Coming home is another journey
When returning becomes a new beginning
I returned to Brazil in December 2022, after a few years living and studying in Canada. I left a -40°C winter and landed in the 40°C heat of Brazil’s Northeast. But the real shock wasn’t about temperature.
It was in the noise of conversations, the disorganized traffic, the motorcycles squeezed between rows of cars, the frantic pace of everything, that I realized how much I had changed — or maybe, how much my way of seeing had changed. The return was less a “coming back home” and more a relearning how to be somewhere I had already been. Feeling the difference in the pace of life between Brazil and Canada reminded me of the first lesson I learned in those frozen lands. Once, when I arrived at university, still carrying the typical stress of our fast-paced way of living, my first professor looked at me and said: “Doucement!” — which, in Québec French, means something like: “Take it easy, breathe.”
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want — and never wanted — to be that kind of person who, after living abroad for a while, comes back comparing everything and saying “it’s better out there.” That’s not it. But living at another pace, with different references for organization, for respect of time, even for silence… inevitably made me look at Brazil with different eyes. Sometimes with surprise, sometimes with tenderness. And almost always with that strange feeling of no longer being fully “at home.”
These experiences, as uncomfortable as they were at first, helped me see more clearly what I truly carry with me, wherever I am. It was in these contrasts between there and here that I began to reflect on and search for my purpose as a person, father, husband, and professional — something that doesn’t depend on place, but stays with me wherever God plants me. After discovering Napoleon Hill’s teachings in Think and Grow Rich, I felt the need to stop and look inward, so I could then look forward with conviction and hope. That’s how I understood I needed to write a manifesto — my manifesto of life purpose.
Manifesto of life purpose
- I take pleasure in teaching. I believe teaching is an act of love — and that communicating with empathy can transform lives.
- I believe programming is more than writing code: it’s building real solutions for real people. I feel joy when I see an application working and helping someone.
- I believe my faith in Christ must translate into concrete actions: serving, welcoming, teaching.
- My dream of immigrating to Canada was born from the desire to live with dignity, to give my family security, and to use my gifts with more freedom and reach. But I understood, upon returning, that my purpose doesn’t depend on borders. Wherever there is someone who needs to learn, to start over, or simply to be heard — that’s where I want to be. That’s when I realized I feel fulfilled helping people believe in themselves, learn something new, and feel capable of changing their reality.
- Wherever God plants me, that’s where I want to bloom. Teach with faith. Transform with love. Serve with purpose.
These experiences taught me that, more than a place on the map, what truly matters is carrying purpose in your chest and living it with intention. If you, too, are going through a season of return, transition, or rediscovery, I invite you to reflect: what do you carry with you, no matter where you are?
Share your thoughts with me in the comments — or, if you’d rather, send me a message. Let’s talk about purpose, new beginnings, and whatever it is that truly moves us.