Katriel's Life Steps Part 2
Katriel at the University and his first steps as a professional.
Only Studying was never an option. One day Katriel was looking in the newspaper and found a very good job opportunity. The challenging thing about it was that the job was in the south of his country, and far away from his home.
He decided to take the road and lived for a year in Calafate, a place that for him was very demanding and a sacrifice.
While many colleagues could not stand it and returned to their homes, he stayed for the entire contract.
After a year he returned to Mendoza. He did not allow himself to waste time, so he returned to the University of cooking. As Katriel was clear about his goals, he asked to graduate at the same time as his classmates.
For this, he had to make up a year, so he started taking classes in the morning and afternoon, while at night he worked in a hotel. And as if this were not enough, almost guessing his destiny, he started English classes.
In the hotel where he worked, the owner put together a cooking team, with which he entered a National Chef Tournament. Katriel's team was a finalist and won in the Cuyo area. They were published in all the newspapers and television programs. At the age of 21, his childhood dream was almost fulfilled.
It was time to finish college. For the final class, they chose Katriel as the executive chef, and the task they were given was to simulate a restaurant. This was something very challenging that brought him face to face with his fears and his desire to overcome them. He chose 4 captains, divided them into lines and they created the menu. They finished that class, and therefore the university, with a 10, the highest grade.
All those experiences generated a grateful feeling in Katriel, but also a bittersweet feeling. People knew him from the jobs he had been in. His efforts had paid off, he had a college degree, he had won a championship, and he had a job. But, now what? Can he still dream?
The phrase "the sky is the limit" is evident in this story. When we stop dreaming, we stop living. And Katriel understood this perfectly.
He didn't want to stay in Mendoza, because he wanted to expand his knowledge to other frontiers. So in 2010, he decided to go to the United States, where his brother lived with his wife. He began to feel very uncomfortable, because in Mendoza people knew him, but in the United States he had to start from scratch. His previous English studies did not help him to establish himself in the country of power. So once again, he began to study basic English at an institute.
Katriel had a hard time studying because he felt that he could not adapt and that despite his efforts he would not be able to. It was then, when he changed his cell phone settings to English, he started watching movies and reading in English. At one point, everything around him was speaking English. So after a few months, his head clicked and he managed to integrate it into his life. His progress was so great that the institute moved him up a level. So much so that Katriel finished a course that on average takes 9 months, in 5 months.
This makes us reflect that fears and frustration are normal. But the path to our dreams is on the other side of them. Dreams are worked on, and there, they become reality. As Platon said: "Reality is created by our mind, we can change reality by changing our mind".
