The Day I decided to become a Digital Nomad!

I started this blog over ten years ago, and little did I know how much value a blog can have in modern days. Today, I felt compelled to take back my writing and share my own personal journey, As I became a full time Mommy and Digital nomad, after over 15 years in corporate and retail careers. It was time for a shift. Now many of you might be overwhelmed with the amount of people specifically mom's who found themselves in the same circumstances as I described above. However, it is important to know that we all have our unique paths, and it is your solely the adventure of becoming your ideal self and not restrain it. Once you find that path the rest is just seamless. However, it is quite difficult to find that journey. This is due to the fact that many of us spend so much time in the race of the daily monotomy, that it takes sometime to discover who you truly wish to be and where is your soul most fulfilled. It requires risk, to take a leap of faith and jump in the destiny of the unknown. I invite you to do as much research as possible before taking the jump. However, being unhappy in a salary chair is definitely not the answer. Below I recommend the following book, as you learn the pros and cons and the truth of becoming a digital nomad. Just like everything a risk is a risk, however, the metric should always be in if it's worth taking.

Remember it is always better to regret working your own process than regretting building someone else's journey as oppose to your own. My story is still typing...

In the verge of Esperanza...

 Without Hope this world is empty, Hope feeds our souls to become persistent and strive for what we want.

I would like to dedicate this blog to all my friends who I know just like me believe in better things for themselves and always have Hope for the best.

The steps you take today can only take you but so far without hope. We must face the truth, at times we can compare ourselves with a remote control, because when the battery is running out we no longer change the channel. Life is a constant thread to sew, if we don't hold on to it tight it may become apart, but there is always hope to continue sewing if we get more thread. 

To those of us who are trying to hold things tight like me, and to those who have Hope I can say... continue holding tight, you will see the results at the end, be persistent because you don't have to fall apart, change your battery and then you'll see how you can change the channel, There is no obstacle in life, and no looking back when you have Hope feeding your soul for a better outcome.

Thoughts...

-Claudia

"A BIT GRAY"- Affording Higher Education in the US

Perhaps, as a good old friend said, Life without problems will simply be too insignificant....


We cannot escape circumstances, problems, and other life's turmoils. But there is always a light of hope at the end. I will use this space to talk about higher education in the US, with a great emphasis in middle income students, those of us who have to work while attending college or universities and survive the system in hopes of keeping our sanity, yes this article was written for you...

Have you ever gone to a job interview with your degree from a public school and were told the phrase "we will call you after we review applications", and you leave from there with the feeling that PEPITO from the private school got the job!, yes it happens to many of us graduates from US public colleges. Many of us were lucky enough to obtain scholarships for the first years of schooling, but what about the rest, how much quality education can you provide for yourself if you have to work full time during college years? or even if you go in debt to obtain higher education. The education system of the US is flawed, if you have parents that have decent earnings forget about financial aid, is better to be a burden for the government, indirectly to afford higher education means you must lie to the system.


 Private loans are even more discouraging to even think you can afford education. Yes, you could probably obtain a loan. Most banks will loan students money for college. Students borrow thousand upon thousands of dollars for their education. The problem with private loans is that their interest rates are rather high. This means that the percentage of the money you have to pay back is much larger than the government grants. Therefore, the fewer private loans (with banks) you own, the better. The way to get private loans is through your university. They will initiate the process between the lender (bank) and the guarantor (you).


Don't get me wrong with this information I am providing, is not that is impossible to afford and get higher education as a middle income student, but definitely it is a burden to do so. Perhaps what would be a bit gray for many of us who want to continue our education, is that the most viable way to obtain this is via getting in debt for it. My concern is why is higher education so expensive in the US, what is the real business behind college and university tuitions? 


There many options to consider, there are Graduate Stafford Loan, subsidized which is when the government pays the interest rate or you while in college, PLUS LOAN which is based on your credit scores, and Pell grants, you name it all with one word COSTLY. 


Enough complaining about affording higher education in the US, I guess the system makes it very clear we must sacrifice ourselves and our budgets to obtain it!

"The Simple act of Breathing"

My  thoughts keep bringing me back to that saying " be careful what you wish for", sometimes our surroundings can complicate our dreams and our life of success, turning it into a empty life and fragile souls.

Do we sometimes over analyze and over qualify what we think of others? Now a days this is called criticizing, some of us may call it observation. Those who surround you can have such a complicated influence in how you see yourself in front of people. Who would have thought that to fit in your own environment could be such a nightmare...
IF I AM SERIOUS, THEN I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HAVE FUN
IF I AM FUNNY, I TAKE LIFE AS A JOKE
IF I AM LIKING WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING, I AM AFRAID OF CHALLENGE
IF I QUESTION MY OWN THOUGHTS, I AM INSECURE
IF I AM IN LOVE, I'M A PUSSY
IF I LIVE LIFE LIKE I WANT TO, IT MIGHT HURT OTHERS.
Who knew it can get so complicated "the simple act of breathing"
I could go on and on and on about things that bother me, but then I would sound too much like a complainer so let's stop it right there.

Do we care about how others view our acts? If the answer to this question is NO, let me acknowledge the fact of how wrong you are by providing the following points:

• You care about having a successful life
• you seek happiness, economical, emotional and healthy 
• you want to have stability or you want to be challenged etc

Then you need to care about what other's think of you, because is "not what it is but what others think it is"

I have perhaps the worst quality one can posses, and that is, I care too much about other's feelings

I try to please everyone, even if it means putting aside my ego.

I guess I got that gene from my grandmother, who gave her all and ended up with nothing.But who is entitle to stop you from such feelings, only yourself.

You wished daily for many things, but never know how these can turn against you and needless to say your greatest fears of all. When people diminished your actions and your reality of life, it could bring many thoughts regarding what you truly wish for. 

Aprendiendo A Elegir Las Batallas.

Hoy! comenta la voz de la experiencia, porque en lo poco que llevo tratando gente, he aprendido de "Mala Forma" que no todo se floja por esta boca, al menos no en el momento inadecuado...entonces aprendes a controlar las emociones y logras obtener una "inteligencia emocional" que te funciona casi para todos los casos.. aunque los psicologos te digan de mil formas que es mejor flojar la mente, te dire que 70% de las veces es arriesgado decir todo lo que pensamos.

Ojo no hablo de el dejar de ser honesto, mas bien me refiero a que tenemos que saber elegir las batallas, porque algunas no vale la pena peliarlas. Total el "escuchar" es una habilidad que muy pocos poseen en este mundo, y es por eso que muchos optamos por guardarnos las cosas, lo que no es correcto por que tarde o temprano algun dia explotas y todo junto es peor, es bueno aflojar si...pero de a poquito.

Entonces empiezo con esta nota, ya que una de mis grandes resoluciones de este nuevo ano 2011 es sin duda alguna, no guardarme todo hasta explotar. Al final de la jordana, ya cuando quieres actuar para que las cosas tomen su curso pueda que sea demasiado tarde. No peleemos todas las batallas elige cada uno de manera meticulosa ya que eso le dara mas importancia a cada una de tus acciones. Y luego hace que estas de manera mas cognitiva tomen valor!!, de por si las personas valoran mas lo que tienes que decir acerca de el asunto cuando no todo lo que piensas lo sueltas.

Primero y antes que nada no trates de vivir para dar ejemplos, dale un giro a tu vida en el cual en vez de encajar en todo lo que te rodea, sean las cosas que te rodean las que encajen con tu personalidad y tu diario vivir, tal vez es tiempo de que cuando algo te agobie lo debatas de raiz y lo resulevas en su momento, pero dejando a un lado la ira, solo logicamente. De lo contrario utiliza mas la palabra " Mejor, dejame pensarlo te parece?" Asi te evitas dar comentarios que te pueden perjudicar en el momento. Y diras hay que melodrama para todo tiene esta en sus escrituras", pero la verdad es que funciona, funciona mucho el decir dejame pensarlo y no hablar sin pensar como muchos optan por hacer.......

Si te interesa este mensaje los siguientes pasos te dejaran mucho en tu diario vivir:

1.No tomes nada personal, ni siquiera las mismas conversaciones que llevan a que el otro describa tu persona. "Al fin y al cabo no tenemos un espejo todo el dia en la cabeza, otros ven cosas en nosotros que ni uno mismo puede percibir"

2. Dale importancia a tus palabras, no hables solo porque si, ni dejes que los demas te hablen solo por que si. Piensa en como, cuando y con quien comunicas lo que dices, al fin y al cabo " no le puedes hablar de igual manera a todo el mundo, "como le hablo a maria, no le puedo habalr a lola, las personalidades son muy diferentes"

3. No actues esperando nada a cambio, " Es decir no asumas que los demas saben lo que piensas, o lo que deseas", porque la verdad es que no lo SABEN..." recuerda que las cosas claras se ven y se dan mejor.

4. No interpretes lo que te dicen , no lo entones solo escucha el mensaje, y cuando digo escuchar me refiero a entender, de lo contrario sea cortes y preguntese el porque de todo lo que no entiendes.

5. Tolerancia no "Pendejancia", es decir se tolerante ante diferentes opiniones pero nunca dejes que el otro te crea pendejo, "El mejor regalo que le das a otro es tu tiempo"- Rick Warren dijo en su libro " El proposito de  vivir", por lo tanto selecciona con quien compartes tu tiempo y a quien escuchas, al final el tiempo nunca se devuelve, y no todo el mundo merece de nuestro tiempo.


Estas cinco explicitas formas de convivir con los demas, es simplemente racional en cualquier aspecto de tu diario vivir.... es cierto no todas son tan faciles de poner en practica, de algo que si tengo certeza es que tu vida toma enfoque en cuanto las aplicas, son cosas de diario vivir.... y Feliz Ano 2011 !

"Al mal tiempo siempre buena cara".

La Clau

La Mujer de Hoy

La columna de la usuaria

La mujer de hoy

Por nuestra Amaia San José

Autor: AFP

Dicen que detrás de un gran hombre siempre hay una gran mujer, pero aún no se escucha que detrás de una gran mujer haya algún gran hombre. Y es que en el s. XXI ser mujer sigue requiriendo un esfuerzo hercúleo porque nuestros derechos y deberes no van a la par.

La mujer de hoy se exige verse comprometida con ella misma y descubrir su verdadero potencial que la hace auténtica mujer femenina. Tiene que ser ama de casa, ejecutiva, amante de su compañero, artista y deportista a la vez. Todos estos roles quieren ser actualmente experimentados por la mujer pero no sabe cómo, se orienta hacia una o dos áreas: o bien es ama de casa y artista, o bien adicta al trabajo y descuida las otras áreas, vitales para el desarrollo emocional psíquico de la mujer de hoy.

A pesar de su férreo aporte a la sociedad, todavía es poco común encontrarse por ejemplo mujeres en la posición de directoras de departamento de empresas debido a que el ser madre trunca sus carreras profesionales por falta de medios para el cuidado de sus hijos.

De esta forma, sólo encontramos ejecutivas a gran escala porque es ahí cuando sus condiciones salariales les permite hacer uso de todos los recursos a su alcance para emplearlos en el cuidado familiar y del hogar. La actualidad de las noticias nos decìa recientemente que el 60% del cuerpo judicial español está formado por mujeres. Tambièn son cada vez más las nuevas mujeres de hierro al frente del poder ejecutivo como Fernández de Kirchner en Argentina, ÁngelaMerkel, en Alemania o Michelle Bachelet, en Chile.

Cristina Fernández fue electa presidenta en octubre del pasado año, convirtiéndose en la primera mujer de la historia argentina en ser elegida para la primera magistratura y la segunda en acceder al cargo. Ángela Merkel alcanzó el poder en mayo del 2005. La cancilleresa se caracteriza por la defensa de los intereses alemanes en otros paìses respaldando la globalización neoliberal, así como el acercamiento a E.E.U.U por lo que se ha visto envuelta en un escándalo en Latinoamérica cuando criticó la Venezuela socialista y desestimó el papel deHugo Chávez en la región. Además fue muy criticada por un discurso favorable al expresidente ruso Boris Yeltsin tras el día de su muerte, argumentando que fue muy servicial a la democracia en ese país, a pesar de las muertes, el deterioro económico y la corrupción causada desde que asumió el poder. Michelle Bachelet, al frente del gobierno chileno desde marzo del 2006, es izquierdista y agnóstica, lo que claramente se traduce en su estilo de vida. Una sociedad profundamente católica que no ha tenido hasta el año 2004 una ley del divorcio.Separada y madre de tres hijos, fruto de dos relaciones diferentes, ha recordado siempre las graves violaciones de los Derechos Humanos y los escándalos fiscales en los que está inmerso el ex-dictador Pinochet.

En toda cultura la mujer, de hoy y de siempre, se siente de manera natural atraída antes por la persona que por la conquista del mundo material que la rodea. En ello se esconde su debilidad y su fortaleza. Por eso necesitamos que el futuro sea de la mujer, muy capaz de enmendar cualquier sociedad deshumanizada.

Change is good!, it is...

This time let's talk about change, but not just any change. Friendship changes, those that you can't explain the why, how, or when did it happened, it just occurs that change affects how we see others and who we see.  Radical friendship changes tend to happen to all of us, the peculiar thing about friendship is that is fragile, and directly or indirectly what we do, or even what we don't do affects how we see our friends.

The first thing to understand is that change is simply good, and it is because although we can tolerate the same crew for years or the same people around us, if you decided to take on a new initiatives for your life chances are some of those friends can put up with it and others won't. In fact you might encounter that they are not flexible or adaptable friends, and those who cannot apport positive things to your life even if it means a laugh, do yourself a favor and scratch them right out the list...

That saying about "it takes a strong character to not let peers influence you", is not true, it takes decision to not let others affect you, and that decision can be in the form of change. The good thing is that change can bring the best and the worst out of friends. It allows us to understand who is there to make fun of you, to criticize you, to exercise their hypocrisy with you, or simply it shows and bears their insecurities. And realistically, true friends are not those who put every thing in color rose for you, but is also how often they highlight the negatives, and hey! not only friends but even family too.

It is important to not think that friends become apart from us because of our actions, perhaps it was time for their change too.At times we think friendships are owned but they are not, friends are borrowed and is better of not to become too attach, because we never lose what we simply don't possess. Unless you are kind of obsessive with your friend, then letting go will certainly be a problem... but keep in mind change is good, it is...

As you keep moving further in your experiences you can realize that those who were at some point part of your life, helped you define what you are today, change has to come for us to grow, to evolve, and to understand what our expectations are. friends that can stick with you and adapt to your evolving are worth keeping, those who don't make it, give them your sincere thanks because their input was important too at some point... key message here, disappointments cannot be avoided, people change and your circumstances do too... the only remedy is to stick to your beliefs no matter who is friends with you, and don't let anyone turn you down due to what others think of you...attachments is problematic and you only need your two legs and arms to keep on. Think it through, Change is good, it is!