Being brave enough to change
Changing life, work, direction, objectives. How many times we have thought about it, but how many people have been brave enough to actually do it for real? A lifestyle change can be fascinating indeed, yet you need a good dose of audacity and strength to leave everything behind, to wake up one morning and start writing a new life, looking for new ways to live it.
According to the 2016 Talent Trend – a LinkedIn survey involving more than 32k professionals from all over the world (683 of which from Italy) – in my country one worker on three has changed job in the past year, while a good 30% is looking for a new occupation. It might seem a low percentage at first glance and certainly includes people who have actually lost their old jobs, yet it cannot be underestimated, especially considering that the 90% of those taking part to the survey is planning to change occupation within the year. The general feeling is that we are better disposed towards changing our habits, more or less drastically depending on the circumstances.
When I address these thoughts, one person I know very well comes immediately to mind, someone who has found the courage to follow his passions and embrace a new path, much different from the one he had chosen many years prior, tracing one of those discontinuity lines I love talking about. His name is Francesco Vidotto, he was born in Tai di Cadore near Belluno, in the Dolomites, and spent his youth between the city where he was taking a degree course in Economics and Commerce and his beloved mountains. During the last year at University he joined Deloitte & Touche Spa, a company specialised in financial services including consulting and auditing, in order to write his dissertation. Once he got his degree he decided to keep on working for the American multinational. Some time down the line he became a Senior, then he decided to acquire a financial consulting/company management firm, which he significantly developed for four years and then sold. In 2010 he started working for an influential Italian company in the role of General Manager, while in his free time he cultivated his passions: reading a lot, sometimes writing as well, enjoying many sports – some of which quite extreme – including scuba diving, skiing, climbing, free riding, free climbing, horse riding and trekking.
A few years later something happened that pushed him to take a look at his career, which up to that point had been nothing but brilliant and promising. He started feeling like – in his own words – it was eating away both his time and life. Francesco left his job, decided to go back home to his mountains and dedicate his time to writing down all those stories that were populating his mind and to which he needed to somehow give shape.
In the past through his old job he casually crossed paths with people of the caliber of Pupi Avati and Mauro Corona, who already encouraged him to give writing a shot. Now this adventure was about to become a proper job, a hard one to be precise, requiring plenty of patience and dedication yet that eventually turned out to be incredibly rewarding for Francesco, on many different levels. Today he can finally say that he feels like he is ruling his life and time, living on a human dimension without being overwhelmed by commitments and deadlines. I like his story and I admire his bravery, just as I love the way he writes: sentences that perfectly summarise his life philosophy. One above all: life has a 100% mortality rate. That’s why rather than worrying about dying, we should focus on living.
