Appreciating being from the country

With my grandma. Photo taken by my ma.

I was born in the city of Split - yet, I am from the Dalmatian Hinterland, from the country where I moved to with my mum at the age of 1,5 years. I was the first one in everything: 

• First to be born in a hospital

• First to graduate from university

• First to travel to China

• First to get married to someone from a different ethnicity 

• First woman to have had a divorce ^^

And so on. Many small and bigger "firsts". 

When I was a teenager I was so proud to have been born in the city. Also, as a young adult, I thought that this would make me be more appreciated in my surroundings, being someone so modern and understanding the world the way it is. The type of woman my mother and aunt admired were self-made business women or at least women in a leadership position. I admired high-ranking women in the university. 

Yet, I am from the countryside. We all are. My very best mother, my lovely aunt Franka, my grandma, my grandpa. And we forgot for a long time that we are really the strong ones compared to many city people. 

• You go out and stay calm when seeing a poisonous snake. 

• You, try to prepare a chicken you have raised for soup (no, I have not done this. I decided to go vegetarian at one point in my life, when I was about four years old.) 

• And talking about my grandma: "Try to manage a farm and seven children, when your husband is working away. Learning true leadership would have meant spending a few weeks with my grandmother and observing how she does it. That is true leadership ^^." I often made this joke during my studies when all that leadership literature focusing on male city folks came out. We have all this already when growing up. 

Being from the countryside, therefore, can actually be the game-changer for your life. It might be one of your secret weapons, because

• you're not scared when a bat flies in at night

• you know that wherever you are, you only need to walk in this and that direction to reach home at one point

• and, you know how to share space with many more creatures than "just" human beings. 

We had pigs, chickens, cows and sheep. Oh, and a donkey I loved very much. I was allowed to ride it twice as a small child. And at the age of four, I was raising a lamb when its mother sheep did not accept it. I walked between the stalls on a narrow lane of bricks in a height of 2,5 metres between the chicken coop and the pig shed. 

When you are from the country, you live on what you produce. Early on, I was included in cleaning weeds from the vineyards, and my mum started being a shepherd at the age of four. And we both were in awe when my grandpa killed snakes and still signed the spots with a wooden cross, respecting the life that he had taken. Being from the country helps you to understand life at its roots.

So, if you are from the country, just enjoy what you know in all your professional interactions, too. And if you are from the city or have children in the city, you might at least want to think about moving to the country after being inspired here. No, you don't need to learn how to kill a chicken (not yet at least, ha ha), but you can benefit from all the fresh air and help the soil to turn into fertile ground. 

And I also wish my grandmother and aunt had always known that they are the true leaders, as is my mum. 

My Monday thoughts for you!

#trueleadership #femaleleadership #countryside #Dalmatia #womenunderstanding #appreaciatewhatyouhave #femaleleaders #omgchicken