Stay Curious & Open

As I arrived in Portugal and started to settle down, I was starting a new innovation consultancy and opening up to new ideas. I was finding my way into regeneration. I had been in a sustainability context and realized that it did not feel quite right. I started going to ecstatic dances, being in eco communities, co living, and seeing different ways people wanted to live. A little while ago, someone told me we've misappropriated the word weird. It used to mean uniqueness, individuality, and a kind of magical, mystical sense. We should all get a bit more weird, enjoy our diversity, experiment in how we express ourselves, and celebrate who we really are and want to be in each other. The more space we create earlier on, when raising children and teenagers, the more we can encourage them to listen and follow what excites them, and to have space to experiment, to get things wrong, and to try things out. Encouraging risk and experimentation enables people to find their own path.