Sometimes we are very self-critical and we are not satisfied with who we are and what we have done. In front of the mirror, we do not see our best features, but our defects and imperfections. Some people are surprised by what others see, because they are unable to recognize in themselves something genuinely outstanding and real, something that makes them stand out and be different from the rest. Or what is worse, the valuation they have of themselves comes from the look of the environment, from the aspirations of others.

For example, as a teacher, it strikes me that many young people do not feel proud of themselves, hoping to achieve a degree to “be someone in life” and feel happy and valued. And maybe that title is not to make them proud, but to make their parents proud. Making our parents or relatives proud is sometimes more important than being proud of what we do.

In my case, one of the things that makes me feel very proud is that I managed to change my lineage. With the change I made in my family, there was a transcendental transformation, from the foundations. I have told many times that I come from a family in which all women were destined to get married and have children. In fact, my father, at a certain point, insinuated to me that I should do it and there comes the action for which I am proud today: I rebelled and said no to the norm, to the established culture, and I defended my dreams (yes in plural, because there were many) with my soul, with my teeth, with courage. At that moment I became not only the black sheep, but also the persona nongrata at the meetings. I was very clear about what I wanted (to study, to travel, to be free), the detail was to show my parents that what I wanted was not bad for me or for them. And traveling along already built paths is easy, the problem is when you start to make your own path.

And the best thing is that this new and modern path, in quotation marks, of empowered women, in quotation marks too, was the one that not only my younger sisters, but also my cousins and nieces began to walk: the path of a woman who prepares herself and decides how to live her life. It sounds simple, but in the process one meets many men, and also women, who see the freedom to choose as madness, as a privilege that few have.

Nowadays, with my students, I try to instill in them the idea of freedom, self-love, self-esteem, and I make them see that they must listen and follow what the heart tells them, what the spirit whispers to them: they cannot take a career just because their parents want them to study that career or because it is fashionable. They must know what their vocation is and follow their dreams, even if by pursuing their dreams, people think they are crazy.

I feel very proud of the woman I am, of what I have achieved. I have always been a frontal, real, genuine woman. I have no masks. When I love, I do it 100%: I care, I protect, I show. My personality has wings, it also has colors. Inside me there is a rhythm that guides me and like a snail, only the one who is close, can hear that rumor that I carry inside and I am sure, that if the little Nancy saw me today, she would also be very proud of me because I have not given up our dreams.