Facing our fears – Major life changes. Warning: it’s very emotional.

It’s been a really weird few months. A lot has happened in my life, good and bad, but I’m trying to remind myself that everything happens for a reason and things are always ok in the end. We have some major life changes coming our way and even though I’m excited, I am also TERRIFIED. But that’s a good sign I guess.

When I first shared on Instagram we had some some changes to announce, everyone thought I was pregnant. That’s so funny to me that people always assume that when you have big news! But no, I’m not pregnant. There are a lot big things that can happen to people besides a baby. And also, you most likely will never hear that type of announcement from me, because we are 99% sure we won’t have children. There you have it, I said it. I think people need to talk A LOT more about not having kids as a valid life choice without being criticized.

Anyways….

I just wanted to give you guys a little life update from the past few months. I thought long and hard before writing this post because honestly, who really wants to know? There’s enough going on in the world right now… However, I have found empathy and understanding from reading other blogs about major life changes and I also feel like in a way I owe it to you, since I haven’t been exactly myself on Instagram over the past few months… So here it goes!

Major life changes

Life Update #1:

My brother, who suffered from cancer for over 5 years, lost his battle a few weeks ago. It’s a long, complicated story, but we were not very close and there are a lot of complicated family dynamics that I intend to keep private, but I loved him very much and his death was very hard on the family, especially my dad (who also has cancer, but he’s doing ok). All of this stuff got me thinking and reflecting on many things about my own life and my family, so it’s been quite an eye-opening journey lately.

I want to thank each and every one of you who donated money to help him and his family out! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! You guys always blow my mind.

Update #2:

I finally started working again!

Since the pandemic started in March, I pretty much lost most of my campaigns overnight and that was a true eye opener. It brought to light all the mistakes I’ve made over the past few years of having this blog (like not having multiple income sources) and it was very hard on me. You guys know, I’m a very optimistic person, but I had a lot of rough days. That’s why I had to disconnect myself from Instagram a few times. Being in the platform was affecting me and it just felt like a harsh reminder of everything I am not. Social media can be a harsh environment if you are not in a good place in your life.

However, we are OK. G has a great job, so I really have nothing to complain about… especially now that things are going back to ‘normal’ with work for me. I’m very happy and feel very optimistic for the rest of the year, but I’m just sharing this because it was mentally and emotionally hard a few months ago. Add all the horrible news and the situation here in the US and well… It all got to me, so I needed to take some time off to think and put things in perspective.

Life Update #3:

We are in the process of selling everything we own! Talk about major life changes!!

Our lease expires on September 30th and we will be living month to month using Airbnb’s starting October 1st. All of this time we’ve realized how little satisfaction we get from things and from being in one place. It’s hard to explain, but we just feel like we need a fresh start and we didn’t want to commit to a new lease for another year.

We don’t have kids, we both can work from anywhere, so we said to ourselves… why not? It was scary to make the decision, mostly because neither of us wanted to deal with selling stuff and having to figure out where to live every month, but we are VERY excited to truly have a minimalistic lifestyle for a little bit.

I’ve been having a mix of emotions. I’ve lived here for almost 6 years, it was the first home I had by myself after my divorce. I lived my worst times in this apartment but also the best ones… Me and G got engaged in our living room, it was our first home and I will never forget this place. I, of course, already took a million photos and videos for our personal life journal. This place will forever be in our hearts, but I’m SO EXCITED for what’s next!

PS: If you are in Chicago and want to buy anything, we are selling our stuff for cheap and giving away other stuff too, so DM me on Instagram if interested.

Update #4:

My sister is having another baby girl! Technically this doesn’t count as major life changes for me, it’s more for my sis LOL, but still, I wanted to share.

Being an auntie is one of the favorite roles I play in this world. I love my nieces & nephews (especially the little ones) more than anything in the world and I never thought I would get to live the experience of having a new niece ever again, so when I heard about it, I couldn’t stop crying. What a blessing. I’ll get to be an auntie again. I still cannot believe it! Thanks Alicia ;)

Update #5:

I’ve been very productive with the gift of extra time I’ve been given.

I paid a Skillshare membership and I’ve been studying like crazy and learning new skills. I plan to become a master video editor. I’ve been loving editing videos so so much!! We went on vacation for 4th of July (we drove all around Lake Michigan) and we took so many videos that I’ve been editing and it’s been a blast and so rewarding to create something from zero and have all these amazing memories from our vacation.

Next week I start to learn about photo editing with Lightroom and then who knows after that :) Sky is the limit! I can’t recommend Skillshare enough!!

Life Update #6:

I don’t know how much time this blog has.

I really don’t know how to explain this one. I mean, I love what I do, I really do, but I’ve been having the feeling that it’s time to move on to something else. I’m getting ready in any way I can for what I feel/think comes next, and I’m really hoping to start a new journey on 2022. I promise I will keep you guys posted.

This is the easiest way I can explain it: even though I love this blog and even though I consider it to be successful, it was just a medium to get me ready to where I need to be next. As I search and think about my purpose, I’ve realized this blog is not it… you get what I’m saying? Or do I sound crazy? 

In the meantime you can count on me to be around this year and the next, and of course after that as well. When I say I don’t know how much time this blog has, I mean it from a business perspective. Even after 2021, I still plan to keep Ways of Style, but mostly just for fun, just how it started :).

Update #7:

I’m getting my wisdom teeth removed :(

I’ve been postponing it for the longest time, but they’ve been bothering me lately and since there’s not much to do out there anyways because quarantine life is real when you have a quarantine bubble where 3 people are high risk, I figured now was a good time to do it.

That’s all for today :) What do you think about my major life changes?

So… I think that’s it for me… LOL was that enough? All in all, I’m ok. I’m very happy and excited for what’s next. I’ve never been a person who’s afraid of change, I actually find it very exciting and I almost crave it in a way. On the other hand, I don’t like uncertainty LOL, but that’s something I had to get over as soon as this pandemic started.

If I’ve learned anything from all of this, is that we have to learn to live in the present and learn to adjust quickly when facing change and challenges. Our entire life plans changed overnight because of COVID-19 and it broke our hearts, but we are still here and healthy and in a very privileged position considering everything that’s happening in the world.

If anything, all of this made us realize how fragile life is and how important it is to actively try to live a life you love, filled with meaning and purpose. A life that you are actually proud of. Most importantly, always strive to be a better person and try to make the world a better place, which is exactly what we are planning on doing :)

LIFE IS HAPPENING TODAY! Embrace the major life changes the universe throws at you!

Love you guys! Thank you so much for your unconditional support! Any questions or updates to share, leave them in the comments below :)

XO,

Aimara

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