PROFILE

What's In My Portfolio: Eugenia Gajardo

Photo by Chino Sardea
17 Apr 2017

Eugenia Gajardo is a psychotherapist and a visual artist

My portfolio has two parts, but the more important one is the human part; in it is the love that I have for life. It’s like a bank account that has accumulated through the years. It has my relationship with my daughter. The first deposit was when I got pregnant. And little by little I had been saving, putting in, changing and adjusting, and today I saw this beautiful gift that is a human being. She is in my portfolio.

There are also my love for my friends and my friendships, which to me are priceless. Then there’s my Nana, who has been with me for the past eight years, looking after me and my dog.

This part is what really matters to me.

The second part of my portfolio, of course, is the material side. I can’t go through a day saying, “I’ll give you a smile”, or “I’ll pay you with love”, or “Can I do something for you in exchange”. So there’s a reality that we all have to deal with.

But the balance, the real investment, what really sustains me, is the first part because the variables there are less. Love, my daughter, art, my friends are lifelong investments.

The second portfolio can come and go anytime. I’ve seen that go up and down according to the market, and if I hung on to that I would have no true stability.

My stability comes first from my love of life itself, from what I have within me. Although my love for my daughter and my friends is important, they have their own lives. It’s not like money that we invest and from which we can expect some return.

So my portfolio is quite simple, quite basic. I find it important to keep it that way. The more you have, the more you keep it simple. The more friends you have, the more you focus on what really matters.