In October 2020 I turned 30. That is when I decided it was time to make a resounding change to my mind, my body and everything about my life.
I had always been very active and enthusiastic about life growing up – but at some point during my late 20’s that seemed to change without me really even noticing. And it wasn’t just my body that I had slowly started to neglect. How I thought about my life had also changed – and it even affected my spirit and enthusiasm for living.
During the months leading to my 30th birthday, I was full of doubts about who I was and what I should be doing. I found that I was increasingly focused on the future and neglecting the present.
I’m not even sure when the change happened – but I realized that if I wanted to be happy, I needed to start living day to day, and focus on being present and happy today rather than being worried about what the future might bring.
I questioned everything about my life. How had I spent the last 10 years? How did time go so fast? Had I accomplished everything I wanted to do in my 20s? Was it enough? Did I let myself down? Had I wasted that time, or did I live up to my own expectations, hopes and dreams?
With each passing day as I approached my 30th I tried to recall those 10 years in an attempt to understand it all. The answers I was seeking began to come out little by little.
I relived many of my old memories, feelings and sensations – some made me cry and many made me laugh. But in the end, I realized that I was not really happy about turning 30. Worse, looking at my future, I was not able to see where I could possibly be happy on the path I was on, living an unstable and uncertain life in another country – far away from my family.
After coming to terms with the journey that had brought me to the present – I realized that I had two choices. I could be miserable and unhappy about my life up to this point. Or I could take those lessons learned to help me move on to a new chapter – a life of independence and self-improvement.
So I decided to move forward, using those lessons I had learned to focus on improving myself. I decided that I was no longer going to care about what others wanted or expected, and not what society expected of me – instead I had to learn to love myself, listen to myself and understand myself. As a woman who had grown up in Latin American culture that expectations about who women should be – this was not an easy thing.
While focusing on myself may sound self-centered, I knew that for me to be able to love and care for others – I had to first love and care for myself.
I came to realize that all the time that I thought I wasted in my 20s was really important – it helped me to actually learn who I was, manage my tolerance for myself and others, understand my values, respect my limits and focus on loving unconditionally – both myself and others. Now it was up to me to take all those lessons and apply them to my new life.
As part of my new lifestyle, there was one thing I knew for sure in my heart. I was passionate about being an entrepreneur and wanted to focus on building a business – one that focused on creating something that I thought could improve the lives of others as well as myself.
So of course, as with any new and challenging endeavour, I was destined to once again have instability and uncertainty as I launched this new company. However, I think there is nothing more beautiful than experiencing challenges that push you to your limits doing something you love. And I was ready for that.
I decided to look at myself, listen to myself, accept myself and change my life to be the person I knew I could be – and take on new and exciting challenges that I knew I was ready to meet.
Since my 30th birthday, and the inspection of my past life – in my new life I have spent the last year intensely working on myself and my new company – VIGOSA. VIGOSA is my mirror. It was created because of all these changes and I feel very proud of what I have accomplished so far. I can’t tell you how invigorating it is to share my journey and my products with you.
Every morning I wake up excited to being to be building this new business. And even more importantly, I hope that what I am doing with VIGOSA can be part of changes you find you want to make in your own life.
The strength is ours, and positive changes come when we accept ourselves and our lives with vigor.
I can’t wait to see the next chapter in my journey and would love to have you be a part of it.
Javi ♥