Moving into 2024

"Orange is young, full of daring…" (Bold as Love, Jimi Hendrix)

?Watching the last light of the day, this side of the New year: the picture of layered hues of blues over the fiery orange hugging the hills is always a worthy spectacle.

And another year is gone: time to reflect on accomplishments and new goals. Redirecting our energy to target our redefined purpose.

A few days ago I came across a Therapeutic Drawing exercise for the New Year (IG reel in Spanish) and I decided this could be one of the best ways to welcome 2024 in alignment with my goal of bringing more art and beauty into my life.

Completing the exercise took me about an hour, and it's amazing to notice how many things we manage to accomplish during the year that we should be proud of, as well as the realizations and insights that will shape our paths moving forward.

This year I had huge achievements at work: like for instance, driving? Change Management R&A strategies on a multibillion yearly revenue Sales program, single-handedly and simultaneously across EMEA and APJC… but I want to focus on personal and developmental goals and this is sort of an inspirational chart, not my performance review ;)

Among my achievements in 2023:

I wanted to jot down that I finally started guitar lessons, however pretty unsuccessfully for now due to my lack of commitment and practice. My teacher tried to teach me "A horse with no name" and I think that the horse got bored and went into the desert, leaving me and my guitar alone. I then got along with the first chords of "Tangerine", one of my favourite songs, but I still need to recommit to it before resuming guitar lessons… next year :)

My "actual" achievements were:

• Finishing with Distinction my Adobe CC Graphic Design Cert, covering Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop and Premier Pro for commercial purposes. This allowed me to delve into creative outputs with a sense of purpose.
• Launching the Dell Menopause Champions Network in EMEA, as a Cork Champion and creating the network page and branding collaterals. This project has given me the opportunity to assert myself as a real advocate for change, trailblazing new ideas for DE&I practices.
• Developing an idea for a Services new business model, creating the multimedia presentation and pitching it with other two peers to a series of Sales Leaders and Experts, including Dell EMEA Services Sales SVP. This has been an adventurous journey that went beyond the initial quest for the Innovation Challenge where the idea took seed, and it has showcased my entrepreneurial spirit and vision.
• And lastly, after almost 10 years living in Ireland, receiving the Irish citizenship during an official ceremony in Dublin. A word on this: many folks ask why… why do I want to have Irish citizenship when I'm already an EU citizen? (like, I don't need it from a logistic or practical standpoint). Well, first of all I wanted to receive my Irish citizenship because I love Ireland (I've even written poetry inspired by Irish landscape, people and cities, its history and mythology) and after living in Cork for the past 10 years I feel that Ireland is part of my identity, that I am Irish in as much as I am Spanish and Italian, that my family and I will continue to live and work in Ireland for the foreseeable future, that my daughter (now 17 years old) has spent more than half her life in this country and her studies, work prospects, friends and connections pivot around Cork and Irish culture.?We were already a multicultural family and then we also had the possibility to become Irish citizens and to be part of the community and political life like the rest of Irish people, and so we seized this opportunity. It is our honour and our responsibility to be Irish and to represent the Irish and to contribute to the greatness of a multicultural Ireland.

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When reflecting about what gave me joy during 2023 I'm finding it was actually those moments with family and friends as I celebrated a big milestone (my 50th birthday!), attending some music gigs (we even met one of my husband's lifelong drums hero on the streets of Dublin), rewatching the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings saga with my daughter and waiting for her to finish reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula to watch Coppola's 1992 cinema rendition of the Gothic Horror classic. This should give me a hint on where do I want to spend my time and energy in 2024.

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Indeed, my goals for 2024 have much to do with Art & History: visiting the Tate Britain Museum and the Highgate cemetery in London, travelling to Edinburgh, reading more Literature and not just business stuff (just started a beautiful copy of the Silmarillion) and expanding my culture around everything Irish and Celtic. I've been learning Irish language autonomously in Duolingo for the past 9 months and next year I want to take it to the next level and start to practice with other Gaeilgeoirí to prepare for a visit to the Gaeltacht.

I am also joining the gym with my daughter this time, to build a weightlifting routine to strengthen my body and improve my health.

And finally, yes… this year I started a level 9 Diploma in Executive Management and it's extremely demanding so I hope to finish it on the first half of the year and not to fall again into the trap of enrolling for the next work related course to get another certification or college diploma… but this is a hard one for me and it's going into the things I need to leave behind in 2024: the need to constantly achieve something.

Instead I'll replace any knowledge gap that is business related with mini-projects, shadowing, mentoring,? and other volunteering activities.

Taking care of my health and saving money for travelling with my family and purchasing a home in Cork means also I will leave a bit of the dining out and social drinking activities, but I've found I can enjoy food and good company also with a glass of sparkling water.

I intend to get rid of fear and do not let it have any part in my decision making: only my values I should uphold.

In summary, I intend to spend my free time in creative and joyful activities, such as try cooking new dishes with veggies and fish, painting, playing the guitar, reading, and starting to write again, poems and articles for sure...

I'm no Tolkien, but even in the little things I can be a creator of new worlds :)

?If you came this far, I hope you find time to enjoy creating your own 2024 page. Let me know how it goes... Happy New Year! :)