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- | =====Transiency | + | =====Re-designing My Lifestyle - Summarizing One Year of Transiency==== |
- | My year spent as a MacroTransient at FoAM is now over. One year of not being a student, not being an employee, not being unemployed. One year with no expectations. One year of incredibly pure freedom of action, movements and thought. One year to re-design a lifestyle, figure out tough life choices, defining a personal and professional identity. One year of careful help from FoAM to try to answer that crazy questions: "What do I want to do with my life ?" | ||
- | Below is an attempt to summarize this crazy year, and maybe give you a hint of how this feels, or even give you the will to go through the same difficult but rewarding process. | + | by Michka Mélo, Member |
- | ====Before this year==== | + | {{ : |
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | **I have been very lucky. One of the lucky few able to spend a year to experiment, well, anything. FoAM offered me a room, breakfast, lunch & dinner, a little money, and fifteen years of knowledge on change management. For the rest, I was free, as long as I would document what I did.** | ||
+ | |||
+ | **After spending some time getting used to have very light external constraints on my daily life, I timidly started to try out new activities. I learned stuff. I failed. I changed my mind. I discovered that internal constraints were way more tough to get rid off than external ones.** | ||
+ | |||
+ | **While trying out stuff, I got rid of the Self-Sufficient lifestyle hypothesis I had drafted before coming. I decided to let room for things to happen. I worked on my fear of emptyness. I fought against procrastination and pernicious addictions. I unraveled some nodes strongly tightened deep inside, and possibilities opened up.** | ||
+ | |||
+ | **The second half of the year flew way too fast. I am still living under the bounce of the overwhelming encounters and experiences I lived. These experiences paved the way to go. I finished the year by trying to set up the conditions to keep space for experimentations and deep personal work in my post-Transiency life. Because more than meticulously designing a bright future,, what seems the most sound to me is to spend time to know better who I am, and work to find answers to the deepest questions that torment me.** | ||
+ | |||
+ | **I am not sure I can remember last time life has felt so passionnating.** | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | My year spent as a [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Below is an attempt to summarize this year, and maybe give you a hint of how this feels, or even give you the will to go through the same intense and rewarding process. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Initial Conditions==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | I had met the FoAM team in 2012, as I was an intern at [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, I was proposed two nice jobs in Paris. One at Sony Computer Science Laboratory, where I contributed to the development of the [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | The other job was as a Biomimicry Promoter in a governmental agency fostering innovation, [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | After these two passionating working experiences, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===The Self-Sufficiency Hypothesis=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | During one year working full time in Paris, I observed several phenomenon. | ||
+ | * Even though the work I was involved with was very interesting, | ||
+ | * Living at the core of a 10-million megapole made me even more conscious of the unsustainability of our (urban) lifestyles. At my individual scale, I found quite counter-productive to spend so much time & energy at work, to earn money, to buy stuff I could actually do myself, instead of buying it from obscure and sometimes unhealthy and socially-descructive industries. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | Based on these observations, | ||
+ | I would increase my resilience, by learning many different know-hows which may be useful, especially in case some unsustainable industries would collapse. | ||
+ | By using fine-tuned appropriate technologies, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In addition to correcting my lifestyle unbalance, this hypothesis would also improve my consistency, | ||
+ | |||
+ | I entered this Transiency with the idea to implement this hypothesis, or at least test it. It did not turn out exactly how expected. | ||
====Winter - Decelerating==== | ====Winter - Decelerating==== | ||
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One of the first actions I took when I arrived in Brussels was to sign up to an Aikido class. | One of the first actions I took when I arrived in Brussels was to sign up to an Aikido class. | ||
- | After more than seven years of focusing on mind development, | + | After more than seven years of focusing on mind development, |
- | Why Aikido to reconnect body and mind ? One of the things I also needed to start working on was my recurring panic whenever I was confronting with any somewhat violent | + | Why Aikido to reconnect body and mind ? One of the things I also needed to start working on was my recurring panic whenever I was confronted to any somewhat violent |
- | As expected, it has been far from easy. For the first time since years, I felt completely dumb at something, like if I had no grasp on how to learn gestures. I started | + | As expected, it has been far from easy. For the first time since years, I felt completely dumb at something, like if I had no grasp on how to learn gestures. I had started |
- | After a year of practice, I can feel some progress. I feel more body conscious, and I feel like I am a bit less sensitive in slightly violent situations. New students have arrived in the dojo, and they helped me find out I had learned something. I also decided to go to the training max once a week, to dilute | + | Now, after a year of practice, I can feel some progress. I feel more body conscious, and I feel like I am a bit less sensitive |
===Displaying=== | ===Displaying=== | ||
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In December, I gathered all my notebooks since June 2012, when the Transiency had been proposed to me. I had carefully noted down since then every single thing I wanted to do once I would be a resident at FoAM. | In December, I gathered all my notebooks since June 2012, when the Transiency had been proposed to me. I had carefully noted down since then every single thing I wanted to do once I would be a resident at FoAM. | ||
- | So I took a whole load of post-its, | + | So I took a whole load of post-its, wrote down every single activity and posted them on the wall, attempting to sort them out. |
- | After two weeks of scrutinous transcription, | + | After two weeks of scrutinous transcription, |
===Loving=== | ===Loving=== | ||
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{{ : | {{ : | ||
- | Hopefully, some sweetness was here in the middle of the two hard challenges I just mentionned. | + | Fortunately, some sweetness was here in the middle of the two hard challenges I just mentionned. |
Amélie and I had been together for a few months at the beginning of this Transiency. Thanks to this new period opening in my life, we now had breakfast together every morning. We also spent the Aikido-free (on my side) and teaching-free (on her side) nights together, often doing nothing else than having a tasty (vegetarian) lunch together, and chatting. | Amélie and I had been together for a few months at the beginning of this Transiency. Thanks to this new period opening in my life, we now had breakfast together every morning. We also spent the Aikido-free (on my side) and teaching-free (on her side) nights together, often doing nothing else than having a tasty (vegetarian) lunch together, and chatting. | ||
- | Compared to the lifestyle I had in Paris, in which I would pile up conferences, | + | Compared to the lifestyle I had in Paris, in which I would pile up conferences, |
===Delaying=== | ===Delaying=== | ||
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{{ : | {{ : | ||
- | In January, I was lucky enough to receive a job offer from my Master Thesis Supervisor. He was (and is) starting a small company on the topic of artificial closed-ecosystems, | + | In January, I was lucky enough to receive a job offer from my Master Thesis Supervisor. He was (and is) starting a small company on the topic of artificial closed-ecosystems, |
He proposed me to join in as the first employee of the structure, starting from March. | He proposed me to join in as the first employee of the structure, starting from March. | ||
- | Even though the Transiency work had not been easy so far, I could not think about stoppping so early. I had a lot of deep personal work to do, probably way more that what I envisioned in the first place, and I would definitely not even be started with most of it by March. I had to say now. | + | Even though the Transiency work had not been easy so far, I could not think about stoppping so early. I had a lot of deep personal work to do, probably way more that what I envisioned in the first place, and I would definitely not even be started with most of it by March. I had to say " |
I understood in this experience how hard it can be to say no to an offer when you do not know exactly how to phrase what you would do instead, and you can only intuitively feel it is very important. | I understood in this experience how hard it can be to say no to an offer when you do not know exactly how to phrase what you would do instead, and you can only intuitively feel it is very important. | ||
- | Hopefully, my Master Thesis Supervisor did not take it the wrong way, and offered me the job again last August. But more on that later. | + | Fortunately, my Master Thesis Supervisor did not take it the wrong way, and offered me the job again last August. But more on that later. |
===Cooking=== | ===Cooking=== | ||
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FoAM Brussels being a temple of cooking, I spent some time trying [[http:// | FoAM Brussels being a temple of cooking, I spent some time trying [[http:// | ||
- | It also helped | + | In addition to reducing my reliance on industrial food, it also helped |
===Teaching=== | ===Teaching=== | ||
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I felt very honored to be proposed to co-teach in such an environment, | I felt very honored to be proposed to co-teach in such an environment, | ||
- | I was confronted their with highly creative students, and a complete new way of teaching. This way of teaching is way more personal, intricated with the personality & life trajectories of these students. | + | I was confronted their with highly creative students and a complete new way of teaching, way more personal, intricated with the personality & life trajectories of these students. |
+ | |||
+ | I wish I could bring part of this way of teaching to my engineering school, as I think it would help have engineers concerned with actual challenges (and not only technical fantasies), conscious of their personal issues, and more able to question the myths and taboos of the society they live in. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Gardening=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the initial objectives of this year was also to learn practical know-hows to include more DIY in my daily life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | FoAM Brussels gave me a "carte blanche" | ||
+ | |||
+ | This experiment in itself gave me an idea of how hard it is to rely on my own food production, and how devoted and sedentary I had to be. Which made me re-think completely the self-sufficiency hypothesis. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Spring - Seeding==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | After decelerating, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Reading=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | I needed to feel inspired, and learn from others' | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The Moneyless Man// is about the experiment Mark Boyle performed over one year. He tried to live without earning, spending or using any money during one year. It is great book, easy to read, and full of tips on how to reduce your reliance on a destructive monetary economy. However, I could not find any answers to the two most pressing questions I had with moneyless lifestyle: | ||
+ | * How to get healed in case of a big incident ? Mark Boyle relied on the rights he precedently acquired to the British Security system. However, the book gives hints on how to self-heal yourself with plants, and how mutual aid provides you help when you need it the most. | ||
+ | * What happens to your social life with less coherent people ? Mark Boyle says that it was one of the most difficult aspect of his experiment. He could not spend time with friends in money-based social activities, which is OK for one year, but for more ? Does it make sense to quit constructive friendships for the sake of consistency ? | ||
+ | I think it is important for me to be able to meet people which opinions are far away from mines, to understand better their viewpoints and what builds the difference between me and them. I have the feeling that if I live a moneyless or self-sufficient life, I would cut myself out of such opportunities. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The Four Hour Workweek// is a book about entrepreneurship. This world has always interested me, as I like the strength and perseverance of people getting involved in the creation of a company. However, I always felt distant from them in the sense that I am not attracted by the idea of devoting all my time to one single project, thereby risking to lose everything in case of failure. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This book gave me a quite uncommon answer. What if your company was designed to bring you money back to do whatever you want to do ? Even though I do not agree with all the strategies proposed in this book, I like the idea of designing your income source so that you can maximize your freedom of lifestyle - and not through a " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The full reading list of this year is available [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Traveling=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the things I disliked with my studying & working lifestyles was the forced sedentarity induced by the fact of having to follow courses / having to work in a give place. However, my initial hypothesis was to become self-sufficient, | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was one of the conclusions of this Transiency: I prefer to travel than to garden. As I discovered this in April, I traveled a lot ever since. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The very first important trip of this year was to Slovenia, a place where Amélie lived for a couple of years. After visiting Ljubljana and some very nice friends there, we moved to the countryside to spend some time at [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Rolling Hedgehog is a self-sufficiency experiment, led by Amélie' | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was a wonderful stay, however I understood that I would not transform it into a lifstyle. I would love to introduce slices of several weeks of this lifestyle in mine every year, but I would also like to be able to escape it, and see other people, other places, other parts of the world. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The self-sufficiency hypothesis was dead. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Being Coached=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | Besides being actively followed by the FoAM Brussels' | ||
+ | |||
+ | During six sessions, we tackled deeply rooted brakes which left me doubtful and/or discouraged. Through very precisely phrased and chirurgically-targeted questions, Vali helped me unravel deep nodes in order to constructively & effectively move forward. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For instance, after six sessions, I was able to precisely phrase what I felt was my mission in life. I also learned practical ways to be more efficient in my work, especially with unpleasant tasks, and how to deal with emotionnally perturbing events. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I think that this process was one of the two most effective ones in the whole Transiency. I feel like I am working - and doing stuff in general - more effectively, | ||
+ | |||
+ | I will talk about the second process later. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Forecasting=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | Between April and June, the FoAM Brussels Core Team guided me through the [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the end of the process, we obtained four scenarios representing extreme situations. Scenario narratives can be found here: | ||
+ | * [[: | ||
+ | * [[: | ||
+ | * [[: | ||
+ | * [[: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such scenarios can be used as a compass. Thanks to this work, I could better understand which of my decisions would guide me to one or the other futures. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We also designed a masterplan of what to do from today on to reach the possible futures, which helped understand which actions I should start now in order to reach the future I want to implement. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Meditating=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | At our very first Transiency meeting, I was talking with Maja, Rasa & Nik about my issues of body-mind connection, and my focusing issues I was experiencing since the middle of my studies. At that time, Maja had advised me to go through the [[https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was worth the waiting. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I remembered mentionning the quest for "inner peace" to Vali during our first session. This cycle was basically a series of workshops on how to find inner peace. With very simple meditation techniques inherited from buddhism, we would quiet whatever wind or storm was troubling our souls, slowly but surely. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I felt more body conscious, and did recover most part of my focusing abilities. But I also managed way better with emotionnally perturbing events, increased my perseverance in unpleasant or tedious tasks, managed to get back to contemplation on a daily basis, and logically started to find beauty more frequently on my way. | ||
+ | |||
+ | You may have guessed it: with coaching, going through this process was the most positively transformative experience I lived this year, and I cannot not stop being lyrical about it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you are from Brussels and French-speaking, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Getting Inspired=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | In May, I was invited by [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the picture on top of this section, you can see two people. The guy is a former graphic designer. After three months of work, he found out that working behind a screen was not his way. So he knocked at the neighboring baker' | ||
+ | |||
+ | And he is only one example of the amazing people I met at the College. And he is only one example of the amazing people I met this year in Totnes, Nantes, Marseille, Paris, Brest and so on. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I want to keep meeting diverse people in the upcoming years. With diverse interests, diverse opinions, and amazing life trajectories. Because it is pleasant, enriching, and it helps me re-shape my vision of the world. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Summer - Experimenting==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Researching=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | In June, my friend [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | We had a one-week long research workshop, during which we tried to build [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was my first " | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, reasearching with Paul was completely different. We had a very nice week, I learned tons of stuff, and even though we did not manage to have anything working as well as we wish it would, I felt it was very pleasant. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I think that five weeks of mindfulness training helped me deal with the frustration inherent to research. But, also, having someone like Paul as a teammate changed everything. We had very nice discussions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | After this week, I was no longer sure I wanted to give up on " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Connecting=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | Strengthened by the experience with Paul, I headed towards Nantes, and the [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | This event offers a temporary experimental space to researchers of all kinds, from writers to tailors, including programmers, | ||
+ | |||
+ | During one week, we would meet every morning to discuss what were the ongoing projects, and then we would spend the day working on them. Every night there was a party. Wonderful week. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I met tons of people from diverse communities, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This event confirmed that the essence of what I want in this period of my life is: traveling, meeting people with diverse backgrounds & ideas, and doing stuff with them. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Wandering=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | I also spent some holidays with Amélie, and later in the summer with my family. During this period, I just spent time with people I like, contemplated many diverse and beautiful landscapes, walked, played games, and read a few serious books. | ||
+ | |||
+ | During this period, I could feel the experiments and works of the past few months sediment deep inside, fermenting a little bit maybe, and starting to produce new flavors in my present and potential future life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Wandering is also very important. Spending some time far away from the daily routine, loosing some time in between, is vital. It seems that the new stuff I seeded earlier needed this stage for a healthy development. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Autumn - Preparing==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | After seeding, letting things develop, experimenting, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Replicating=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | When an experiment is performed once, it brings a few insights. But to confirm these insights, replication is needed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I spent most of my autumn expanding the positive experiences I had this year. I went one week in Paris, for a [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | All of these experiments were positive, and confirmed that I was heading the right way for my post-Transiency life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Designing=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | I was left with the tricky part: designing the lifestyle. Now that I knew most of the components, how could I fit them together in an smooth way ? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Travelling around to meet people and do stuff with them. Mostly people with low budgets. Keeping a freedom of actions & movement while still earning some money. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The current hypothesis I will try from January on is the following: | ||
+ | * Most of my income may come from my work at a small start-up, based in Lausanne, mentionned above in the " | ||
+ | * During these periods, I will partly be traveling around to meet & visit interesting people working in " | ||
+ | * I will also spend some time in Brussels, meeting the local communities here I did not take the time to visit yet, and keeping some days available to start new projects at FoAM. I want also to keep some time to read, and explore Belgium more seriously than I did so far. | ||
+ | * I will keep spending some time with people I like, both in Brussels and elsewhere, and some time wandering around, to let space for things to happen. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====(Un)Conclusion - Lessons Learned==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | My work will now to test the second hypothesis highlighted in the section above. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, I think that the lifestyle balance will be quite good. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In terms of consistency, | ||
+ | |||
+ | After discussing about it with may different persons, I decided to move towards a more experimental approach, which leaves the issue of consistency a little bit aside, and let space for potentially imperfect though impactful actions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | The question of consistency remains open, and I plan to spend some of my free time reading, discussing and experimenting about it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In a way, I am back to the starting point of a new cycle, ready to test a new lifestyle hypothesis, strengthened with the experience, work and tools learned during this year. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This makes me think that the Transiency will, in my case, continue a little bit as a continuous process for a while. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I had to wrap this year up, I would say that I mostly started learned how to experiment at lifestyle scale. Below are a few lessons I learned during this year. May they be useful to you, if you feel like starting a similar process: | ||
- | I wish I could bring part of this way of teaching | + | * **External constraints are not the hardest.** Once I had 100% free time to do whatever |
+ | * **The deepest | ||
+ | * **Free experimentation space & time is more relevant than a five-year detailed plan.** I think that the most important ingredient for a life transition is the freedom of action, movement and thought. Leaving room for experimentation and trying stuff was an important condition to learning about myself, and my five year plans quickly became obsolete after small short-term experimentations. Fail soon, fail often, as they say. |