046

Confucius said "We all have two lives. The second one begins the day you realize you only have one." Two years ago I chose to live my second life when I realized my fears were holding me back. Now, I not only care about living life to the fullest (under my own terms and my own definition of happiness/success), but I care about motivating others to get to this point as well. Not everybody gets to live their second life. Most people choose the comfortable path. And living your second life is not about a radical change in your lifestyle, but a radical change in your attitude towards life. Ask yourself, which life are you living?

045

A few days ago I had the opportunity to visit the Amalfi Coast after speaking at the Festival of Media in Rome. When we were there, we got to meet Manuel, who took us around the coast during one of the days. Manuel was extremely joyful and positive, an excellent tour guide. On our way back he shared with us that a few years back he had 3 brain surgeries from 3 different brain tumors. He told us that ever since that happened he thanks G-d every day for being alive and tries to find beauty in absolutely everything. He could've been angry at life, asking "Why me?" But he decided to look at the bright side and be thankful. He chose to be happy. You can see Manuel on my latest Youtube video ▶️ and see how we did some carpool karaoke to the rhythm of reggeaton! 🎤🤗🎤 Link in bio or youtube.com/HelloFears

044

When I started building the Hello Fears brand, I wanted to do it all by myself. I rejected help from others because of the fear that they wouldn't do as good of a job as I would. Very soon I realized that if I never trusted others with my brand I was never going to grow, as simple as that! It took a lot of courage for me to allow someone else to edit some of my videos, design my cute monsters, illustrate my stickers, edit the stories for Hello Fears and build the Hello Fears platform that we're currently working on. By trusting others I understood that people may not do things in the same way that I would, but they will do them their own way, which is as good or even better sometimes. If we never trust we will never have the chance to surprise ourselves and learn from others. But most importantly, we will never be able to grow. It hasn't been easy, but it has been so rewarding that I will keep going, keep collaborating and keep delegating without having to micromanage every single task! Seriously, thank you to those who have helped me so much already (I tagged some of you in this post!). It also helped me a lot to listen to @brenebrown Rising Strong book where she talks about people doing the best that they can 💪🏼 #thankful #courageis #trusting#the100dayproject #day44

043

Control freaks, like me, look to always be one step ahead, planning every little thing. That is our comfort zone. We find it easier to have our minds busy planning the next thing, than indulging in the present and experiencing whatever feeling we are having, good or bad. I seriously need a watch like this ⬆️ to constantly remind myself to live in the NOW, and then worry about the future #day43 #the100dayproject #hellofears#courageis #100dayproject #now

042

It is just so easy and comfortable to blame external factors for our mess ups. The traffic, the weather, a friend/colleague/teammate, the dog 🐶! Excuses, we all give them from time to time. It takes a lot of courage to hold ourselves accountable, but it is precisely that what allows us to earn others' trust and respect. Only then we will stand a real chance at making it right the next time around and earn full credit for it 🙏🏻✨ #courageis #100dayproject#the100dayproject #hellofears #day42

041

Happy Mother's Day to all the brave moms. The ones who are courageous enough to allow their kids to fall down, make mistakes and hurt themselves so they learn how to get up on their own and keep going. To the moms that loved their previous life and still made the decision to change all of it. To the ones that listened to their heart first, then the rest of the world. To the moms that don't judge or criticize other moms who are also trying their best and couldn't care less about being judged or criticized themselves. To the ones who wanted to spend 24/7 with their baby, but decided to keep working to give the right example to their daughters ( @macacarrera ). Lastly, to the 🇻🇪 Venezuelan moms who are saying goodbye to their kids everyday not knowing if they will ever see them again because they are fighting for the country. If it took courage for you to do, instead of comfort, consider yourself a very brave mom whatever direction you decided to go 💪🏼 I hope to be a brave mom one day and celebrate this day with all of you 👊🏻💛 #bravemom #mothersday #courageis#the100dayproject #illustration #day41#100dayproject

040

When I was in high school, I used to always complain about a certain "friend." My boyfriend (now husband) told me one day: if you don't like this girl, why are you still friends with her? I never even thought about it and he was so right. I had the choice to end that relationship and it never crossed my mind. Why do we need to keep people who bring drama or struggle close by? IRL (in real life) there is no "unfollow" button like in social media, so it is 100% up to us to respectfully distance ourselves and leave behind those who bring more negative than positive things into our life. Surround yourself only with those who genuinely want the best for you. It is then that you will find inner peace. Negative people will often try to bring us down, so let's push forward and quickly move on. Time is precious, spend it with the right people (Tag a person who always brings positivity into your life) 💛#day40 #the100dayproject #courageis #unfollow #irl #100dayproject

039

Manageable goals help us stay focused and move forward. BIG goals, the ones that make you think "no way", will help us find and reach our purpose in life. Also, they may surprise us in ways we never imagined and take us on inconceivable paths. My current higher goal is to start writing my book. I keep delaying it because of fear. I know that the sooner I do it, the sooner I will achieve some of my personal goals and it can take me to a whole new level. For that reason, I recently decided to start working on the book proposal and face this challenge head on. Would love to hear your thoughts on what my book should be about. I have one idea I like in mind, but I'd love to hear it from you, my future readers 😳✨

038

To me this is extremely hard to do. When I see someone with a bad attitude I take it personally and immediately judge. It is much easier to do that and move on with our lives than to have some sort of empathy and maybe consider that this person could be going through rough times. People with bad attitude are not necessarily mean. Most of the times they are a reflection of a broken home. It takes courage to respond with kindness, but I can assure you that it is kindness what will hit home for them. Take it as a personal challenge 🙏🏻✨

037

Can you list 7 of the things that make you who you are?? Up until recently, I was trying to figure out how to be more like certain speaker or certain youtuber until it hit me. I made a list of all the things that make me, me! (not the list above, I'm not the most detail-oriented and I'm still trying to define if I'm an introvert or an extrovert, any ideas?) Ok, so I don't know 100% who I am, but I do know a few of the things that make me stand out. I may not be the smartest or funniest person out there, but I am so many other great things that make me, me. It takes courage to be completely honest with ourselves and own what makes us authentic. According to author Steven Pressfield, It is not about shaping ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it. How amazing is that thought?

036

Most of the people like to have one foot in and one foot out in case things don't go according to plan. In my experience, the things that have worked out are the ones I'm fully committed to finishing. It takes a lot of courage to stay committed to projects, mostly when things are not as exciting as in the beginning; but if you push through the hardest moments you will see results. The question is: are you willing to wait? According to @garyvee the one thing successful entrepreneurs have in common is patience. So if you started a 100-day project, finish it, even if it takes you longer than 100 days. If you are committed to helping someone, don't give up as soon as they disappoint you. If you set a personal or professional goal, fight until you get there, or at least until something better comes up. Tbh, this "Courage Is" project is getting complicated, I'm running out of ideas and creative ways to illustrate stuff. Would it be easier to drop it? Heck yeah, 100%! But I won't, I'm fully committed to finishing. Plus, I do enjoy doing these everyday, even though it is hard and even though I'm in Rome with a tight schedule. Tell me, what are you committed to doing these days? 

035

▪️035▪️ @jessibudik said "Courage is not using the words SORRY or JUST when proposing an idea" I call that being unapologetic. It is something I learned by facing my fears: the less apologetic you are the more you will get what you want. If you are insecure about your ideas, why would others be sure about them? Also, don't say "sorry" before asking for something, why do we need to apologize for needing or wanting something? Start practicing this and you will come out as a much more confident person 💪🏼✨

034

@lauchis85 suggested to do a post about moving to a new city and leaving your friends and family to pursue a personal dream. I immediately could relate to this feeling. It is hard AF to live far away from my friends and family, mostly my nieces and nephew who are growing every day and we are not there to witness it 💔 But as painful as this is, we only get one life and we need to make the best of it. For me it was about making a name for myself and building something from scratch in the city of my dreams. What is your dream? 

033

Whether you're starting over in your love life, in your career or the country you live in, this takes a whole lot of courage to do. We love to plan out our lives and I'm very guilty of that. But even though I agree planning is good to have some sort of direction, we need to understand that life can be full of surprises too. As my professor @tomguarriello once told me, stability is fake, people like the concept of it so they hold on to jobs they don't like, partners that don't make them happy and lives that seem OK, just to feel they are stable. There is one thing that is real and that is TIME. So stop underestimating time and overestimating stability. Stop saying: in 5 years when I get X I'll do Y, and do the things you really want to do, now. Even if that means having to start over.

032

Yesterday I posted about the courage of self promoting your work, but today let's talk about accepting and embracing criticism. Two things you need to take into account: first, let's understand who has the right to criticize us and who doesn't. According to @brenebrown we must listen only to those who are "in the arena" meaning, those who also dare to put themselves out there (read her book Rising Strong to hear more about this). In other words, do not pay attention to the person who comments from his/her comfortable couch at home. Accept criticism only from those who are working as hard as you are to be out there, the courageous ones. Second, learn how to distinguish between intentions. Some people want to screw you over so they criticize you in public with the sole reason to hurt you and boycott your content in front of other people's eyes. These people don't deserve your attention whatsoever. Ignore their comment and move on (ignorance hurts more than any kind of attention). Listen to those who are willing to be honest with you because they want to see you succeed, those who share with you their honest opinion in private, offering you a solution on how to do things better next time around. In fact, when showing your work to those people don't ask them if they like it, ask them what can you improve on. That mentality is what will help you accept criticism and use it as a powerful tool to grow. Capisce?

031

Why is it so easy to promote someone else's work but so hard to recommend our own stuff to others? I started mastering the art of self-promotion when I first opened Facebook in 2006. I started putting my art and my photography out there as a way to let others know A) what I'm good at, and B) what I'm passionate about. And even though I've been doing it for years, I still doubt myself before sharing my videos and posts with my loved ones and with the rest of the world. The constant struggle: will they like it? makes me doubt my skills and my potential. Do we really need the likes and the hearts to know our self worth? The only thing I know is that if we're confident about our work we must let others know about it - we never know who we may help with our words, images or thoughts. My advice, don't keep the things you do to yourself. Otherwise you will never know how good or bad your work is or who may benefit from your creation 👊🏻

030

Would you give everything you have and everything you are to save your country? This person is. For the past month, every single day, brave men and women have been putting their lives at risk to fight for the freedom of Venezuela. An amazing country that used to have it all, and now can't even feed its people. Breaks my heart to be physically far and emotionally there. How can you be in two places at the same time? How can you help from afar? How can you cry out of hopelessness and still be able to put on a smile to keep going with your life? 💛💙💔 

029

Today one of my best friends called me to tell me how courageous she felt when she asked for a raise at work. She has no idea if she will get it or not, but whatever the outcome is, she feels at peace with herself for at least asking exactly for what she wanted and deserved. Know your worth and have the courage to let others know. Only then, you will get what you need and if you don't, at least you know you tried. Failing is failing to try. Also, don't doubt yourself. The more determined you are the better

028

I want to dedicate today's post to a very brave person I had the luck to marry and who is turning 31 today (🎉). Very few husbands would quit their job and their career to join their wife on building a movement and a name for herself. Why? Because that's not what husbands are supposed to do. They are supposed to be the main providers, right? At least that's a comment we've gotten. He may not be on stage or answering podcast interviews (yet), but he is behind every word I say when I'm on stage, behind every "courage is" post, every youtube video, every story we publish, every contract we sign and deal we make. He is the unsung hero to this story. He is there making sure everything I publish is good enough, funny enough, inspiring enough and his favorite: valuable enough 💛 So, this post is for him and for all the other husbands out there who decided to defy the status quo and support their wives, not necessarily by buying them fancy gifts (those are nice too). Anyways, if this post isn't perfect is because I did it on my own to surprise Adam on his birthday and let him know how much I appreciate his courage, his love and his unconditional support. Don't ever allow society to define what to do or who to be! It's ok to not be in a box 📦

027

Have you ever done this? I had to do it when I visited a city by myself during the project and I really enjoyed the experience. I did it again last year when I decided to spend my birthday by myself. At first it feels weird, from the moment you say "table for one" to the moment you order only one glass of wine. But then, it starts to feel nice 🍷! Suddenly you forget about the awkwardness of being alone at a nice restaurant and start to really enjoy your own company! ✨🙋🏼💫 Cheers to this!