| Name | Ignacio Vidal | 
|
| Age | 45 | |
| Location | Malbusca Santa Maria island (Azores - Portugal) | |
| Contact | by email: ignacio at naqiao dot hk or phone: (+34) 969 59 1212 |
I haven't lived a normal life: tried to make my own decisions while following my heart; it was harder this way, but much more rewarding in the long term.
In short, my life's most relevant turning points have been these:
Teaching myself IT and getting good jobs afterwards
In 1996 began studying Mechanical Engineering: it didn't work, the University was bad and my environment worse, so ended up seeking refuge into anime and Linux; in the Spain of the time both were quite marginal, but in the long run happened to be very useful: Linux would bring me good money, and anime a broad view of life's possibilities.
Thanks to both I got independent from my parents being 21 years old, moving to Madrid just before the end of 1999.
Progressing in the IT industry and escaping the Big City
Back then, Madrid was in the middle of the .com bubble, so I was able to progress quickly from one company to the next, gaining experience and increasing my salary fast; when the bubble burst I already was quite well positioned as an Unix admin in Siemens.
But I wasn't happy in Madrid, besides heavy pollution, crazy expensive apartments and wasted commuting time, it wasn't a good environment for socializing: all my co-workers were much older than me, most married and with children.
Madrid's cultural life wasn't my style either, so I decided to go somewhere else; after considering Barcelona, Andalusia or even Japan finally decided for Asturias in North Spain, moving there in 2002 leaving behind my promising IT career in Madrid.
Enjoying Asturias and exchanging IT for fortune telling
In Asturias I was able to enjoy life much more than in Madrid, but still worked as Unix admin from time to time until finally gave it up in 2004 for becoming a fortune teller.
Once again people thought I was crazy, but I knew I had to do it, and did it; never regretted my decission.
That year I began Las Cartas de la Vida to promote my consultations; the site grow steadily over 2 million yearly visitors making me well known in the fortune telling scene of Spanish speaking countries.
However, inside me, the most important change was dealing with people's problems instead of computer problems; this really made me learn much at intimate and spiritual levels, and began reading about psychology, psychiatry, history and all kind of "occult sciences".
In a way, the best part of having become a fortune teller is everything I learned thanks to it, most of this knowledge isn't taught anywhere.
Escaping Spain by Sea
Once well established as a fortune teller doing most of my consultations by phone or email, it was natural to make good use of the fact that I didn't need to stay in a fixed place for earning my money.
This, together with the ever worsening situation in Spain, made me decide to move to a little sailing boat from which I expected to sail around the World earning my money with my consultations.
In 2006 began directing all my efforts towards that goal, and in February 2008 bought the boat and moved aboard, living there for the following 10 years; it was a really big sustained effort during a long time, it wasn't easy at all and maybe a waste of energy somewhat, but I wanted to do it and did it.
Finding myself in the vast Ocean
It was hard to live, work and sail alone in a tiny old boat: life was very limited by lack of space, maintenance was a burden, and sailing alone was really dangerous... but in exchange it gave me relative freedom, helped me meet all kinds of interesting people and taught me very valuable things; it really felt as being the main character of a wonderful anime, although sometimes too much real!
However, in the long run it was obvious that I had to find some place to settle down, so in 2013 decided to stay one winter in Azores refitting the boat, and after years of sailing between Azorean islands doubting what to do, finally moved to a nice house in Santa Maria island and sold the boat in 2019.
Surviving COVID in the Azores
I had just sold my boat and was thinking what to do next when COVID struck, it really took me by surprise and have been doing my best to cope with it since March 2020.
It hasn't been easy: my consultations are much fewer than before, so I was forced to work as Unix consultant once again; luckily enough I never gave up working with Unix, so it was easy to find small related jobs to do from home.
Also I have learnt QiGong and other health related disciplines, now grow my own vegetables and do yoga every morning; awaiting the right chance for advancing forward once again.
Surprisingly enough, having lived such an unconventional life has given me plenty of resources for coping with these weird times we are all living through; I honestly believe that following your heart is always the right thing to do, even if you make many mistakes along the way.