#113🚀 It would be nice to live in the US
Living, Working and Parenting in the US
👋 Hello Amigos! Dr. Molina here 👨🔧
Yes, I have a mustache. It’s temporary, or not, I don´t know yet 😂.
A couple of weeks ago, I was at the Frenetic House in Madrid, and I felt at home. We held our third FreneticON, and it was incredible. But I’m not here to talk about that. Instead, I want to share something I found in one of my notebooks from 2019.
I was searching for some notebooks (since I started the company almost ten years ago, I’ve written in more than 50), and in one of them, I found this phrase:
“It would be nice to live in the US” – Chema, 2019.
When I read it, I was in shock. What?? Did I really write this in 2019?
I read the context and realized that for many years, I’ve wanted to come to Silicon Valley. Over time, I’ve made unconscious micro-decisions that have led me here. Of course, there have been major turning points, but moving with a one-year-old baby, my wife, and our dog to a place nine hours away from my family and team isn’t something you decide overnight. It’s a process of planting seeds. Seeds planted in family conversations, in talking to clients from this area, and trying to understand if it made sense for me to be part of this culture. It’s all in your subconscious.
This made me reflect on my deepest desires and re-evaluate them. Do I really want this? Take a walk, consider the impact these desires might have in 20 years, and then reorder them. Write down the result, and maybe in 5 or 10 years, you’ll stumble upon it again.
The Stone as an Anchor
There are desires that aren’t aspirations; they require daily commitment. They need an anchor point to remind you to keep rowing. These are desires for a better life, a healthier one, with more love or more empathy. For this, I always carry two stones with me. Each has a meaning that helps me remember what’s important when I need it. I keep them in my pocket, and I often touch them while walking or working, placing one on my desk. I want them to be present to remind me of their significance.
If you are a meditator, you understand perfectly what being present means. This stone helps me to stay present and reminds me what are the real goals, the important ones, not the urgent ones.
Thanksgiving
To continue with my American experiences, as I did in #111🚀 My First Year in Silicon Valley, today I bring you Thanksgiving.
For my European readers, it might be hard to understand what this holiday means to Americans. Now that I’ve experienced my second Thanksgiving, I appreciate it better. It’s definitively, the most important moment of the year, when everyone lets their duties aside and focus on their families for a few days (you know how important is work for the Americans).
For Americans, Thanksgiving is like Christmas Day for Spaniards—a time to celebrate with family, even if they live far away, which is often the case. Everyone cooks turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and apple pie, usually in quantities far exceeding what anyone could eat in one meal. Leftover turkey for the rest of the week is a tradition I find quite enjoyable.
This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends who have kids in San Francisco—five families with toddlers running around. We met at 4:30 pm, the turkey was ready by 5:30 pm, and we were home by 9 pm. For a Spaniard, this schedule might seem crazy—early dinners in Spain typically start at 8:30 pm! To be honest, I love these schedules, especially with kids.
Because the US is such a large country, people often need to travel long distances. This is especially true in the Bay Area, where many people relocate from other parts of the country for work. I assume it’s similar on the East Coast, particularly in the New York area.
Speaking of the coasts, I’ve noticed many connections between them. I’ve met plenty of people in San Francisco with family, friends, or business ties in New York, and vice versa. It’s like both coasts share a dynamic relationship. I’m also learning more about Middle America, but I’ll dive deeper into that in another post.
A common mistake Europeans, including myself, make is planning business trips to the US around Thanksgiving. Trust me, it’s a bad idea. Many people take one or two weeks off to travel during this time, so there’s always someone crucial missing from your customer’s team.
I think that’s enough for today. Over Christmas, I was in Hawaii, and I’m writing a post about it. Aloha!!
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