Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 30oC, hot, sunny, clear sky.
It’s Monday again, the beginning of the week. I wake up at 4:30 and head out to the street by 5. I work out from 5:15 to 5:50. Then I go to the bakery by 6:05 and back home by 6:40. After a quick shower, I have my first class at 7:00.
I have a relatively light schedule for Monday, with only seven classes throughout the day. In the past, it was typical to have an average of at least ten classes from Monday to Thursday. However, due to economic challenges in Brazil and subsequent recessions, it became increasingly difficult to hire teachers who could match my level of tuition.
Initially, I had teachers working with me, but as the years went by, I found myself teaching 11, 12, or even 13 classes daily. Everything came to a halt with the lockdown due to the pandemic. Even though I couldn’t receive any students at the school, I maintained it for a year since the beginning of the lockdown, always hoping, like everybody else, that the pandemic would soon be over. But it never happened when we expected.
In February 2020, I had arranged to move from Rocha to Copacabana and rent Katia’s flat on Rua Duvivier. At the same time, I had decided to vacate the school premises to the administrator as I had chosen to go 100% remote and work online. This turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.
I suddenly fell ill with acute appendicitis in the middle of these changes. If I hadn’t received treatment that day, I would have died within one more day. I had to stay in a municipal hospital in Rio for more than a week, and it was an unforgettable experience that I will share in the future.
So, having seven classes in one day is nothing for me. I gathered the courage between classes to start working on the sights again. It turned out to be very rewarding. It is clear to me that whenever we start something new, we essentially know nothing about it.
We must accept that we are completely ignorant about that subject but willing to take the risk to learn. We make a lot of mistakes, but as we learn more and put in the effort, we will eventually become proficient in what was once utterly foreign to us.
On Monday night, I went to bed feeling content. I was pleased that I had started to make progress and could see a real difference in what I’m doing. The key is to keep going, moving forward little by little and improving without stopping.
If you stop, it can be perilous. You miss a day and then another, and the void gets bigger to a size you think is impossible to fill, and then it’s game over.
Never stop. We can’t stop. If we stop, we’re screwed!
In bed by 10:00 pm.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
