We recently connected with Alison Naranjo Vargas and have shared our conversation below.
Alison, sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
My faith and love for my baby has provided me the strength and courage to confront my mental health issues and overcome their effects. For the longest time, my mental health issues held me back in many aspects of my life. I knew I had potential to become more, but my anxiety and depression fed my self doubt. Through prayer and meditation I found that I was worth much more than what I was made to believe. Eventually, I realized that if not for myself, at least for my baby, I needed to be better. He deserved a happy mom. I was able to build the courage to seek help so that I may heal and focus on myself and my family. Eventually, I was able to overcome my mental health issues! It takes constant effort and self care.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a San Diego native passionate about the environment and our beautiful beaches. My full time job allows me to make a small but significant difference to our environment. Do you like seafood? Do you enjoy swimming in lakes or the beach? Well, my job helps protect those things! There are so many pollutants that end up in our surface waters and thus our seafood. One specific source is construction sites. My job is to help minimize pollutants from leaving construction sites and reaching our surface waters. Everyday I perform storm water BMP (best management practices) inspections at construction sites all over the City of San Diego. I work closely with contractors to find, and fix any potentials for pollution by implementing BMPs. These are things like fiber rolls, silt fences, and even street sweeping! It is definitely a thankless job because BMPs are typically the last thing contractors worry about. Regardless, my job makes a difference in the quality of our surface waters and I am very grateful for being able to do that. On my spare time I run a small online clothing boutique for toddlers. When I became a boy mom I was so excited to play with him, but not at all excited to shop for him. There are just not many cute clothing options for boys, and many boy mom friends have expressed the same feeling. So I opened Cutie Kiddo Boutique, an online store where moms, dads, aunties, and any loved one can shop for their cutie kiddo. I have a lot on my plate, but i enjoy everything I do. I enjoy mostly spending time with my baby, husband, and dog!
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?
Number one: Resilience! The path to success is not always easy. You need to be able to fall and get back up to keep going. Even when things aren’t looking so promising, you need to accept, adjust, and continue your journey.
Number two: Avoid self-doubt. Most of the time your gut feeling is correct. You need to be confident in what you strongly believe and trust your feelings. Self-doubt is more often than not self sabotage.
Number three: Be competitive. There will always be someone better. But that someone better is you. Compete with the person you were yesterday. Ask yourself how can I be better today, than how I was yesterday?
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
My main area of growth has been my mental health. I recently became a mom and it really put things into perspective. I’ve realized how important my happiness and health is. So in order to protect that I learned how to set boundaries and focus on what is truly important, my family. Initially, I was anxious for the backlash and disappointment my boundaries would cause. But I realized that those that truly love and care about me will respect my boundaries.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Little_alis3 (Personal); Cutiekiddo_boutique (Business)
- Email: cutiekiddo.boutique@gmail.com
