SeleneLeon

My name is Selene León. I was born in Medellín, Colombia, 27 years ago, and although I’ve always been told I was born with a smile, for me, that smile has been more than just a simple gesture; it’s been a reflection of a life full of curiosity, stories, and a deep desire to know the world. Since I was little, my mom always said I was like a hurricane. I could never sit still, always asking questions, always looking for something new to learn. I never settled for the answer "just because," I needed to know the "why" of everything. I remember when I was only eight years old, I asked my grandmother why the sky was blue. My grandmother looked at me and simply said it was because that’s how God made it. But for me, that answer was never enough. A couple of days later, I came up with a whole plan to find a more scientific explanation. It was my first serious attempt to understand the world, though I probably didn’t realize it at the time.

My family has always been my refuge. My mom, Carmen, is a warm, patient soul who, in some way, understood my need to explore since I was a child. She’s always supported me, even when I exasperated her with my whims. I remember one time when I was fifteen and I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian. I spent hours watching animal videos on YouTube, researching how to start a pet clinic, until I realized that animals weren’t my thing. But my mom never told me “no” to my dreams. She’d just look at me and say, “Do what your heart tells you, but do it well.” In high school, my friends always told me I had an incredible ability to talk to anyone. It didn’t matter if we came from different groups or didn’t know each other at all, I always found a way to strike up a conversation. To me, other people's stories were always fascinating. Listening to someone's life, their dreams, their fears, their successes... all of it kept me awake for hours. I couldn’t help it: my curiosity was insatiable.

When I graduated high school, all my friends started to follow more conventional paths: some went into engineering, others became lawyers or doctors. And while I respected all of those decisions, I felt like there was something more I needed to discover. In the end, I decided to study social communication. The idea of telling stories, of understanding human narratives, really drew me in. People didn’t just communicate with words; they communicated through gestures, expressions, and silences. I was determined to understand that language. It was at university that I found the idea of traveling. While my classmates were immersed in the responsibilities of everyday life, I lost myself in my thoughts, dreaming of places I hadn’t yet seen. Sometimes I would spend hours flipping through magazines, looking at photos of places like Paris, Tokyo, or Buenos Aires, feeling a deep need to be there—breathing the air, touching the streets, talking to people.

I clearly remember the first trip I took out of the country: a summer in Buenos Aires when I was 21. It was a journey of discovery. Not just of the city, but of myself. I spent a month walking through neighborhoods, trying foods I had never imagined, meeting people who were so different from me, but in some way connected with me. I especially remember a conversation I had with a street vendor in the Corrientes neighborhood. We talked for hours about literature, life, and in the end, when I said goodbye, he told me something that stuck with me forever: “Never let curiosity leave you, because it’s the only thing that will make you feel alive.” From that moment on, I knew I would travel more. But I also realized that my curiosity wasn’t only satisfied by the places I saw, but by the stories I found in every corner. Every conversation, every face I saw, every story I heard became a part of me, another piece of the puzzle that was my life. After university, I got a job at a small film production company. Though I was grateful for the opportunity, the job wasn’t what I dreamed of. The routine of sitting in front of a computer all day overwhelmed me. I felt my soul craving more. That’s when I decided I didn’t want to follow a traditional path. I didn’t want to settle for what most people saw as success. My success, at least for that moment, was in following my passions: exploring the world, learning from different cultures, and sharing stories with others.

At 24, I took a risky step: I quit my job, sold some of my things, and began planning for a long trip. It wasn’t going to be a simple tourist trip; I wanted to be part of the communities I visited, to get involved, to learn, and to teach. So, I signed up for a volunteering program in Nepal. I would teach English in a small village in the Himalayas. The day I bought my plane ticket, I couldn’t believe I was actually doing it. Everything inside me told me it was crazy, but at the same time, everything in me urged me to move forward. I wanted to immerse myself in a completely different culture, learn how to live with less, see the mountains I had only seen in pictures, and, most importantly, hear the stories of the local people. The stories of the children I would teach, of the women living in those villages, of the families who would open their doors to me. Nepal changed my life in a way I never imagined. The fresh air of the mountains, the serenity of the Buddhist temples, and the laughter of the children learning English became the most precious memories of my life. Every day there was a lesson in humility, gratitude, and being present. I learned more about myself in those months than I had in the previous years. I realized that life doesn’t always have to be fast, noisy, filled with technology, or packed with commitments. Sometimes, life is fuller when we’re connected with the essentials: people, nature, and experiences.23720049

My time in Nepal not only taught me how to live differently, but it also reminded me of something I’ve always known deep down: curiosity is the engine of my life. Whether exploring a new city, talking to strangers, or helping someone learn something new, my curiosity has taken me to places I never imagined. Now, at 27, I continue to travel, continue searching for stories. My life is no longer limited by the borders of a city, or the limits of a routine. My journey is continuous, and every day I find something new that surprises me. And the best part is that I know this journey will never end. Because curiosity, that spark that’s always been inside me, never fades. It just keeps growing.