This is 51

It took me this long to put this story into words. Some of you know that I came to this Country with no English and knew only one person in the whole entire Country. But, that is just one of my stories for another day!

I lost my mother when I was only 13 years old and my mother was 33 years old. You do the math! Yes, she was very young when she had me. Like all teenagers, I was just discovering who I was, so I thought. That episode was a horrible one in my life. I was mommy's little girl. I can almost write an entire book on that one. 

A year later at 14 years old, my so called "best friend" started bullying me. I didn't know what bullying was, I just knew it didn't feel good. I felt small and ugly, just like she was telling me I was. Mariana your butt is not cute, really? I was 14. Mariana why is your hair so long? Mariana this and Mariana that........

What she didn't know was that losing my mother was a defining moment in my life. That right at that moment I had decided to be ME and everything that God intended for me to be, including taking care of myself from the inside and out. 

So I remember at 16 and 17 years old being the youngest one in a fitness class at a small gym by my house. No one told me to register, I just did and paid with my lunch and allowance money. I didn't know that by taking that fitness class I was starting to work on my Self-Leadership as well as Health and Fitness, but I was. I never looked back from the moment I started to take care of myself Mentally, Physically and Spiritually and the rest is history. I will never finish discovering who I am, learning and growing.

My goal is to continue educating, inspiring others to work on their Self-leadership and to follow their own path.