IF you are reading this: congratulations. You made it through 2023 and crossed over to the new year.
I wish I were being melodramatic, but last year was tough, and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. The year 2023 brought me more than my fair share of work-related setbacks, personal struggles, and health issues. Let’s just say I’d rather not have a repeat of 2023 any day soon, or ever.
Friends lost jobs and loved ones. Some got diagnosed with life-threatening illness. My best friend lost her dad on Christmas Eve. A colleague lost her mom a few days later. Memories of losing my dad 10 days before Christmas in 2019 came rushing back, as if it happened only yesterday. Oh, the heartbreak that 2023 has brought to me and many people I know, including ones I hold dear.
Those were watershed moments, for sure—ones we did not ask for but got anyway. I will admit that there were times when I asked God, “why me?”—most notably after suffering a miscarriage almost right at the start of the year. I also questioned and doubted myself after going through a particularly rough patch at work.
Every day became a struggle to face. But getting through each day—not achieving anything significant, but really simply getting through the day—became a cause for celebration, too. I did it. I made it. The day has come to an end, and I am still alive and well and can spend time with my husband and daughter.
Maybe we are too hard on ourselves sometimes. As public relations practitioners, we belong to an industry that is a proverbial rat race. You are only as good as your last campaign. Clients and bosses are increasingly demanding. Resources are increasingly scarce. So I guess it’s no wonder we are always on a quest for the next big feather on our caps.
But, really, life is not a race, is it? I came across this lovely poem titled My Soul Has a Hat, attributed mostly to Brazilian poet Mario de Andrade, but which some claim was really written by Brazilian theologian Ricardo Gondim Rodrigues. Regardless of the real writer, the poem, supposedly translated from Portuguese to English, struck a chord. It encapsulates what I realized, having gone through the things I did in 2023.
My Soul Has a Hat
I counted my years and realized that I have less time to live by than I have lived so far.
I feel like a child who won a pack of candies: at first, he ate them with pleasure but when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.
I have no time for endless meetings where the statutes, rules, procedures, and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be done.
I no longer have the patience to stand absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up.
My time is too short: I want the essence; my spirit is in a hurry. I do not have much candy in the package anymore.
I want to live next to humans, very realistic people who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their own triumphs and who take responsibility for their actions. In this way, human dignity is defended and we live in truth and honesty. It is the essentials that make life useful.
I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul.
Yes, I’m in a hurry. I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give. I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts. I am sure they will be exquisite, much more than those eaten so far.
My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.
We have two lives and the second one begins when you realize you only have one.
As we start a new year, may we:
- be less hard on ourselves;
- celebrate even the simplest things—yes, even just getting through the day;
- spend more time with the people who really matter, e.g. those who deem us indispensable;
- do things that make us happy, content, fulfilled, and all the good feelings in between; and
- treat life less like a race.
I am not particularly good with new year’s resolutions, but I will certainly try my very best to do the ones I listed above. I believe I owe myself that much, and so do you. Cheers to a more meaningful and hopefully kinder 2024!
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Abigail L. Ho-Torres is AVP and Head of Customer Experience of Maynilad Water Services Inc. She spent more than a decade as a business journalists before making the leap to the corporate world.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.
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