Overcoming Challenges: When life hands you lemons, lemonade the heck out of them!

I have a slightly different approach as most people voice their resolutions for the upcoming calendar year. Not because I am afraid of not achieving my goals, on the contrary, it’s just that resolutions do not work for me in the way they work for others. Year after year I find that my plans change in a blink of an eye. I have developed the resilience to adapt and find opportunities in the citric chaos of the lemons that life hurls at me. Let me share a brief and personal story with you...

Photo: Hernán Fratto

Thirteen years ago, I was living the life, getting ready for a milestone birthday that was set to be a celebration of life in full. Just a couple of months shy of the mega occasion, I was diagnosed with a bizarre autoimmune condition (with no remission on the horizon still), unknown, rare in the lack of terms for doctors to describe it. It changed my whole perspective in a matter of hours. It sounds bad and worse, but I guess that dedramatizing is my shield of choice.

My tagline reads: "Start with the end in mind, beginning with why." A concept that I apply every day at all times. At this point in a life filled with both fantastic and treacherous experiences, I am in a vulnerable yet confident place where I can choose what I do based on my real passion, and my why.

When life gives people lemons, everyone reacts differently. Sorrento, on the Amalfi Coast, chose to produce delightful Limoncello (originated in the 1900s and first registered as a trademark in 1988, fun fact.) Andy Warhol gifted us with his "Space Fruit: Lemons" in 1978. Beyonce published the fabulous Lemonade album in 2016, the same year that Fools Garden sat on the lemon tree (Waiting for Godot vibes...) Cigdem, the brilliant artisan behind Crocus Kek, concocted a few years back, the most exquisite signature cake flavors that I have ever tasted: Lavender Lemonade and Lemon Blueberry Basil Dance (the names say it all!) and The House of Usher proposed an ad campaign convincing everyone that lemons are scarce to drive up their price up, and the rest is on Netflix. What did I do with my lemons? Well...

Andy Warhol: "Space Fruit: Lemons" - 1978

I am a very optimistic person. Too optimistic perhaps, but it is that optimism that led me to this point in time. I received the holy oils not once, or twice, but three times in just a decade. If you are a Roman Catholic, you need no further explanation. If not, to put it simply, the ointments set your soul free for a sinless ascent. They are the last resource before the end. Yes, three times indeed. “Dear, put your affairs in order and say your goodbyes. We don’t think you will be out by Friday” (in a vertical position, my doctors meant.) I challenged the status quo while being buried by a ship-size container of citrus. Not an option! That was not the end that I had in mind when I started. I don’t know if it was my stubbornness or the drug cocktails they started experimenting with, but I made it past Friday and left on my two feet a few days later. I was a case of study in Argentina and abroad for many years. I became the popular girl, for all the wrong reasons. After that, a handful of experimental therapies and chemotherapeutic treatments for such a long time that I am certain that I am radioactive! I always picture the people behind the walls at the airport as I walk past security looking at a fluorescent figure moving down the line. Yellow.

I’m sure that you have heard Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford, the part about connecting the dots and how it can only be done by looking back. Sounds like he was onto something. As I look back on the dots, I can see why everything was designed the way it was. I guess that the point in the end is that we all do the same (what) and in the same way, give or take (how) but what sets us apart is undoubtedly the why. I found my inspiration in the chaos that I was handed, reinventing myself over and over true to my passion. I certainly lemonade the heck out of the freakin' lemons!

So, my resolutions for 2024 are the same as every other year since 2010: challenge the status quo and find inspiration in everything I do. And of course, have a color palette with a little less yellow, please!