Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ricardo Bogaert-Alvarez, PhD. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Ricardo, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Dear Bold Interviewer: Before answering your question, I would like to give you three examples of my resilience.
1) when I started running the mile in high school in my hometown Santiago, I didn’t have a coach. I remember that one time, I even got blisters on my feet. Nevertheless, I didn’t give up, and later as a senior at the Sam Houston High School, with good coach, exercise machines and training, I was able to run the mile at 4 minutes and 48 seconds.
2) when I obtained a scholarship to study a master’s in chemical engineering, I obtained a 21 score in my first thermodynamic exam. Rather than giving up, I reached out to a classmate who had a master in thermodynamics. With his help and my dedication, I was able to earn an A in the final exam, and a B in the course, thus keeping my scholarship. Years later, I also obtained my PhD in chemical engineering.
3) on January 6 of 2016, I was admitted to the Denver Health hospital with acute inflammation of my appendix and a major obstruction of stools in my intestines. Even though I had two major surgeries and I stayed nine weeks in the hospital, I kept my steel will and I survived with my health intact. In this case, I recovered my faith in Jesus Christ, and I fully cooperated with the doctors and nurses.
I learned resilience from my parents. I saw them confronting major economic and personal problems with a positive attitude successfully. Their behavior was a great example for me. Furthermore, they never doubted my intellectual skills and always encouraged me in school and other activities.
Two important factors that helps me bring up my resilience are: 1) When I don’t know how to solve a problem, I recognize my ignorance and look for help and 2) I set up my goals to improve myself, not to compare me with someone else. In my case, I have to confess that I developed the bipolar condition when I was 37 years-old, This condition has been a constant struggle in my life, but I’m proud of myself that I’m still alive at 70 and I was able to hold professional positions in college. I always keep an eye on my behavior and look for medical help when I recognize the symptoms of depression or manic episodes. An important support has been my beloved wife Laura, whose love and realistic thinking are precious jewels in my life.
Now that I’m retired, I write and publish poetry and I play chess in tournaments. The practice of chess really sharpens my resilience. On the other hand, I am very involved with poetic activities, which encourage my belief in myself, besides being a lot of fun!
I’d love to talk further with you about this topic of resilience. I’m always open to new ideas and suggestions.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Now that I retired from teaching chemistry in college, I have dedicated my time to poetry and chess. As a poet, I’ve been able to self-publish four bilingual poetry books. In these books, each poem has the Spanish and English versions. For two of them, I embarked on book tours in Colorado and the Dominican Republic, my country of origin. Furthermore, I give poetry workshops for different organizations in Colorado. I’m a member of the Columbine Poets, the Tanka Society of America and the Coalition of Latino Authors and Mentors (CALMA). I almost forgot; I also participate in poetry open mics. in Denver.
In the case of chess, I’m a class B player. I played once a week at the Denver Chess Club. It’s always a joy to play against opponents of different ages. I learn new openings and defenses and sharpen my skill playing against a chess computer.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
That is a difficult question to answer, Besides, resilience, of which I talked before, the second one is enthusiasm. You must fall in love with your profession. Furthermore, enthusiasm is contagious and that helps you obtain the support and help from other members of your team. Finally, you have to be open to new ideas, in other words, never stop learning in your profession.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
Even though I have written 4 poetry books, I’d like to publish a best-seller poetry book either in the United States or the Dominican Republic. So, right now I’m revising my latest book, “Chronicles of a Young Dominican.” I’m also working on a manual to teach people how to write short poems with Japanese style. I’m open to suggestions.
Contact Info:
- Website: drbogaert.com
- Facebook: Ricardo Bogaert
Image Credits
it’s my own photo
