How I got Here

Lets rewind to August 2017

I have a well paying job. 

I just bought a house.

Im taking night classes for my masters program. 

And I am crazy in love with an amazing guy.

Sounds great, right? except more than anything I am…lost and TERRIFIED. I am lost because every day it gets harder to deny that I am completely unfulfilled with my career path and terrified because I’ve had my heart broken once before and I know how much love hurts. I surprised everyone by falling in love with a professional soccer player, but no one was more surprised than me. I was so skeptical and resistant of him but the heart wants what it wants 🤪

Anyway, I am about 3 weeks into being a homeowner when I found out Dillon (my bf) was being traded to….

Me: “What?! Orlando, Florida?! Thats across the country!” 

Him: “I know, and I leave on the first flight tomorrow”

This is us about 2 weeks after I bought my house. In less than a week, my world was about to be ROCKED.

My first thought was “IM NOT READY TO BE MARRIED!!!!”. I meannnn he hadn’t even asked me to move in with him yet 😂BUT If he did, I grew up in a Mexican catholic family where there’s a clear sequence of how relationships are supposed to happen. 

Long story short, I made a decision I had told myself I would never make. I was leaving my job, school, friends, new house, and WHOLE LIFE behind FOR A GUY. The fun part? I had to tell my parents that I was moving across the country to be with my “gringo” pro soccer player boyfriend and “NO dad, we were not getting married”…

My parents reaction: “but he’s risking nothing and you’re risking everything! he should have some skin in the game too!” 

Translation: “you should AT LEAST be engaged if you’re moving for him and in with him”

I stood my ground and doubled down on my bet. I wish I could tell you I felt confident but in reality I’ve never been more scared in my life than telling my father I was going against his wishes and even more scared of the big changes that were about to take place and the possibility of it all backfiring.

A part of me knew I needed a big shift. It was a feeling I recognized. I had the same feeling when I was presented with the opportunity of studying abroad when I was 16yo (If you want to hear more about this experience, I’ll write about it soon!). I wasn’t consciously unhappy but here is what I knew: I didn’t like my job, I wasn’t enjoying my masters program, and despite everything looking good, something felt wrong. So off I went from Colorado to Florida. What started off as following the man I loved, became me pursuing a purer and truer self. Like when I studied abroad, I knew this experience could be painful but also necessary for growth. And growth was what I was seeking.

So here we are, 2.5 years later. I’m still soul-searching but I’ve started to trust in the process and my path. I am constantly growing, shifting, changing and that will never stop. I still have moments of feeling lost when my vision for my future isn’t clear but having loads of time for introspection and emotional growth has allowed me to also have many moments of hope and excitement for the future.

I look back at how my life has unfolded over the last 2.5 years and I am so grateful for the ways things transpired. I now live in Dundee Scotland with my amazing soccer player HUSBAND. Along my path, Ive worked on different projects, connected with different people, and had all sorts of different experience which have brought me here today, starting something I’ve wanted to do for a while: Share my experiences, my passions, my interests and my creations. I have a few projects underway and I am so excited to continue pursuing them and share them with the world.

I recently read a quote that resonated with me: “You are growth-seeking Beings, and as you are moving forward, you are at your happiest” (Ask and It is Given). I am definitely my happiest when I am moving forward and welcoming the growth and change that comes with that. I look forward to continuing to share my journey and connecting with those of you who share those experiences or are simply following along!

Love,

Nina.

This is us!

Still growing, shifting, and changing but doing it together. We just celebrated 1yr of marriage. I had arrived in Scotland 3 weeks prior and we managed to do a trip to the Highlands before the pandemic hit 1 week later.