Translator: Anna Grajales Reviewer: Ilse S. Úziel
Hi! What a mess, right?
I'd like to start off thinking and analyzing
those little things that can change our life.
Sometimes they can go unseen,
those things could go from songs, books or even a casual encounter with someone.
In my case what really changed my life was a quote,
and if it wasn't for it I wouldn't be standing here before all of you.
When I had chosen to study design and visual communications,
- my family is a little traditionalist they're all doctors, or lawyers -
So in all family gatherings, my cousins would mock me,
"How is scissors and crayons class coming along?"
So in a way, these comments would discourage me from believing
that I could actually find a way to these dreams that I had.
One day, I found this quote,
"Whoever devotes his life to what he loves,
will be forever condemned to success."
Strong statement, right?
But beyond a quote, this synthesis of thoughts
made me believe that all that I wanted to do
could actually be possible.
Later on I found out that going deeper
into that phrase focusing on dedication,
on commitment, passion, in giving yourself to a dream.
I later on realized that a quote wasn't the only thing
that would keep me on the road, but to carry on.
It's about dedication, I mean the phrase doesn't say,
"He who does what he likes whenever he wants, will succeed."
(Laughter)
I realized it was about determination, commitment and passion.
It was about creating something everyday,
being disciplined on a daily basis.
Somehow I feel that us, artists or designers, we stigmatize ourselves,
believing that it's society the one stigmatizing us.
I like to think that, "Every artist is first an amateur."
Sometimes we dream too far.
We have goals, "I want to be famous,
I want to have a lot of money and a big house somewhere."
But we don't seem to realize that fame and fortune
aren't objectives but consequences.
I believe that it's very important to have our life goals very clear.
Also I gladly noticed that many guest speakers
have also talked about having someone to look up to, some place to get to.
There's this actor, Bill Murray who says that if you are in a room
and you're the smartest person there, it's time to switch room.
In a way I've always loved admiring great thinkers
and one day I had a revelation.
I was in Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso in Chile,
I found myself admiring this boat-like mansion,
filled with memories from around the world and windows facing towards the ocean.
So I thought, "Wow! What an amazing thing that such a great poet could build this."
As I went by, still fascinated, through the house,
I finally reached the last floor and came across a text
not quite about any creative procedure,
but the process Pablo Neruda followed everyday
Everyday he would wake up and read for 2 hours
then write for 3, then he would invite his friends for dinner,
but made them wear costumes and pretend to be someone else.
Later on in the afternoon he would get back to writing.
And he would do that everyday.
He had a determination that enabled him,
to feed his motivation and inspiration every single day.
Little by little this made me realize, for instance, being an artist myself;
imagine I wake up one day and my mom said,
"You're getting up at 3 in the afternoon!"
"No mom, I'm an artist!"
(Laughter)
These things keep creating stigmas against us.
Fortunately, my job allowed me
to put together an add agency in Curitiba in Brazil,
so every time I wanted to travel or I felt a little tired of work
I'd visit some place over there I love
this story because the more I traveled,
the more my mindset evolved and my work became better
I was so motivated that ideas flowed
and remained readily available for any project I was working on.
One day me and my friends went to the Florianopolis Island
and we literally got lost in the jungle.
We made our way through it fighting against anacondas.
(Laughter)
When we reached the end of the island,
I found myself with the amazing view of a cabin in front of the sea.
So this thought "traveling is evolving", makes you sensitive,
makes you see the world in a different way.
For example...
I could've seen that cabin and thought,
This cabin. (Laughter)
I could've thought, "What kind of hippies live there?"
"What are they doing so isolated from society?"
But this deal that I'm telling you, traveling is evolving,
made me see beyond what my eyes could see.
It made me think a little in the lives of those people
In their families, the jobs they had to quit,
and how it was all a consequence of a dream.
I'd like to think that those who lived there
had the dream of waking up every day
and have the ocean in front of them.
That same view made think of my life.
It made me wonder if what I was doing today,
was actually getting me closer to where I wanted to be tomorrow.
Whether a place, a person or anything.
So this thing about traveling is amazing
because it turns you into someone who appreciates the small details,
who misses their family.
Not long ago I watched a movie, "Hector in the search for happiness,"
It's a psychiatrist who's highly unhappy with his life.
He's married and all,
but one day he decides to start a journey around the world.
I love this analogy that after going all around the globe,
after reaching so far he realizes
that the answer to his happiness was always there with him in his reality.
So he goes back.
I hope you don't watch this movie because I just told you the end.
(Laughter)
Traveling makes us sensitive, makes us miss our families,
and then we come back as better human beings.
In other of my many trips, this time to Rio.
I was also tired of work and it was the Carnival,
I said, I'll go to the Carnival and see how it goes
and many friends told me not to don't go,
it will be so expensive and you won't find a hotel."
But I didn't care, I went and when I got there,
I was like, "Dang! This really is chaos."
There were people everywhere, all drinking beer
and I had no place to stay all hotels were full.
So I became good friends with the guy who sold caipirinhas,
and asked him if he knew of a good, cute and cheap hotel.
He said yes, then wrote down an address.
"Ask a cab to take you there", he said.
So I took a taxi and turns out it took me to a favela,
which actually had the best view of Rio.
I love to think how flexible this trip made me,
it pushed me to improvise
and bring out the best I had in me
and in a way make the best of this trip.
Being in the Favela I realized that there were some other foreigners
who got the good, cute and cheap deal as well.
(Laughter)
So I met this German girl.
We started talking and she asked me what I do.
"I'm a photographer," "Let's see your pictures."
I show her my work and suddenly, she sees one and says,
"That photo isn't yours."
I was like, "How could it not be mine?"
She says, "That photo isn't yours, you stole it or copied it from someone."
And I was like, "Why, what makes you think that?"
And she says, "I've seen this photo somewhere else."
So I showed her the full collection
of the trip I made to the Sierra Queretana.
She was stunned with nothing else to say.
Then she said, "When I lived in Germany,
I had the dream to travel around the world.
My first stop was in Portugal.
Right after a really bad experience I was sitting on the computer,
about to buy my ticket back to Germany,
and in Stumble Upon I saw your photograph
and that photo and that quote were strong enough
to make me gather all my courage.
So instead of buying a ticket back to Germany I bought it to Brazil."
So beyond bragging about this story,
I love to think about our actions,
its impact and how far the words we say can go.
You can say something good or bad
and you don't know whose life you'll change.
A quote changed my life and maybe the thoughts I shared online,
made people change their lives radically.
Going back to "To travel is to evolve,"
and how it makes us incredible human beings,
more perceptive, more patient.
It makes us care about strangers, it makes us want to start relationships.
well, not relationships…
Conversations with strangers.
(Laughter)
Well, relationships too.
Truth is, I don't know what happens when we travel,
that we become better human beings.
I believe that here, everyone, or almost everyone
has had the chance to travel
and I'm sure many can feel identified
with that feeling, late at night at your hotel or hostel,
and the very next day you have to wake up really early,
yet full of energy, you don't complain.
You come and go and go up and down and everything is amazing.
We can all feel identified with this person we became.
The question is
has anyone remained this new person once they're back in their reality?
Because when we come back from a trip, from holidays,
we go on Facebook and post, "Depressed, Back into reality."
(Laughter)
And I think that's a huge problem, do we regress when we come back?
[Going back is going backwards?]
This is the main aspect I'd love to share.
If we have the ability to turn on the good life mindset,
and endless energy attitude when we're in other countries;
why can't we do that in our routines as well?
That's something that I've found myself practicing often
now that I'm back in Mexico for a little while.
Nowadays, I have the fortune of living in the city of Queretaro.
I live "a song and a half away" from Los Arcos Queretanos.
And I say "a song and a half away" because someone just reminded me
how important is to measure life
with something much more significant and personal than time.
So every day early morning I go running by Los Arcos,
always at 5,30 I'm there running.
I'm not sure if it's for running or because I want to see the sunrise.
I know, sounds too hippie and romantic,
(Laughter)
but truth is that every day
I get to see this amazing event that we sometimes forget, right?
This down of a new day of which we can learn so much.
So one day I found myself admiring the sunrise, like a total hippie.
(Laughter)
I realized that there were tourists all around me,
watching the sun rise as well, and they're drooling all over,
they're recording or even taking selfies with the sun.
I noticed, and thought,
"Wow, it's a blessing I'm not the only one who can really appreciate this."
And I look back and I also notice lots of passers-by,
and it's like the early sunlight is caressing their faces
but they don't turn around to see what's going on.
Not one stops and says "Wow, that's gorgeous."
How fortunate to get to see this daily.
I think this is something that society teaches us nowadays
we're always on a hurry, always on the go,
and we're always getting late to meetings, events, everywhere.
Society keeps telling us that the best road is the shortest.
I disagree, the best road is the most beautiful,
or the one that make you happy.
I also believe a big deal of this is because we live too much in the future,
so we stop appreciating the present.
"I'm sure that when I get my studio or such things my work will be better."
or "when I get such instrument, my music will be better."
Sometimes we stop living in the present believing the future will be better.
A couple months ago, I had a talk with a colleague from work.
We started off talking about work issues.
but when we were done talking about work projects,
he asked me, "Hey, what's up with your life?,
How do you travel so much?, What's next for you?."
I told him that I was focused to head over to Japan.
I told him that not being able to picture
how my life will be in Japan actually excites me a lot.
So an ordinary meeting related to work,
turned into something motivational.
He suddenly said,"Hey that's awesome!
When you're in Tokyo let's partner up and open a Mescal shop or something."
(Laughter)
And I was like, "Sure!"
Then the talk turned a little sentimental,
he said, "You know what, right now my job isn't great,
is just something provisional."
The talk went on until we went on our separate ways.
Later I wrote him an email, "Hey, here's the information.
Hopefully we can have these kind of conversations more often,
to keep motivating each other."
And he didn't reply.
He didn't even send the job stuff or anything.
Little time went by, I sent another email,
"Hey, I really need this, sorry to bug so much, but I really need that information."
And more time went by and still no answer.
After receiving no reply and with very little time left for the project,
I called him at his office,
and they told me he had passed away a few days before.
And I wish they had told me
"You know what? He quit his job to travel the world."
But such is life, so fragile and brief.
We sometimes forget.
And the most ironic thing is that he died on an accident on his way to the job.
We think so much in the future,
we don't do our best to create a better present.
To wrap this up, I'd like to leave you with this traveler mindset.
Let's make the most of every moment.
[Make every moment worthy...]
But not tomorrow, not on holidays.
Right now.
Life is too short not make the most of every moment.
Thank you so much.
(Applause)