In English
TEXT by Pablo Santur PHOTO CDD20 / PIXABAY
Towards something new Pablo Santur talks about how to deal with facing new challenges. What is the difference maker between surviving and failing when new things happen?
IF YOU, LIKE ME, ARE NOT FROM OULU, your arrival to this
city was a moment of newness. An open door to new experiences and moments. Since uncertainty was part of the combo, I had just a blurred idea of what I was about to face. Following my truthful desire to have a good experience here, I settled down most of those moments in my memory under a shining and beautiful light. However, part of the journey was also this pandemic, a breakup, and really difficult times adapting to this new normality. So, why new flavors, experiences or colors in the sky can be beautiful but a newness shaped by a pandemic, or a sudden break up is the opposite?
The newness full of hope Same as you, I have faced newness many times in my life. Like for instance, the first time I went to the school by myself, or went on a date, or started in a job position. Following the latest, the most recent change in my working life was the shift of profession. After working as a scriptwriter and living some years in Argentina, I decided to go back to Peru. However, the landscape was not as promising as expected and I did not find a job in the media. Although it was a difficult moment, it forced me to find another door. One that later on guided me here. In the years I was away from Perú
the number of universities grew exponentially. Since teachers were needed, I accepted a job offer. On the first day, I was in front of the class, all nervous, stuttering and stumbling with my ideas. It was not as easy as I thought. Both my lack of performance skills and unrealistic expectations made it difficult. I was expecting to find students eager to know more about the field, so we all would become a family in pursuit of knowledge (naïve, idealistic, but real at that time). Instead, some were truly interested while others were not (and others did not have a clue of what they wanted). A hundred relaxing breaths later, I realized although I was a communicator, I did not know about learning or teaching processes. And the immediate feedback from my students yawning at the back of the class was totally different to get the rating results of the TV show I wrote. And I did not know fully how to handle that. Tim Ferriss, American best-selling author, recommends exteriorizing our fears by listing them. In my case, it took me a while, but finally I was able to express out loud (because for that I have to accept that my worst fear became true) that I did not want to be a teacher disconnected from my students. By doing that, I was able to picture the situation with some distance and establish potential alternatives. Because of my inflated expectations, I did not fully do it in advance so I had to overcome the evident results.
26 OULUN YLIOPPILASLEHTI YLIOPPILASLEHTI 26 OULUN
NRO NRO3 3| 2020 | 2020
On the contrary, when I decided to come to Oulu, I was more cautious in my planning. First, since I was really methodical with my savings, I knew in advance I was going to need some other funding. Then, I looked for internships and scholarships since my arrival, and luckily I got them. Second, since I lived abroad before I knew I was going to miss my family and friends. Although my family is extensive, there was no other Santur in town, so I joined as many groups and met as many people as I could. At that point, I felt ready to face any challenge. However, I skipped something. In my mind, I was fully prepared to defeat the harshest winter ever. Packed in my bags was my jacket, gloves, and socks. So, cold was not going to be a problem (only an issue. From 11 degrees in winter to -25, no matter how well I could have planned, it is still a huge gap). However, it didn’t even cross my mind to ask about levels of sunlight during the cold. In my inexperienced understanding of Nordic winter, I thought darkness only occurred at night. Coming from a country near the equator I was shocked not having sunlight for weeks and months. The result? My circadian rhythm was totally blown up. I confused the hours, lost sleep and no trick I used in the past was working then. In a matter of days, all my inner confidence in success collapsed.