Hi, my name is...

Dear reader,

I would like to properly introduce myself and it all starts with a name.

I am Mariana Rada, some of you know me as a work colleague, people and business manager, finance expert, some others as consultant, business and life coach, trainer or mentor. Few of you might still remember me from university or from the different charity actions I supported and fundraised for. And last but not the least, my beloved friends spread in all continents of the globe, people with whom I shared best moments of my life and who mean the world to me.

For those with whom I never had the chance to cross paths yet, I am going to share 4 personal things about myself. Beware, as tomorrow is April's Fool Day, one of them might be a trick.

1 - I have a big passion for the study of the mind and human behaviour

2 - Never have I ever flew above the Mediterranean Sea in an helicopter

3 - My favourite place in the world is Montmartre

4 - On top of my Bucket List is visiting Asia

I started the Newsletter My Camino: Chasing Dreams - Pages of a Journey to my Inner Self because I was very hungry to write. According to my parents, I started telling stories at the age of 2 (!!!!!), some of them had been already shared with me as bed time readings, but apparently my imagination was quite wild even back then so I invented my own fairy tales. No sooner had I learn to read, I couldn't let a good book go unless I finished it. And I didn't stop there, I started writing my own short stories, novels, newsletter articles and even a book (that never got to be published...yet). All that by the age of 30.

Then pause. I could find lots of excuses: too much work to do, too little time. But the truth is I lost myself in trying to tick all the boxes: perfect career, lovely family, traveling and living abroad, all in all living the dream.

I don't know how you have experienced the year 2020, but something switched inside me. While moving from Paris to South of France during the Covid crisis, I realised that the dream I thought I was living was not mine anymore and maybe it was never to begin with. I chased away my own dreams by following somebody else's and I could have continued on this path if it wasn't for the health wake up call that we all faced.

I knew then that the destination I thought I had chosen for my journey was about to be changed.

Today, as I am writing you these words, I still do not have a clear destination in my mind and I don't want to. To me, setting goals and objectives are still important, this time though I am making sure they are in line with my true self. The biggest joy remains the journey though, not the destination.

Writing this newsletter is a huge leap of faith for me and if some of the stories I already shared and especially the ones I will be revealing in the next articles will be inspirational for you, that would be great.

Yours faithfully,

Mariana