Hello World, This Is Me.

Hi everyone. My name is Aldo Naef- well, as you can see on my profile, it’s a much longer name, but I stick to the short version of it. I want to introduce myself to the Community as Illumination recently accepted me as a writer. -Thank you very much for this Dr.Yildiz. I appreciate the opportunity of sharing my stories on Illumination.

So who am I?

Born on the beautiful Island of the Dominican Republic, I migrated to Switzerland almost 30 years ago. Well, It was my Mom who moved over and dragged us along with her. And if you picture now me being able to visit the beach and enjoy the sun almost every day, that’s also not the case. I was far from any beach you could think of, and we used to live in a wooden shack with a corrugated iron roof until my aunt, the only one who graduated from university, made enough money to build a stone house. Thank you, aunty.

Living here, I had the opportunity to enjoy a good life, get an excellent education, and become a very skilled chef. I am very passionate about my profession. To me, cooking is joy, meditation, and cultural exploration. However, it was never my intention to become one of these highly engaged star chefs working for 17 Gault Millau Restaurants. I love to use my skills at home and take my time to experiment and test new things without any pressure.

Like everybody, I do have a perfectly imperfect life. I got married very young, have -or better say had- a daughter I haven’t seen in ten years. Now I’ve been living happily with my better half, and my life is as good as can be now.

As it sometimes happens in life, I started questioning if this was all that life had to offer me a couple of years ago. So I began researching and studying self-development. I took many online courses, started reading books on how to become better and also on how to make money in a non-traditional way. You know, the whole quit your job and live your life stuff. I wasted countless hours and numerous Francs on Stuff I never used or never needed in the first place. The good thing about all this is, now I know what to do and what not to do. My biggest problem is taking action. The only thing I have not mastered yet is how to stop procrastinating and take more action. But I’m optimistic I will overcome this challenge.

Knowing without action is the same as not knowing. Ted Nicholas.

I have been a Medium member for a while now. But mostly consuming content here. Now I recently discovered that I actually enjoy writing and contributing to the Medium community. Sharing my experiences is the best way I can help others. What more significant gift can I make to my readers other than assisting them to overcome a challenge by sharing my experience so that my readers can find a way to support themselves? Therefore, I invite you to follow me as I grow, and maybe you, too, will discover that you developed with me as you absorbed what I share with you.

I want to continue contributing as much as possible to the Medium community. I found that writing has a very positive effect on my well-being. I use it as a ventricle to express myself and get my thoughts and emotions sorted. This is a massive relief for me. Everyone should try it.

Besides writing, I enjoy reading a lot. Mostly books about self-improvement, thrillers by Simon Beckett, or historical novels by Ken Follet. I also like to learn new languages. I currently speak 5. Spanish, German, English, French, and Italian but would like to add Russian, which I am presently self-studying, and Japanese to my repertoire. I’m not a nerd. But I do believe there is nothing better than speaking to a person in their own language. Knowing at least how to say hello, good morning, or goodbye is a sign of respect for the people's culture when visiting a foreign country. But that’s just me. So, If you like to travel like I used to before 2020, I think knowing the very basics of human conversation for that country you are about to visit is never wrong. Why? Because you can not expect everybody to speak English. It also earns you some sympathy points with the locals immediately. But that’s my experience.

But, since traveling is not an option at the moment, and writing for you is so much fun, I will continue to explore my newly discovered joy and turn it into my new passion.

That’s it from me. I hope my contribution is helpful to you and that my articles bring you the joy you are looking for on Medium. Thank you very much for taking the time to learn a little about me. I wish to welcome you to my follower's list soon so that I can bring joy and maybe a little wisdom to your life too.

My best wishes to you.

Aldo