Why do you fight?

Hello Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and have started on your 2019 goals, I know I have!

I’ve been seeing so many people talk about their health journey or fitness journey so I wanted to share mine with you. When I was young around 15/16 years old I was diagnosed with Anxiety / Panic Disorder. I was not living a healthy life at all, I mean no one at 15/16 does. You party and eat anything and everything in sight without even thinking about how it could affect you. For anyone who suffers from anxiety or panic disorder you know what it comes with. Personally for me it came with loss of appetite, nausea, weight loss, paranoia, depression, feeling empty and lost, etc. I was pretty much scared of life itself, It was horrible, debilitating, and I really needed to get it under control and figure out how to get my life back.

For a little while I had it under control and I gained what I call “Happy Weight”, which basically means I was happy and eating and didn’t really care about anything else. In 2014 I decided to change my lifestyle and eat as wholesome as possible as well as workout on a regular basis. Now that was FARRRRRR from easy, since I was still dealing with anxiety, but I worked with what I had. Little by little I made changes to help me succeed. I started with the treadmill, and worked my way up, then I wanted something more challenging so I took Bare classes at Inline Fitness and I finally moved up to the big dogs and got a membership at Knockout Fitness, which is a boxing gym but we also do a ton of cardio and weight lifting to target different muscle groups. What I consumed on a daily basis was also very important. I cut out refined sugars as much as possible, no sodas, no juices unless I made them myself or it was freshly made at a juice bar. No over processed meals and definitely no fast food, not even chick fila (Sorry but that is not a healthy substitute, for you fast food lovers). I really stuck to eating organic wholesome foods and doing a lot of research on food combining and how to spot the good foods from the bad. You might think, well its pretty obvious what is bad for you but you would be shocked at the amount of people who aren’t very educated on what healthy actually is.

Happy Weight – Before starting a healthy routine

After about a year of really sticking to my lifestyle change I realized how I didn’t have panic attacks anymore, or how I didn’t feel scared or paranoid. If anything I felt strong, I felt like I was on top of the world. The gym and my trainers at Knockout helped me from the start to become the strong person that I didn’t know I could be. Not only were they my trainers but also my friends. I went from feeling insecure and not being able to do one push up, to having muscle definition, flipping tires and learning how to box.

The gym, eating healthy and really taking care of myself saved my life. I don’t take medication, I simply chose to really figure out what works for my body and what makes me happy. My journey into a healthy lifestyle was not an easy one but it was worth every second of it. It’s so important to take care of yourself, mentally and physically. Eat well, workout, decompress and enjoy your life. This is just a little summary of my journey but I hope you guys took something from it. It’s never too late to start your journey and to solve all of those underlying health issues, which most of the time can be fixed with some simple changes. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to ask, I would be more than happy to answer them. Until next time my friends!

Dream Big,

Vanessa Navarro

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New Year, Improved Me.

Well…its finally here. It’s the end of one year and beginning of another. This is the time where most people get the burst of energy to become dreamers and set goals, start the gym , start a new diet, change their hairstyle. It’s the time where everyone’s main line is “New year, New me”…. except for me. This new year I am saying “New Year, IMPROVED ME”, why? because in all reality I’m not going to change in some magnificent way where I will be unrecognizable. In reality, I will still be me, with my same dreams and maybe some new ones. My life is going to be fairly similar, so what I’ve decided to focus on is simply improving myself, bettering myself in every single aspect of life. Setting attainable goals and really trying to hit every single one, waking up every day being positive even on days where I don’t want to be.

This year has been a tough one, with a close friends passing, my grandfather being ill, trying to move up the latter at work and other personal stuff, I feel drained. So many ups and downs that I feel like I just went on the most loop filled roller-coaster there was. Besides all of the DOWNS of 2018 lets not forget to be thankful for all the UPs that 2018 brought me. I went to Jamaica with the Howard’s and had the best time of my life, worked out 6 days a week and was in the best shape (still am 💪🏽) , close friends got engaged, had many wine nights, danced a lot, made new friends and continued to smile and push through all the annoyances.

One thing that 2018 has taught me is to really cherish the time you have on earth. To spend time with family and the people you love the most, to really really enjoy life and not let anyone control or stop you from doing whatever it is that YOU WANT to do. We have one life.. ONE. Smile a lot, tell people how you feel, open up to people and talk, make new friends, dance, sing out loud, try something you’re afraid of, live this year and everyone after that to its fullest. We have one opportunity to make it the best and to make all of our dreams a reality. I challenge all of you to really push yourselves and really try hard to do what you love. I am leaving 2018 behind and entering 2019 with a positive mindset and a heart full of love. Cheers to 2019 being the best year yet!!….. Until next time my friends.

Dream Big,

Vanessa Navarro

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The Beginning.

It’s been a hot minute since I wrote anything. Life sometimes takes over and it’s been feeling like the days just mesh together. Holiday season can be fun but also super stressful!

Anyways, I wanted to tell you my story. I feel like most of you know me or know of me but don’t know where I come from, my background etc.

Let’s start with my parents, my mother (Jessica) is from Lima, Peru and my Father (Angel) from Spain. My dad and his parents moved to Belgium when he was a baby so he pretty much grew up in Belgium while still visiting his family is Spain often. When my mother was about 20-21 she went to study abroad in Belgium. She has always been very adventurous, she loves learning about other cultures, languages and the history of other places. At a young age my parents met by a mutual friend out at a nightclub, normal relationship stuff happened and they had me at 23. I am the first born.

I very vividly remember growing up in Belgium, going to school and taking the underground metro every morning with my mom or dad. In case you guys don’t know, people in Europe walk everywhere or have other forms of transportation and don’t use cars often, that may be different now but that’s how it was back then. My brother (Michel) was born in 94, he was the greatest gift a little girl could get because he was my very own living doll. Michel and I would go to camps together for the summer and do outdoor nature trips, normal kid stuff. I was very very close with my grandmother (Dad’s mom) and I would often spend my summers with her in a little amazing place in Spain called Candas (Look it up!) those were the best times I ever had. Life was so simple and so fun. Fast forward a couple years and my family decides it’s time to move to the U.S.A. My grandfather (Juan Jose – Mom’s Dad) gave us a call and pretty much said to all of his kids (4 of them: Juan, Jose, Javier, Jessica) time to get down here and find opportunity. My grandfather is the most hard working, selfless, genuine, kind, loving person I know. Because of him we have had endless of opportunities and the ability to live in the U.S. So in year 2000 we made the move. A little Belgian girl and boy with their parents and no knowledge of the culture or language of the U.S. moved and started school.

I recall how different I looked, how I always wore dresses and my hair was perfectly done, I remember how my style was so different from the American school girls (much more laid back). I remember how scared I was because I couldn’t communicate with anyone, I couldn’t speak English since my first language was French and second was Spanish. Eventually I started making friends even with the language barrier, I started getting acclimated to being here and living this new life. I am thankful for my teachers and ESOL for helping me and teaching me English. No one would ever know that I wasn’t born here because of them. My brother and I grew up and pretty much became two normal American kids, well just a little different because of our culture.

I truly think that my experience, my family’s experience moving from one country to the other made us so much stronger. It personally made me so much more sensitive to others. It taught me to be kind and be friends with everyone, it taught me that that dreams and opportunities are attainable, that when you do things the right way and take the right steps anything is possible. It take so much strength in every way to move, the things my family did, my grandfather, my parents did, was all for us. It’s to have a better life, to do the impossible and to live out our dreams. Its so important to be cultured and not discriminate and always help others. Just because someone is different than you doesn’t make them less of a person, you don’t know what they went through to be here today, you don’t know them so get to know them. Everyone deserves a chance to follow their dreams and go wherever they want in life.

I hope this post taught you something new, made you feel like you can relate to me more. Many people know me but not my story. As always, I appreciate the people who take the time to read my posts.
Until next time my friends.

Dream Big,
Vanessa Navarro

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Live.

Happy Sunday everyone! I didn’t post last week how I was supposed to because there was a lot going on. Recently, I found out that one of my close friends had just passed away. This got me thinking about death, life, grief, and how everyone handles these situations differently.

Some cry in silence, some take a little bit of time to process and others are very expressive with how they feel. Death in any instance is something that is extremely traumatic and difficult to deal with, even if it’s something that was expected.

In my case I try to look at the positive instead of the obvious negative. I want to celebrate that persons life and talk about how amazing they were, how they made me feel at a certain time, how they impacted me and others. That is my way of coping, because when it is my time, I want people to be happy they even though i am gone, their time with me on earth was special.

I want to express how important it is to communicate, reach out to friends and family about how you are doing. If you are depressed, if you are just going through a rough time, if you need help, speak up!! It’s so so important to put the shame and pride aside and to seek help when needed.

I encourage everyone to be more vulnerable and open. Life is so beautiful, so precious, and we only have one! Be open with others, celebrate life. Live for YOU and not for others, but also use your resources and the people around you to help you when you need it so you can live life to it’s fullest potential and enjoy every single second of it. I am always so thankful for each and every day that I am able to wake up in the morning, even on the bad days, because I know my time is limited on earth just like everyone else’s.

Enjoy your life and your friendships, travel, move somewhere far, be kind and forgive. Don’t judge unless given a reason to, and most of all Dream big!!

To my dear friend Bryan. I love you and I know you will be watching over all of us. (Your crazy friends and family) Until next time my friends.

Vanessa Navarro.

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What you see

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU to each person who took the time to read my post. I was very nervous at first but the amount of love and feedback that I received is beyond what I could have imagined.

Today, I want to talk about perception. How you as a person view the world, your relationships, etc.

We are currently living in a world where, what you see is NOT what you get (most of the time). There are tons of social media accounts posting about their wonderful unbreakable relationships, all the beautiful trips they take around the world, people with the most insanely perfect bodies, facial features, expensive cars, clothes and the list goes on. None. of. that. is. real… we have all fallen into this cycle of trying to find perfection because of our perception of others. Well here is a little reminder that we are human beings with faults, dysfunctional relationships, bodies with scars, a little bit of unwanted fat, living paycheck to paycheck. We are the same as the ones who post about their perfect life. Don’t compare yourself to others, don’t make your life less valuable and beautiful because you think it isn’t good enough, fun enough or extravagant enough. Don’t ever let your perception of others ruin what you have. You are beautiful and so is your life, because it isn’t perfect.

I am guilty of doing that too, I look at others and say “ wow how perfect are they?! “, when in reality my life is good enough for me. Sometimes we don’t value the wonderful things we have in life because we always want more. It’s okay to want more and have the drive to do better, but be happy and don’t seek perfection. Understand that your perception of other people is just that, because behind closed doors we are all very similar, fighting the same battles.

I really hope you guys enjoy reading these posts. I will have many different topics to talk about, Fashion, Travel, and my favorite ( Life). If anyone has any feedback or questions, feel free to message me. I am always here to listen and talk. Until next time friends.

Dream Big,

Vanessa Navarro.

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Here we go.

It’s 12:39pm, I’m sitting in my cubicle eating my 3 for $5 canned soup because I spent wayyy too much money at target yesterday on my lunch break, (Target gets me every time!). Recently, I’ve had this burning fire inside of me to branch out, to be more creative, to be more vulnerable and put myself out there. People who know me, know that I am very reserved and am very private, so naturally doing anything public is challenging for me.

Since I was young I have dreamt of being successful, being some kind of doctor, having a big house, being married and living what I call the “Barbie life”. Reality is, things just didn’t go as planned. After high school I went to community college and tried very hard to stick with it but I soon realized that it JUST wasn’t for me, and guess what?.. it’s okay! I found my path and my way just fine without that little piece of paper saying that I went to some college to study business management or whatever.

Growing up I always compared myself to others (still do, but try not to), I see other people who are doing great things and I wonder why can’t I? Why can’t I do that, why can’t my life be like that? What do they have available to them that I don’t?.. Comparing yourself to others is just horrible for your psyche. Just remember, that you are not like anyone in this world, your life is not like anyone else’s and never will be. You are responsible for yourself, your path and what YOU choose to make of it.

Today I have decided to start my blog, I’ve had this account sitting for two years and I never touched it because of the fear that people would be like “who does she think she is?”. Truthfully I don’t care who you think I am. This is something that I am choosing to do because it will make me happy, it will let me express myself and it will allow me to tell my story my way. So if there is something that you want to do, whatever it is, do it. Don’t wait for luck, don’t compare yourself to others, just do YOU. Create your own opportunities. Tomorrow isn’t promised, so take life and enjoy every single second of it. Until next time friends.

Dream Big,

Vanessa Navarro.

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