mobile expat life and have done the same thing at home without moving country. We have moved, changed career direction, gone back to study, socialised with people from different countries with different beliefs, learned from others and changed our perspectives. It is not always easy but the rewards are immense. Richer lives and a greater understanding of the world we live in. Sometimes it is about being brave and taking chances but also it can be about being in the right place at the right time and seizing the opportunity. If it works out, fantastic! If it goes pear shaped then it has been a fantastic learning opportunity.
Dear Maggie, I love this post.
I played my lottery 2 years ago, and I’ve been winning every day since then.
I’m Italian and in the 90’s we were taught to find a fix job, get married, buy a house, sign for a 20 years mortgage and be grateful for having a stable life.
So did I, all of it.
But I had never wanted a stable life, my curiosity always pushed me to search for something new and diverse.
So, 20 years later, at the top of my extraordinary successful carrier, the day I turned 39, I gave to my nomadic hidden soul its voice and life.
I took a sabbatical break from work and I travelled around the world on my own for 8 months.
It was my rebirth, the encounter with a type of life that I had always dreamed of.
Slow travel, silence, long walks, unforgettable people, amazing places.
No budget, no revenue, no badge, no goals, no profit, no rush. A complete new dimension that made take the definitive decision of quitting my job and changing my life. TOMBOLA!
After 20 years employed by multinational companies, in roles like business development, product marketing and sales management, I had to re-invent and re-qualify myself.
I studied social media marketing online, I got a IELTS certificate, I studied and finally wrote a technical training about Bitcoin, I got a certificate in specialty coffe, worked as a waitress and ended up as a store manager in a made-in-Italy clothes shop.
I am a salsa, cha-cha and bachata teacher and a pretty nice Italian cook.
Now, after doing all this, I can say there’s very few I would not be able to learn and do.
Now I am grateful for my unpredictable life, which has just started.
I wish all nomadic souls to follow their dreams!
Cheers from Italy
Manuela
Dear fellow nomadic soul! Thanks for your response to the blog post. Yes, the conditioning in society is strong…job/career/time serve, mortgage etc etc. Some of us do it and spend the whole time asking ourselves why. It is so liberating to walk away from it all. Slow travel, silence, long walks and unforgettable people and amazing places has defined much of our years away too. We also walked away from the security of full time work to focus on hosting at Magpie holiday let in Cape Town and pursuing more creative work. As you say, play the lottery, take the leap of faith and live differently. We wouldn’t be without the experiences of living in different countries and we are so glad that we didn’t play it safe and stand still. It brought us to the Mother City. Keep following your dreams! You are welcome in Cape Town anytime. Keep enjoying Mother City Time.
Hope you are enjoying your travels. Are you still coming to Cape Town?
Hi. I’ve just seen this. It disappeared into some blog space. As you say, lots of change. But we always felt that the positives far outweighed the challenges; the travel of course, the genuine, daily exposure to another culture and the lifelong friendships made. Thanks for your comment. My response time is off the scale ‘Mother City Time’!