What Does a 16-year-old even know about Optimism? A Story That Will Dare You To Be Optimistic
Where My Optimism Began: Venezuela
My journey of optimism starts in my native country, Venezuela. I was three years old when something occurred that would change my life forever. I was born on October 7, 2002, in the beautiful, equatorial, mountainous, small, and rainy city of San Felipe. My mom, Ericka Hoyos, is the daughter of two hard-working Colombian immigrants, and my dad, Julio Campolargo, was the son of a native Venezuelan mother and Portuguese immigrant father who was a well-known and interesting individual.
In 1998, four years before I was born, a populist rebel named Hugo Chavez won the presidential election. He promised everything a socialist and communist would do, and he certainly delivered. He destroyed every aspect of Venezuela. YES! Let me say that again.
He destroyed every aspect of Venezuela.
Venezuela went from being the richest to poorest, from the safest to most dangerous, from the happiest to saddest, the most affluent to most impoverished. Most people think of Venezuela as just another poor South American country, but according to the World Economic Forum, it was one of the richest in the world before Chavez took power. When friends asked me, I told them that “Venezuela should be ten times better than the United Arab Emirates” in every way that a country could possibly be.
But, now, the current political situation is critical. Hundreds of people are dying every day. There is no food, no water, no electricity, no medicine.
I often tell my friends that Venezuela is like The Walking Dead in real life, just without zombies.
I always say that I was blessed to have had the opportunity to live there. It added something crucial to my life, which was a huge amount of perspective. When you have perspective, you gain the capacity to live and have an optimistic life. When you have an optimistic way of seeing the world or an optimistic perspective, you automatically have a more contented life.
This paradise on earth named Venezuela was severely damaged by this socialist/communist government. According to the OSAC (Overseas Security Advisory Council), “Venezuela remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries; the notable deterioration in quality of life for Venezuelan citizens over the course of the last few years contributed to a dire situation in which over 73 Venezuelans died a violent death every day.”
Our family’s lives, especially mine and my younger sister’s, were in constant danger. The government threatened us and tried to sabotage my grandpa’s businesses. They were after us. My grandpa even had a bulletproof car and bodyguards. In Venezuela, the value of life was lost; criminals would steal your phone, kidnap you, or simply kill you.
In 2005, I was two years old and my younger sister was about six months old. Everything started on the morning of Saturday, May 21. As usual, my dad and I were going to one of my grandpa’s farms to do the payroll and simply work. This morning was nothing like the others; in fact it was rather suspicious — my dad would sometimes have a bodyguard, but on this day he was mysteriously unavailable.
On our way to the farm, we were aggressively confronted by a group of criminals who were trying to kidnap us to request a large sum of money. My dad did not want to give up and let his son be kidnapped or killed. They started shooting the car multiple times all over — doors, windows, everywhere. Unfortunately, my dad was hit by several gunshots, and I watched as he died, bleeding profusely — an image that will never fade from my mind. I didn’t know what was happening, and I hugged him so hard to try to protect him. To this day, no one knows how I survived this tragedy.
On this day, my life drastically changed. That I was alive was a truly miracle; having survived such a tragic act and come out uninjured had a deep meaning for me. It meant something. I was so fortunate to have received this opportunity to live, and I was enlightened. My life was going to have a great
purpose, a purpose that I’m still trying to figure out, as you
will see shortly.
In this article series, I share excerpts and stories from my book, Generation Optimism. I hope you enjoyed this post — if you enjoyed it and want to connect with me on social media: Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
You can also find my book on Amazon — here is the link to buy it: [HERE]
