By Dana Storozuk
Back when I was a little girl, when the world around me felt enormously big and I had to use a tall wooden chair to reach for cookies in the kitchen’s cupboard, I stumbled upon a book that left a significant mark on my life. It was ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Although I did not understand what the story really meant back then, it sparked something very special in me, so I kept coming back to it while growing up.
Never lose the spark
One of the most important lines that I remember even today goes like this: ‘’All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it’’. Maybe not everyone will find it as beautiful or wise at it occurred to me, but, in a way, it guided me while I was developing my personality and making important life choices. I saw a special meaning it, a little message that has travelled through time and space. It was a note left to me by a man who had already been in the same shoes, shoes of adulthood that I was meant to inevitably try on at some point. His message, that line, the whole novel, kept reminding me that no matter what, I shouldn’t lose the spark and empathy, the childish curiosity, the genuine love and passion that a have got for the world around me.
Today I am a grown-up person and I think ‘The Little Prince’ has been a great guide to me. I have grown up into a great friend, traveller, researcher, vegetarian, polyglot, humanitarian, environmentalist, artist and many other categories that I can apply to myself and of which I am very proud of. My family, friends and colleagues know me as a very energetic person who is passionate about exploring this beautiful word and helping it thrive, who loves meeting new people and who is sincerely passionate about knowing them better, person who is constantly striving for acquiring and sharing knowledge as well as nurturing her inner child.
My career path
Perhaps, saying ‘I like helping people’ has become a cliché nowadays, but this is what makes me now and this is what I am truly curious about! When the time came to choose my career path, I did not hesitate to choose social sciences since it was the most ‘me’ of all.
In a way, it was one of the reasons I joined the IYF – I have been working in social development and international affairs all my life, as making a difference to someone else’s lives brings true meaning to my life in return, it makes me happy like a child! Actually, this is also one of the reasons why I love traveling so much (apart from being a terrible foody and craving yummy things all the time!) – I enjoy meeting new people, hearing their stories, sharing life experiences with them and creating special moments of happiness that help me to interconnect with the world a little bit more. Obviously, apart from ‘society’ my interests vary from photography to roller-skating, from learning new languages to cooking healthy dishes, but this is a whole new different story 😊
So, ‘’all grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it’’, right? Thus, I hope that my story will help us get acquainted a little bit more and remind all of us that behind the ‘grown-up seriousness’ hide children, curious, passionate, empathetic children, that stay within us and guide us forever 😊
