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The Best Way to Find Yourself Is To Lose Yourself In The Service Of Others
- Jan 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 4
I have never met an unhappy person who lived to serve others, and according to history, it was also Mahatma Gandhi’s greatest source of joy.
As I mentioned before, I switched from a profitable career in digital marketing to a new start as a paralegal, but my heart has always been with the environment. There is something about being of service that makes you whole, and it gives you a greater sense of purpose.
That is one of the reasons I loved being hired by Butler, Quinn, & Hochman; they are good and kind attorneys who are highly aware of how their actions impact people’s lives. It was remarkable to see professional attorneys with so much power treating others who were way less fortunate with kindness and respect. It reminded me of when I started my career, which had very little to do with proficiency and a lot with fighting for a greater cause. I miss my friend Eric and Farhiba deeply.
The first project I managed made me eager to serve a greater cause, by focusing on environmental protection through education on sustainable living and encouraging multinational companies to enhance their waste management practices. The work I did has had a profound impact on my professional, personal and family life to this day. Creating articles as a senior editor and meeting everybody involved in the industry to discuss how we could save our planet was incredible. My being has always been deeply in love with nature and its wonderful creatures; everything I learned became an extension of me. You can read about the articles I created, including the one for our precious bees.
All of these experiences brought me to recalibrate my life’s goals after we arrived in Valencia. I have come to realise that the culture here is very different (work-wise) compared to the U.S.A., and that has allowed me to open a business that might not make me financially wealthy, but it will enrich my community. People don’t live to work in Spain; their priorities are more about enjoying life. Closing businesses for two hours due to the high importance of lunch with siesta included (napping), took some getting used to, but I am happy we get to do it too, and it’s ok. During the height of summer, taking at least two weeks off in August for vacation, and closing the stores at 2:00 in the afternoon, it’s brilliant! Not only for safety reasons but for your health as well. Especially when you work outdoors, it is life-saving to be able to step back and close the doors of your business without feeling like you are falling behind.
We are so grateful we get to build these mini environments for pollinators, and I am looking forward to the final product. I will melt when I see all these areas serving the purpose that started with a conversation back in 2010, and now it’s a program that can be implemented all over Spain.
It's not just about revitalising spaces; it's about doing so intelligently and sustainably, transforming abandoned areas into vibrant centres where flora and fauna, especially pollinators, thrive, which in turn sustains human life by fostering the local economy and food production (boosting agriculture).
It's a virtuous cycle of environmental and social sustainability, especially valuable in abandoned urban or rural contexts where incentives play a key role in attracting residents. We seek to revitalise the territory, strengthen local autonomy, and responsibly utilise the resources of the surrounding environment, and we get to do this every day!
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