Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Lizardo.
Alexandra, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
For many years people thought I had the perfect life: perfect husband, perfect house, perfect kids, perfect family, and that I was in fact: “The Perfect Mom.” Nothing further from the truth.
I thought that if I could control everything in my life, I could have a better more stable life. Truth is it wasn’t! I learned that the hard way. I learned that gripping too tight doesn’t equal happiness, but rather frustration and disappointment.
After dealing with the pain of my dreadful divorce and the guilt of the death of my youngest sister from depression, I decided to open up about the truth, my truth.
The Perfect Mom Diary is my journey, the journey of a single “perfect mom” of two, Andres and Emiliana, born less than a year apart. The journey where I wanted perfection to exist, but realized it was far from it.
A perfect mom doesn’t exist! We are the best moms to our kids. But we overload ourselves with unnecessary and absurd weight and pressure to measure up to some “social standards.”
For decades, we’ve been encouraged to reach for the ever-elusive notion of perfection: To have the perfect body, be the perfect housewife or grind it out at the perfect job so we can build the perfect bank account, live in the perfect home and have a perfect life…
There is no perfect way to been a good mom. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges and situations, different skills and abilities, different fears and certainly different children. What really matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and would do anything to make them happy, teach them and protect them.
Instead of pursuing perfection, we need to pursue humility. It’s by being humble that we recognize our imperfect selves in need of a perfect savior.
Parenting isn’t about perfection or imperfection. It’s all about the great moments that we will remember forever and the bad ones that will slip away into the recesses of our minds.
My message is not only for mom’s but also for women in general, women who go through daily struggles trying to fill the perfect pictures and perfect moments on social media. I would love to encourage them to break with the “perfect women myth” that hunts us all.
My message is raw, real, honest and straightforward, to love ourselves and to ditch stereotypes. Be you. Do you.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was not a smooth road at all. But I think when you face yourself in the mirror, when you look straight into the eyes of your demons, and you try to overcome your fears, it never is a smooth road.
I was not happy with my life, and chances are your comfort zone is exactly what’s bringing you down. That was my case at least.
I had to make a radical decision: like ending an eight year relationship, moving by myself with my kids, looking for a job in a new country, and leaving behind my old beliefs that were holding me back.
I had to get rid of many friendships that were not part of my new path, I had to deal with many people who didn’t believe I would make it on my own or people who discouraged me constantly. I basically had to reinvent ME, the ME I knew.
On top of my divorce process, my little sister passed away. She suffered from depression and committed suicide. It was and still is a horrible family situation to deal with.
I am the oldest sibling, so I decided to take care of my parents and moved them in with me for several months. This responsibility made me put my divorce grieving process and the one of my sister’s death on hold. Yes, it was hard, but that put my life and everything else Into perspective.
So now my thought process goes this way; I have two healthy and living children at home, that’s all a mom can ask for, honestly. The remainder of “you can’t control everything in life, and God knows why things happen” was and is a constant daily thing in live and “being grateful” is the key.
We need to embrace the changes, to trust the process and to believe in our power to make things happen. Specially, if you are looking to find your true self and your happiness.
My advice is to follow your heart, to find your purpose in life and then invest yourself only in things that are aligned with your path. When you decide to live life with love, peace, and passion for everything you do, joy will come like magic, this is the “Law of Attraction” at it’s best!
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am a storyteller, a writer, a speaker. I share my experiences and knowledge with people, I love to help by putting feelings into words, that’s my way to connect with my audience, I want them to feel we are not alone in this journey. I love to hear when people say: “it’s as if you were reading my mind”, “this is exactly what I needed to read today”, etc. I put my feelings and thoughts out there in the hopes that it will resonate with others and encourage them to be positive and to have faith.
I am the co-founder of ‘Satsang for Women’, a series of talks and workshops for women where we discuss “The Women’s Way to Spirituality.” We partner up with Design District and we have a calendar of events each month on 2019.
I partnered in a beautiful project called: ‘Love Yourself Challenge’, a digital platform that offers a 21 day workshop to change our habits and approach in life. This will allow us to fall back in love with our true self. We are launching this digital platform in December 2018.
I am a private meditative yoga instructor (certified by Ancient Yoga Academy from India) and I’m also a Reiki Master.
I am very proud of every activity I am part of or that I am organizing. One of my main goals and purpose in life is to help people to heal their heart and soul, to empower women like me to believe in themselves and not settle for anything else than happiness, and to teach others how to live a more conscious and spiritual life.
Yes, life in a roller coaster, there are hills and valleys, ups and downs, but we can make the most out of each situation and opportunity.
Do you recommend any apps, books or podcasts that have been helpful to you?
I love to read, there are many books that have helped me, but there are three that I believe to be the most important: “Many Lives, Many Masters” by Dr. Brian Weiss, “Judgment Detox” by Gabrielle Bernstein and “Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself” by Dr. Joe Dispensa.
My rule for social media, I follow people that I am constantly learning from, people who encourage me to be better and motivate me to keep my energy high. I try and stay away, far away, from things that are only a distraction.
I work out on a daily basis, yoga, and running. I have a plant based diet. I do social work as much as I can, it keeps me grounded and fills my heart like nothing else. I am also part of Raw Residency, this is a community of forward-thinking leaders in Miami. I try to attend conferences and summits for personal and business growth once or twice a month.
Contact Info:
- Address:6700 Indian Creek Drive. Apt. 504. Miami Beach, FL 33141
- Website: theperfectmomdiary.com
- Phone:3054149622
- Email: theperfectmomdiary@gmail.com
- Instagram:@ThePerfectMomDiary
- Facebook:The Perfect Mom Diary
Image Credit:
Enrique Urdaneta
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
