天美传媒

鈥淢y name is Mar铆a Bel贸n, and I, like all of you, have survived a tsunami.鈥� This is how Mar铆a Bel贸n, the real-life heroine of the 2012 film The Impossible, began her talk at 天美传媒鈥檚 recent Day.

Bel贸n defines herself as a 鈥渘ormal person who had the luck to live an exceptional experience,鈥� in reference to the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that struck the beach where she, her husband and three sons 鈥� Lucas (10), Tom谩s (8) and Sim贸n (5) 鈥� were vacationing in Thailand in 2004. The five were swept away by the wave, and, against all odds, all five survived.

For Bel贸n, a tsunami can be any 鈥済iant wave that hits us in life, provoking bruises, injury, confusion and asphyxiation.鈥� A doctor and lawyer by profession, Bel贸n says these tsunamis may be caused by 鈥渇ailure, an accident, illness or loss鈥�; they affect our 鈥渆ntire being,鈥� inundate 鈥渂ody and soul.鈥� The positive side of all this, according to Bel贸n, is that this type of experience offers the 鈥減ossibility to profoundly understand what truly matters in life.鈥�

鈥淭he unexpected always arrives when the possibility is forgotten,鈥� said Bel贸n, paraphrasing Constantine Cavafy, a 20th century Greek poet. And it reminds us that the strength of human beings is 鈥渕uch greater鈥� than the limits we set for ourselves.

Fifteen years after that traumatic experience, which left physical and psychological traces for years, Bel贸n says that experiences that are difficult and even painful are 鈥渃ommon to all people.鈥� This is the reason she became involved in the film, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and starring Naomi Watts, both in the screenplay and in the filming. She was obsessed with the idea that Bayona make a film that spoke 鈥渢o all human beings,鈥� she said.

鈥淟ife is an incredible gift that lasts a very short time,鈥� she added.

At 53, Bel贸n still remembers the nightmares that she suffered almost every night following the birth of her first child, Lucas: 鈥淚 dreamt that a giant wave reached the coast and swallowed my children,鈥� she said. That recurrent nightmare, which became reality, gave her the answer to a key question: 鈥淲hat is the meaning of my life?鈥�

Bel贸n recounts that when she emerged from the wave, still in shock, she understood that the most difficult thing in life was loneliness and the most important was love. 鈥淚 spent those days of struggle between denial as a protective mechanism and the realization that I was living my worst nightmare, the one that had been with me always,鈥� she said.

Thanks to this 鈥済ift,鈥� as she defines the impact of the tsunami, Bel贸n learned three valuable lessons: the importance of solidarity, or making someone else鈥檚 cause your own; that value of a sense of humor even in the most tragic of moments; and the human capacity for resilience.

Before the audience of EMBA alumni and their families, gathered on the Barcelona campus, Bel贸n said that fear must be understood as a motor for growth and not as something that 鈥減aralyzes and harms us.鈥�

鈥淭hose days I learned that fear could be useful and serve as an opportunity to continue learning from life,鈥� she said. She encouraged executives to apply these recommendations in their daily lives, at home and at work, and to prioritize what truly matters.

Bel贸n said that she herself cannot understand why she and her family are alive, while 230,000 other people died that December day. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 say why, but I can say what for,鈥� she said. The death-defying experience taught her that we must seek happiness in everything we do, no matter how small.