Réka's Story
"There is only one life
you can call your own.
And a thousand others
you can call by any name you want."
(David Whyte)
"It has been more than three years now that the question “So what do you do? Do you work or do you study?”
has been driving me a little crazy. Even before, during my university
years I was not really satisfied with the answer “I study liberal arts
with media and communication specialization and Dutch minor”, so I
immediately added: “but I do a lot of other things besides: I am
volunteering in NGOs, organizing youth projects, coordinating an
environmental working group…” Desperately trying to explain
that I do not consider myself only a student (even though that has been
my main occupation for a while) but I am doing many different things and
my identity is not shaped only by an institutional framework (which I
felt more and more critical about). After I graduated with a bachelor
degree and with great disappointment in the higher educational system,
replying to this question has become quite tricky. I have been living on
a farm for a while, milked goats and went for long forest walks, kept
on organizing projects about sustainability, community building and
arts, co-founded an NGO and tried living as green and low-cost as
possible. This was followed by three dream-like months in a folk high
school in Denmark where I spent my time carefree dancing, painting and
cooking, and then moved to Berlin with my partner.
So who am I? What am I? Ever since these questions are undefined and each day I could give a different answer: I organize projects, I write novels, I am a dancer, I am a designer, a painter, an artist, a facilitator, a storyteller, a trainer, a dreamer, planner, doer and celebrator… Usually I pick one or two answers from this list and try to present it in a convincing way. This is usually followed by raised eyebrows and doubtful questions of “But what is your profession really? How do you make a living out of all these?” Good questions. I am constantly working on finding answers but haven't arrived to a fixed conclusion yet. But somehow my life seems to work out.
My story is a journey of constant challenges, of honesty, of dreams coming true, of trials and errors. A journey outside of boxes and beyond labels, a journey of coming of age in a challenging time of global transition. It is a story of a young woman living into the Great Turning and the New Story of humanity."
If you would like to read more, visit my blog.
So who am I? What am I? Ever since these questions are undefined and each day I could give a different answer: I organize projects, I write novels, I am a dancer, I am a designer, a painter, an artist, a facilitator, a storyteller, a trainer, a dreamer, planner, doer and celebrator… Usually I pick one or two answers from this list and try to present it in a convincing way. This is usually followed by raised eyebrows and doubtful questions of “But what is your profession really? How do you make a living out of all these?” Good questions. I am constantly working on finding answers but haven't arrived to a fixed conclusion yet. But somehow my life seems to work out.
My story is a journey of constant challenges, of honesty, of dreams coming true, of trials and errors. A journey outside of boxes and beyond labels, a journey of coming of age in a challenging time of global transition. It is a story of a young woman living into the Great Turning and the New Story of humanity."
If you would like to read more, visit my blog.
