We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Veronica Parra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Veronica, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
Through the years I’ve tried many things, some for a little while and some for longer periods of time. I think it all relates to where I’m at with myself in that moment and what my life looks like as well.
For about a year and a half I repeated to myself over 30 affirmations in the morning and at night. At that time I was really wanting to re-program my mind from hindering beliefs that were not serving me. I’m very grateful to my past self for taking the time to do that back then, especially when I “didn’t have time” and I was tired from an out of alignment life.
Eventually those affirmations became engrained in my brain and I was telling myself a different story than the one I wanted to change, so it felt kind of boring to keep repeating all those affirmations like I was. I still use affirmations but I switched my method, because if it’s not fun or feels purposeful then what’s the point?
Right now one of my favorite self care practices is my morning routine. I like to have slow mornings so I can connect back with myself and I’m not rushing in the morning, because when I rush, then my entire day feels like I’m tumbling through it. I brush my teeth and wash my face, do my skincare routine, change into some workout clothes and go for a short walk outside so I can breathe a different air than the one my AC or Heater are circling through my apartment. All this time I’m also drinking my water and by the time I get home, I’ve already had one quarter of the gallon of water I’ve committed to myself to drinking every day or most days if I’m traveling. Then I clean out the dishwasher from the day before and make myself a good breakfast, typically the same one, 2 eggs with either avocado toast or toast with some type of nut butter, blueberries and sugar free or agave syrup. To that I add some turkey bacon and sometimes some tiny tomatoes if I have some. After that I do the dishes, get my home-made ice latte and start work.
I love my current morning routine, as well as my skincare routine, going to the gym a few times a week (I like to keep it to at least twice a week) and taking some time to watch a k-drama to wind down at night; however, I understand that right now my current lifestyle allows that for me, and that my life may not always look like this, but that’s okay because if it looked like this for the rest of my life I’d probably get bored eventually.
I believe my point here is that self care will look different throughout our life, depending on the circumstances and lifestyle each chapter brings. What matters most is to be understanding with ourselves and with what we can do for us at each given moment.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a content creator (@vero_sparkles), a published Children’s Book Author / Illustrator, and the Marketing Lead & Chief Illustrator for Parra & Co., a family-owned Civil Engineering firm based in Texas, although I work remotely from Atlanta, GA.
So far my published books include Elephants are Awesome, Angie’s Affirmations and most recently The Story of Pluto. All of these books can be found on Amazon and a couple of them are available in a few libraries in Fulton County, GA, where I’ve done story times for children.
Right now, aside from my job at Parra & Co I am focusing in my content creation which is all about self empowerment, illustrations and creating content for brands I love and have used for a while. I think content creation sparks my creativity in a different way and it can be quite exciting to work on.
I do all these things because I truly enjoy all these areas and I believe I have a lot to offer to my audience and clients in all of them, so I look to keep them balanced as much as I can in order to continue enjoying all of them.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’d have to say resilience, mindset and connection.
My advice is nurture your mind, because the perspective of the story you will tell yourself about your life can vary dramatically depending on the thoughts you feed your mind. A healthy mind is constantly nurtured, you have to consistently take care of it, like you can do with your body or a puppy. Also, connection is important, because no one likes to feel lonely, but it does happen sometimes and that’s okay. It’s important however to not forget the people around you, your family, friends and community. While we all go through hermit periods, make sure to not isolate yourself and maintain that connection with the people that matter. I believe this balance builds resilience within ourselves, which will help us in getting where we want to be over time.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
Strengths for sure. I believe we’re naturally good at certain things for a reason, they might be part of our purpose or simply meant to take us places that we probably wouldn’t go otherwise. I think we are meant to enjoy this life and that we should take advantage of our strengths.
When we focus on what we enjoy and grow more in the things that interest us, everything falls into place more easily. We don’t have to completely forget about the areas where we are not that strong, we can still work them, but to me it is most important to focus on our strengths and what makes us feel all sparkly inside.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.veroparra.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vero_sparkles/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veroparra/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@vero_sparkles
Image Credits
Personal Photo taken by Jose Camacho (Insta: @byjosecamacho)
