Greetings, friends.
There's an idea that has sustained me through times of struggle, and I want to share it with you. It's not about forgiving or forgetting. It's about a form of existential revenge.
The idea is this: that your enemies, whether they are people or the adverse circumstances they embody, live long enough. That they live long enough to witness your achievements. To see, day after day, how you defeat them.
It's not about wishing them physical harm or their obvious ruin. That's small, and besides, it binds you to them. It's about something deeper: destroying the narrative they tried to impose on you.
When someone underestimates you, betrays you, or fate deals you a blow seemingly designed to crush you, that enemy—whether a specific person or the embodiment of bad luck—poses a thesis: “You can’t.” “You’re not enough.” “This is too much for you.” Visceral revenge wants to respond with an equivalent blow. But existential revenge is different. You don’t want their silence or their disappearance. You want their presence. You want them there, forced to observe. Because every achievement of yours, every firm step, every goal reached, is the living refutation of their thesis. It is an argument made of actions.
Asking them to live long enough to see it isn't a pious wish. It's the ultimate expression of confidence. It implies absolute certainty in your own path. You have no doubt that you will continue to triumph. Doubt is not an option.
Triumph, in the sense of fidelity to your purpose and self-improvement, is inevitable from the moment you refuse to give up.
Therefore, you don't want them to miss the show. You want their pride, their sense of superiority, or their malicious indifference to slowly and relentlessly erode before the evidence of your consistency.
Imagine the person who said you'd never amount to anything, watching you publish your third book. Imagine the circumstance that almost bankrupted you, watching you build something solid from the ashes.
They have to be there. They have to witness it. Their own insignificance in your story is established not by your hatred, but by your productive indifference. They are no longer the villain you must defeat; they become mere witnesses to a process that completely transcends them.
Their role is reduced to watching their failed prediction fade away. You no longer need their defeat, because your continued success is a far more complete defeat for their legacy of skepticism or malice.
Don't waste energy trying to bring them down. Spend it on rising. And sincerely hope they are alive to see the heights you reach.
Saludos, amigas.
Hay una idea que me ha sostenido en momentos de lucha, y quiero compartirla con ustedes. No es sobre perdonar u olvidar. Es sobre una forma de venganza existencial.
La idea es esta: que tus enemigos, ya sean personas o las circunstancias adversas que encarnan, vivan bastante. Que vivan lo suficiente para que sean testigos de tus logros. Para que vean, día tras día, cómo los vences.
No se trata de desearles un daño físico o su ruina manifiesta. Eso es pequeño, y además, te ata a ellos. Se trata de algo más profundo: destruir la narrativa que intentaron imponer sobre ti.
Cuando alguien te subestima, te traiciona, o el destino te lanza un revés que parece diseñado para hundirte, ese enemigo –sea una persona concreta o la encarnación de la mala suerte– plantea una tesis: “Tú no puedes”. “No eres suficiente”. “Esto te supera”.
La venganza visceral quiere responder con un golpe equivalente. Pero la venganza existencial es diferente. No quieres su silencio o su desaparición. Quieres su presencia. Quieres que estén ahí, obligados a observar. Porque cada logro tuyo, cada paso firme, cada meta alcanzada, es la refutación viviente de su tesis. Es un argumento hecho de acciones.
Pedir que vivan bastante para verlo no es un deseo piadoso. Es la máxima expresión de confianza. Implica una seguridad absoluta en tu propio camino. No dudas de que seguirás triunfando. La duda está fuera de la ecuación.
El triunfo, en el sentido de fidelidad a tu propósito y de superación personal, es inevitable desde el momento en que te niegas a rendirte.
Por lo tanto, no quieres que se pierdan el espectáculo. Quieres que su orgullo, su sentido de superioridad o su indiferencia maliciosa se erosione lenta e implacablemente ante la evidencia de tu consistencia.
Imagina a la persona que dijo que nunca llegarías a nada, viendo cómo publicas tu tercer libro. Imagina a la circunstancia que casi te quiebra financieramente, viendo cómo construyes algo sólido desde las cenizas.
Ellos tienen que estar ahí. Tienen que certificarlo. Su propia insignificancia en tu historia queda establecida no por tu odio, sino por tu indiferencia productiva. Ya no son el villano al que debes vencer; se convierten en meros testigos de un proceso que los trasciende por completo.
Su papel se reduce a observar cómo su pronóstico fallido se desvanece. Dejas de necesitar su derrota, porque tu éxito continuo es una derrota mucho más completa para su legado de escepticismo o maldad.
No gastes energía en hundirlos. Gástala en elevarte. Y desea, sinceramente, que estén vivos para ver la altura que alcanzas.
