I used to be an architect. Unhappy with the idea that my life would be largely marked by being an architect for the rest of my life.
I didn’t want to be an architect.
I wanted to be an adventurer, an explorer, a kind of Xena the warrior princes of modern times.
I had no idea how I was going to make this possible. But with a hellish mix of repressed frustration, nonconformity, a sun in pisces that throws me at the group of dreamers and an unshakable optimism. In 2012 I bought a one-way flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (my childhood dream).
A TURNING POINT
There is nothing bigger in life than making a child’s dream come true. I believe that they exist so that when adults when we are too skeptical of life, we realize them and reconnect with our truth and our path.
I didn’t know it yet but in 2012 I wasn’t just buying a one-way flight to Rio. I was buying a one-way flight for the life I always dreamed of.
There are two key points when making a dream come true:
- We begin to believe that dreams CAN be realized however distant and impossible they seem;
- After a while we feel empty. I learned that this void is the space that opens up for new dreams to be born;
And that was how I became addicted to making dreams come true.
Because of my insatiable thirst for adventure and knowledge I began to have a total inability to say no to any chance of knowing a new place. To any experience that would push me to the limit.
Approximately eight years later I am still backpacking and living the biggest dream that has brought me so many other dreams: the road.
I believe that traveling is the fastest way to learn, to break down prejudices and relativize. Realize that in the end we are all ONE. That love is the universal language and the planet our common home. That happiness comes from within and what comes from within radiates outwards.
I know I cannot change the world. But, I don’t mind to try it.
NOWADAYS
Today I am a traveler, adventurous, restless, indecisive and intense. I am a waitress, barista, tour guide, artist, writer, aspiring bartender and surfer, chef, volunteer, explorer, diver, vegetarian and a spiritual being. I love the sea, the mountain, nature and the sun. I love sports, people, stories and legends, messy hair and walking in the sand.
I do meditation retreats but I don’t miss a party. I don’t refuse green juice but I can’t resist a beer. I am detached but with relapse of attachment.
Today I embraced my plurality. I realized that it makes no sense to define myself by tags to belong somewhere. It shouldn’t make sense to anyone. Labels only limit us.
Therefore, I am what I want to be. What I allow myself to be. I am all of that and sometimes none of it.
EXPRESS BIOGRAPHY
Maria Miranda graduated in Architecture and worked as an architect for three years, while living in Brazil. In 2015 she resigned and did her first backpacking trip alone in South America.
Returning to Rio, she realized that she could not return to the same routine and that her soul was asking for more. She decided to leavethe office life and moved to Australia where she lived for 3 years, doing the most diverse types of work.
In Australia she lived in big cities like Sydney. In a camping tent in a beach town with a hippie vibe. She lived in the warmest and driest Australian desert where the nearest city is 5 hours away. And in the North, where she was surrounded by natural parks, kangaroos, snakes and wild crocodiles. She survived, possibly with some luck.
During that time, she spent more than a year in Southeast Asia. Exploring even the most lost places on the planet. In that part of the world she connected with her spiritual side. What led her to do several retreats and to deepen her knowledge in the universe of personal development.
Currently, she carries her backpack towards Canada, with some clothes and dreams, where she will be based in the near future.