We recently connected with Flavia Guim and have shared our conversation below.
Flavia, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I believe life can be viewed in two ways: either you opt to endure little suffering and experience few joys, or you embrace much suffering and revel in great joys. It seems like I’ve gone for the second choice! Despite facing intense pain and hardships along the way, I’ve managed to create immense joy and gather outstanding rewards for me.
When I see something that bothers me, I used to push it under the rug, pretend it didn’t exist, and ignore it, while my body and mind succumbed to anxiety, guilt, and despair. Today, I breathe strength and resilience because what bothers me is exactly what propels me forward and makes me evolve.
When I was 14, I faced a terrible moment in my life with sexual abuse and psychological trauma related to pornography, and aspects of Japanese pop culture linked to the sexual world, which led me to run away from everything related to Japan so far.
One day, I came across the Niten Cultural Institute, dedicated to the traditional Japanese arts of the Samurai Sword. I was incredibly apprehensive, even feeling physically unwell due to my past traumas. Nevertheless, I was captivated by the principles and teachings there.
This excitement drove me to attend daily, facing my fears head-on. Exploring traditional Japanese culture, with all its grit and determination, was a real inner challenge for me. Yet, I discovered that, despite the fear, I could muster up enough courage to dive into the institute’s teachings. And amidst the ups and downs, there was immense joy: besides growing internally,
This Energy and Presence allowed me to make incredible connections that led me to the unique opportunity to showcase my watercolors on Broadway and in Times Square, in the USA. My international artistic career has just begun!
But also, I’m a scientist!! I was delighted by science and art at the same time, during my entire life! So, I also pursued excellence in pharmaceutical sciences during my undergraduate studies, seizing every opportunity that the university brought me. It was also intense: I faced many challenges with people trying to bring me down along the way. I suffered a lot from bullying and isolation from classmates. I endured verbal and physical aggression from a professor, a hard time….. Additionally, the pandemic disrupted everyone’s lives. Nevertheless, I persisted with the same courage, with the same thirst to achieve my dreams: I pursued a student exchange abroad to open doors for myself and create an international scientific career.
The challenges were not few: I secured a unique opportunity to study at one of the best universities in the world: The University of Tokyo, but it was in Japan! Despite my traumas still lingering, the pain, the fear, the cold sweats, the nightmares, the vomiting, and diarrhea from so much fear and trauma… I went after it anyway, even while feeling unwell. And I will never regret it because it was one of the best experiences of my life.
It enriched me, it made me achieve my dreams! It made me conquer the defeat of my greatest fears and traumas. That’s why I like to say: “Go, even with fear; eventually, it turns into joy.”
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My life has always been divided between two passions: science and art! Since I was 4 years old, I took painting classes because I loved being involved in the arts. My first art exhibition was when I was 5 years old, held in my hometown, and it was memorable because I can still remember the strokes I made to draw a Brazilian fruit: a “Caju”, and a vase of flowers. After that, I never stopped experimenting.
Speaking of experiments, I loved conducting scientific experiments at home since I was little. It was a work of art! I am very interested in various subjects and I was very lost when it came to choosing a major for my undergraduate studies.
In the end, I chose pharmaceutical sciences, which covered various areas, from human anatomy, diseases, and medications, to chemistry, biology, physics, microbiology, and even food science, such as cheeses and wines! It was a feast for my curious and artistic mind.
I have always been involved in frequent and intense academic activities, such as workshops, science fairs, symposiums, study groups, etc. In my academic journey, I worked with pharmacovigilance, neuroscience, mental health, and nanotechnology. I was also very involved in studies related to internationalization and the integration of exchange students here in Brazil; I was the general coordinator of the project that assisted these students.
Alongside science, my path in the arts did not stop. During the pandemic, I decided to create an Instagram account to showcase my watercolor work, which is my passion. (I think being able to transform solid paint into colorful water and then transform that fluidity into a panel with a beautiful painting is truly alchemy!) During the pandemic, I had unexpected success doing live painting sessions and promoting my work on Instagram. I also participated in art exhibitions in my hometown alone and with a group of artists who used to gather to draw the landscapes of the streets of my city, Juiz de Fora.
Combining art and science led to the idea of creating handmade watercolor ink, made with procedures used in the pharmaceutical manipulation of medications. The most interesting thing is that I was able to develop vegan inks, with natural and organic ingredients, and with incredible and unprecedented colors that represent earth tones.
As a result, I received an exceptional invitation to exhibit my artworks made with my handmade ink in New York, the exhibition “My Universe At This Moment” is a translation of how I felt at that moment when I was creating the paintings in this series, since my personal universe is constantly changing and evolving, those works are like an instantaneous portrait of my being, my feelings, and my psyche at that time. The exhibition can be visited at two Nomadworks locations: 1216 Broadway, NY 10001 and 240 West Street, New York City, NY, 10018.
My proximity to international relations and all my academic efforts, my artistic development, in addition to my achievements in the Path of Ancient Martial Arts (Bushido), led me to an incredible opportunity to study at the University of Tokyo, with a scholarship to pay for tuition and living expenses, also to present at a Symposium in Singapore with the group of international students. I am currently finishing my undergraduate degree in pharmacy, organizing myself to study in Japan, and continuing to pursue the path of the arts and the path of the warrior (from samurai arts)!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
ART: Creativity is the key to all other spheres of life, including science. Here in the field of arts, what is important to remember is that everything requires practice and dedication. You cannot progress without practicing, no matter how creative you may be.
SCIENCE: Love for knowledge, understanding, the desire to question, and to constantly keep questioning, even when you think you have found the answers.
THE PATH OF THE WARRIOR: Whether following a martial arts master or not, it is important to keep in mind that all suffering and pain can be fully converted into gain (wisdom) and happiness. Some paths lead you to understand how to do this more efficiently, the path of the samurai warrior (Bushido), which I follow, is one of them.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I believe both and none of those options are entirely correct. I think both strategies are extremely valid, but if you only use one of them, it wouldn’t be right. It is important to acknowledge the existence of extreme poles of behavior, such as “going all out for your good side” or “attributing everything to your bad side,” so you can follow the middle path, the Path of Balance.
Balance involves recognizing the opportune moments in life to fully and efficiently develop skills that may be less honed. Each life stage necessitates particular knowledge and offers corresponding learning opportunities. It’s crucial to cultivate skills at the appropriate times, responding to the specific challenges presented by life circumstances.
Balance is also knowing how to execute with all your energy the skills in which you excel towards triumph because even if you succeed, we can always see that there is something to evolve and improve, no matter how hard we try. Given that, it will fall into the previous rule, you need to identify the right time to apply and develop each of the skills that activities require, whether they are strengths or weaknesses in your personality. There is always room for growth.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flaviaguim_?igsh=cGFyc21wODNobnlh
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Flavia-Guim
- Other: email: [email protected] curriculum vitae: http://lattes.cnpq.br/2189557194840801
Image Credits
Credit: by the Author
