I am on vacation and after a delicious breakfast, here I am, dedicating my free time to think and order, in front of the computer, the ideas that I want to transmit to you today. # These days I was reading a phrase that surely many of you know: “We are what we do”; being is equal to doing: an alienating maxim very much in line with our hyper-productive societies and that to be honest: it burns my brain. # Since I was a child, my parents encouraged in me the idea that I had to be “in everything”: At school I was in the Bolivarian society, in soccer, in dance and even in the Catholic girls' committee. The more things you did, “the more you would be taken into account”, my parents affirmed as if super-exposure and super-production were requirements for not being invisible to others.

What's more, I remember that I maintained that attitude for most of my adult life: I graduated with merit and went on to study another career; I started working from Monday to Friday and studying on weekends; at any opportunity I would travel to congresses, seminars, colloquiums, to rub shoulders with the cream of Venezuelan literature: “leisure was the worst enemy”, I had always been told, so any free hour had to be used for something "productive". # It is no secret to anyone that we live in a world where the predominant values are materialism, selfishness, speed, performance, unnecessary consumption, opulence, but my new vision of the world and especially the vision I have of myself, have made me rebel against these patterns that rather than seeking the welfare of people, seek their exploitation, competition among ourselves, dehumanize us.

My new me values simpler things such as peace, calm, silence, I value my free time. I no longer worry about having an empty day in my agenda, on the contrary, I celebrate it. It is a time I dedicate to myself: to read, to take a bath without haste, to sleep without alarms, to listen to my body and my mind. # I think less about the self and try to be more empathetic to the needs of others. I am not above anyone. Life is not a competition of egos to see who has more, who has more medals, who is more productive. The selfishness of accumulation can cause us to carry very heavy burdens. Medals weigh, as do surnames and some dreams, especially if they are not yours.

Today's Nancy avoids unnecessary arguments. I do not seek to be right, even if I am. If at this moment you tell me that the world is square and I do not see in you the intention to change your mind, I do not fall into the trap of contradicting you. I have learned not to wear myself out in unproductive fights, I prefer to take care of my peace of mind, the silence in my soul. # Likewise, I used to say: “This is for yesterday”. Speed and speed were part of my routine. I used to boast of being able to do a thousand things at the same time: no lie, I looked like a stacking cart. But now I give more value to calmness, to stop in things, to savor them, to observe them, to know them, to give me and give them their time. For example, I used to write many stories a day; now, just as the baker waits for the yeast to work its magic on the dough, so I wait for the stories to rest, to grow.

Anyway, if we are what we do, I want to be that bird that is on top of the boat, watching how the evening arrives, without the need to surprise anyone with its flight. Or better, I want to be that little boat that after its work is rocked by the sea with the lullaby of the waves.