What if selflessness was as involuntary as breathing?
Deep-dive into industrial ports in Denmark, plus some fun chats in California, Chapel Hill & Toronto.
A few stories from Feb & Mar.
Earlier this month, I had the incredible opportunity of working with the Maersk Supply Service (MSS) team in Copenhagen on a port mapping project for their new offshore wind vessel concept.
It was a“fun coordination problem” between the industrial ports, construction equipment and the HUGE wind turbine components (hundreds of tonnes in weight, 100m+ tall).
Huge thank you to Johnny, Peter, Gry, Arnas, Charlotte, Dina, Kasper, Charles and Andrew for being so generous with your time and brilliance. I seriously had an incomprehensible amount of fun!
I felt particularly inspired visiting the port of Ødense and Esbjerg. I have dreams now about the size of wind turbine components and all the cranes it takes to make installations happen!! I look forward to falling asleep at night.
During one of the tours, we got in a bus and the guide said “welcome to Majorca” as a joke — I laughed obnoxiously hard. But I also realised there was literally no place I’d rather be. It felt beyond fortunate to have a private tour of the industrial ports of Denmark, I wouldn’t miss it even for a fancy beautiful Spanish island. Feels good to be able to derive joy from learning.
Then there was the joy of living in Copenhagen. From a polar plunge to literally the best pastry of my LIFE, my 5th international IKEA to an incredible array of cocktails… I feel like I unlocked the best of CPH. I walked so much that I have the entire city pretty much memorised lol.
Calibration
I have been having trouble defining the next ‘label’ in my life. I have been a student for forever and now I need to … get a job? Which has a title? How do I just choose one!! Spending some time at MSS, I really loved the ‘get up to speed on port infrastructure’ role. The combination of technical-adjacency and commercial-viability is the place I’d like to live. Plus, I adore being thrown in the deep end to figure things out. Now I just need to fit that into a job role :)
In addition to Denmark, this week I am in San Francisco soaking in the innovation ecosystem + hoping to capture some clarity for my next steps! I am super grateful to George Hodgin who spent so much generous time and energy into a tour and conversation at his company BRC!
Back in Chapel Hill, I feel very grateful to Robbie Bach and Matt Soule for the powerful walks and talks!
These conversations have paired nicely with a ‘dialogue and discourse’ group I’ve been apart of for a few months. We recently did a retreat in North Carolina which ended with some vulnerability and tears.
Generative Kindness
I feel so nurtured from all the reflective conversations in my life. I am really proud of the woman I am becoming.
Inspired by all the kindness I’ve received, I’m trying to be intentional paying it forward. I’ve tried to play an active role for the younger scholars in my university program, especially the internationals. It was SO lovely hosting them for a weekend in Chapel Hill.
There’s a lot of things in life that I am unsure about, but two things I am 100% on are:
I want my home to feel open, welcome and inspirational for anyone.
There should be no limit towards my aptitude for generosity / kindness
🔑 Over the next quarter, I’d like to be especially intentional about being a source of kindness and warmth in my environments. I want the question ‘how can I be more selfless’ to be so ingrained in my personality that it’s like breathing.
A note on challenges
I have an incredibly intimate (and probably cringy) affirmation that I’ve started writing in my notebook everyday until I believed it for the day. Some days I will write it down over and over for 10 minutes until I convince myself to trust it for 24 hours. Other days I roll out of bed and write those three sentences with full conviction.
If someone opened up my journal, they’d find an impressive set of redundancy of this affirmation. (It’s pretty personal so I won’t share explicitly)
It has to do with healing a specific heartbreak which has lead to a dearth in my self-love. Cultivating this kindness within myself has without a doubt has been harder than any exam, project or difficult conversation I’ve had.
I used to think this kind of stuff was weak or lame. In fact almost every day I feel weak and lame. The difference now is I know how strong I am for tackling something so internally scary.
I believe life will be defined by my aptitude for and attitude towards challenge. That’s why I am trying to embrace messy, hard, processing.
I’ve also tried to practice embracing challenge in other ways:
This is my 9th year doing Lent. This year I gave up coffee and caffeine for 6 weeks. I found so much energy and capacity within myself during this experience.
I’ve ran further/faster than I ever thought possible for my body
I think I’ve taken on a ‘hard’ academic load this semester, but I think I have done it with 100% positivity and gratitude. I am really proud of that, more than my scores.
“To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.” — Mary Oliver
To end off this newsletter, here are some 🎁’s I’ve found in the world lately:
Genghis Khan How to Take Over the World podcast episode.
Acquired podcast episodes on Costco, Berkshire Hathway (all 3 parts), Novo Nordic, and PayPal.
Audio books: Psychology of Money, Rational Optimist, a Path with Heart.
I really enjoyed reading the Alchemist during my time in Denmark. It was a quaint travel companion.
History of the world in six glasses is the perfect before-bed read.
All the best xx
Isabella Grandic