"Never let the future disturb you, you will face it (if necessary) with the same weapons of reason that today arm you against the present"

EN the first trip I made to China, back in 2017 it was like the one who goes on an excursion or with travel colleagues, full of energy and cutting off power at every step. Nervous, but with great respect, that was an adventure, the adventure that would change my life.

I had read a lot about them, the curiosity that, since I can remember, aroused in me, was brutal; for the culture, the economy and especially for imports, don't ask me why but they caught my attention.

At that time, he was already aware of the personality of the Asian people (at least online) evenHow they were spent in terms of commerce, since it was also many years that I had been trading with them. This time, however, it was special, face-to-face and above all burdensome; for the duties he carried in his suitcase,The mission of that trip was none other than to fill a maritime container,To the brim,Of knee pads of 5mm. With all that that supposed and I still did not know it.

You will be thinking why I tell you all this, and it is because among other things I worry a lot, I"Extra concern". In the suitcase next to the homework, to fill the container, I had concerns and to my understanding, big ones; I rememberExtra worry meFor how to communicate with them. In context, in most factories, the directors or owners speak only Chinese and my English was not the best we say, it was the one that is taken out of school in Spain...😒

For that and for many other concerns(Among them, one that I still remember; There were many people who posed as direct factory workers without being one, known as "Traders") I decided to have the services of "Antonio"... yes, my namesake, but Chino...

This, despite being the most incompetent translator in China, the one who wore the worst and the one who had suspended in education and good manners, was also the cheapest and see that at that time he already understood that cheap is expensive.

But for those years of beginning, there was no other, I could not afford anything else, everything absolutely everything was going to the knee pads (even what we did not have)... Well, it turned out that Antonio, my Chinese translator, my dear Antonio, was going to give me one of the greatest lessons of my life...

I will rewindForward the whole process of; the visits to the factories (more than 18 in 5 days, in very different locations), the exaggerated celebrations of the managers and workers when receiving me, the invitations to meals, which are so far from our usual palate, That I would be unable to describe here and the clash of the new culture; I will overlook all that and also the review that some Chinese gave me drinking in Qingdao and I will focus on the moment of my big decision.

Two factories were the finalists, I had to decide on one, to do the many knee pads that we had designed to the millimeter and I still had 500 doubts in my head, an endless number of questions, the time against me and many concerns of the whole process, especially for the future.

When Antonio, who had already made each other, realized my condition, offered me some milk from a brikJust after taking it out of your mouth after drinking, and a bite ofBaozi already bitten. You can imagine my answer... The case, we stopped and sat down, the feet fired at me from what we had walked those days and he told me a Chinese proverb that would mark me for life; he said something such that so;

Once upon a time there was a Chinese peasant, he was poor but very wise, he worked the land with his son.

One day his son told him:

-Father, what a great misfortune! The horse has escaped us.

-Why do you call it a misfortune? -Answered the father-don't worry, let's see what happens...

Within days the horse returned, accompanied by other horses.

-Father, how lucky! -Screamed the son-Our horse has brought other horses!!

-Why do you call it luck? -The father told him-Let's see what happens...

Soon after, the son wanted to tame the horses, one of them rehead and threw him to the ground.

The boy broke his leg. -Father, what a disgrace! -The son exclaimed now-I 've broken my leg!

And the father, making use of his experience and wisdom, declared:-Why do you call him misfortune? Let's see what happens! The boy was not convinced at all of his fate while crying in pain in his bed.

A few days later the king's envoys passed through the village, looking for young people to take them to war. They came to the old man's house, but since they saw the young man with his splinted leg, they left him and continued long.

The young man understood then that you never have to give misfortune, or fortune as absolute, but that you always have to give time to time, to see if something is bad or good.

We understand that life takes many turns, and its development is so paradoxical that what worried us so much perhaps does not even end up happening; that the bad is good and the good, bad.

It is best to accept the present, “surrender to what it is”, here and now… do it with all your soul and the best we can; tomorrow will come and as I said last week in thePrevious broadcast. Let's focus on what we can control NOW.

In many things, we are that young Chinese lad. Stop regretting, accept what it is, have an open attitude to whatever comes, be happy with what you have here and now.

Due to other circumstances and improvements, that is not our current manufacturer of knee pads, but it helped us a lot in the process and learning, until I became an expert in knee pads and most importantly, everything went well, far from the concerns I had at that time. De esta forma este broadcast se lo dedico, 上海小彭Antonio,

Thanks for reading and super strength!

If you want to see how our knee pads have evolved today you can click HERE