We were lucky to catch up with Elliana Capurro recently and have shared our conversation below.
Elliana, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
When I was younger, I was very silly and energetic. I was put into pageants as a child and loved being the center of attention. However once junior high came along, in about 6th grade I began to struggle with severe anxiety. I had anxiety attacks everyday that would impact how I would function and I ended up missing a good chunk of school that year. Luckily all the staff at my K-12 were extremely understanding and patient with me so I was able to make a return within the same year, but I had to switch classes and everything to accommodate my anxiety. The previous classroom I was put in had this intense flourescent lighting that triggered so many panic attacks so I was moved to a classroom in which the teacher used natural lighting which helped so much. However when I came back, I felt like a complete outsider. I felt so small and freakish. I kept thinking “What’s wrong with me? Why am I like this?” And it led to the next 4 years of my life being full of insecurity and self doubt. I hit my lowest low my sophomore year of highschool and felt like I was spiraling out of control. My grades were going downhill and so was my mental health. Once junior year came around, I decided to work on myself. I became more confident in my personality and ended up opening up very publicly about my struggle with severe anxiety. As I became more open with destigmatizing mental illness, I heard many more stories from other people who struggled with similar issues. It felt amazing to have so many people feel safe enough to confide in me and share their own personal battles. Ever since, I’ve completely changed me outlook on life. I’m so proud of how far I’ve come and it warms my heart being able to help people in any way possible. Anytime I’m feeling down, I try to find a way to uplift those around me in a way to remind myself that I am not alone and life on its own is beautiful. Every person that smiles at me or laughs with me shows that being alive is amazing. I’ve been a safe space for people throughout my past few years and it’s made me feel amazing. I’m so honored that somehow, my awkward and way-too-open personality has led to drawing people in and feeling safe with me. On top of that, despite struggling with body image issues from time to time, I’ve come to appreciate and love my body no matter what. I love my body, my hair, my eyes, my random freckles, and so on. I love how when I look in the mirror I see my mom and dad. I love how I look insanely similar to my sister. At some point, it feels good to nitpick all the things you love about yourself, even the most random small details. I love every aspect of my life and everybody in it. My goal during my lifetime is to spread love and positivity no matter the circumstances, and I love that.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Currently I am working towards becoming a teacher still! It’s still my passion and I’m extremely excited for the future. In the meantime I’m looking forward to coming up with new projects and hopefully charities! I love to give back to our communtiy in anyways I can. I’d like to inspire people to have faith in themselves and build a life that they’re happy with. I’m going to work on finding ways to spread that message as well as be open to as many people as I can.
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?
Three of my favorite qualities are perseverance, passion, and being a wonderful advocate for what I believe is right. My advice for anybody on their own journey is to first off accept who they are as a human. You are who you are. You can always work on improving aspects of your life you don’t like at any time, you just have to have the motivation to do so. Motivation is hard to find, but you’ll find it, if I can do it, you can.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I would love to collaborate with anybody who would also like to spread a positive outlook on life. I also would love to collaborate and work on more charities which give back to my local community. Anything that I can do to improve the lives of those around me, I will. I’m able to connect easily on Instagram or by email!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: elli_noelly
