Becoming Meredith Grey, Romantic Running and Finding a Sanity Anchor

Who are you, sister? Tell us a little about yourself. Hola! Im Sonia. I’m from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. I’m a pediatrician with 90 percent of my work in a private practice and the other 10 percent in the Pediatrics ER. I’m a daughter whose dad is my guardian angel and my tree of life. My mom is my “person” and I am her little butterfly.

I am friend whose tribe is my support system both offline and online. I’m just a running chick and a joy seeker!

In my spare time I love cooking, sharing nice food, wine, traveling, cosplaying (costume play), reading, yoga, and am a lover of singing and dancing.

I’m a fun-loving, resilient warrior full of positivity ’till the end and bubbly sparkly like champagne!

My superpower? I am a healer by both nature and profession.

Let’s do some one word answers. Ready, set, go!

Morning Drink? Lemon water with 1 teaspoon of chlorophyll and then coffee, coffee, coffee!
Indulgence? Sitting back with a fiction book and being able to get lost in the story traveling through time and space.
Lusting after? A cruise, but not for the typical vacation. Been there, done that! This time, I want to pack just pajamas and yoga pants. Eat great food, sleep, relax, read, drink amazing wine and repeat.
Spirit Animal? Wolf
Head Space? Hopeful
Heart Space? Picking up the pieces
Bloom of Choice? Tea roses
Turn-on? Someone who challenges and compliments me on my brain
Go-to Gemstone? Amethyst in its raw, unpolished form
Celebrity Icon? Dr. Meredith Grey (although more of a fictional character)
Favorite compliment? “You are funny”

What does practicing joy mean to you? It’s being present and being grateful. Joy is a lifestyle, a way of being. Too often people confuse being happy with experiencing joy. People think that being bubbly and the approaches of “everything is fine,” or “life is good to me,” is the only way to experience joy. Of course it is amazing when happiness and joy dance together. Those are the moments to dance on the tables and drink champagne! But that is just a part of what joy means to me.

My favorite part of experiencing joy is when I can see joy shinning in the middle of my darkness, walking next to me through my sadness. That sense of well being, peace and ease when I let joy comfort me through the toughest, most difficult times. When I can let myself be at ease and let flow in is when I can fully experience the warmth and support of joy.

Biggest life lesson you’ve learned lately? Death is not the end of life.

I used to have an extreme fear of losing the ones I love. Last month I lost my dad and my perspective has changed. We are not eternal. I will always love my dad and I also have to let him go. He is okay now. He is happy and free. I know that I will have to let go of my mom at some point and that I will have to let this world go, too.

I have come to realize that the best that I can do for the ones I love and for myself is give only my best loving with all my heart and soul, with gratitude. Living life to the fullest, cherishing each moment, each breath, each heartbeat. In the blink of an eye we are gone, but only on this realm.

In the end we are endless. We are matter and matter is never destroyed; only transforms. We are pure energy, pure love, pure light. So our journey in life should be to transform everyday until the day we become one with the universe.

What’s your definition of success? For me being successful would be being able to make a difference and leave my own mark through the lives I touch, the good advice, and the smiles I can make come to life. Through the words of comfort and the inspiration I can spark. To be able to work in a way that I love and that am passionate about. To treat people with respect, equality and compassion. To aim for a goal, commit to it and see it through if that is what brings me joy. To be authentic and true to myself and to my values.

Name 3 things from your Life List that light you up.

Running a marathon
Traveling and learning at different vineyards
Becoming a chef/sommelier

What do you do when life gets messy? Breathe! I’ve learned this lesson over the last month.

Let the feelings come and go as they are, embrace them, feel them, welcome them, understand them, forgive them, thank them. Breathe in and out. Breath is life, breath is fire, breath is purifying.

I also turn to yoga, mindfulness, meditation, running, and journaling all tied up together with the breath. This has been my anchor and my sanity.

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3 Songs, 3 Books, 3 Instagram Accounts

SONGS

“Fight song” by Rachel Platten
“Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield
“Fireball” by Pitbull

BOOKS

Los Arboles Mueren de Pie by Alejandro Casona
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by JR Ward

INSTAGRAM

@nic.antoinette
@adrienelouise
@elephantjournal

What has been your favorite journey? Becoming a runner after being a non athletic, obese child and teen has been my favorite journey because it opened an unexplored road for me, with surprising twists and turns.

I found the athlete and runner within me. I was never the sporty type. I would have never considered myself an athlete yet here I am training for my 3rd half marathon!

But running has been a journey beyond body resistance, endurance, cardiovascular exercise and biomechanics. Running set me up for a self discovery journey.

I’m more of a romantic kind of runner!

When I go out running, I find me time, disconnection time, refueling time, psychological therapy time. I literally sweat out the crazy! Also, I started to become restless with myself as I was becoming more aware of what I needed in my life. I started to listen to my thoughts, my breath and my heartbeat. Without even knowing it, I was becoming mindful. For someone who was never a runner and never a believer of “mumbo jumbo” self help theories I finally started to make a connection between my mind, body, heart, soul and spirit. I found a new me. I found a new meaning to running and that is how I became a “romantic runner.” Here I am now a half marathoner, ready to take 19.3 miles in a month and because of it, a joy seeker.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

My dad always told me, !“No te preocupes, ocupate” which means “ Dont worry about it, take care of it!”

Much of the time, we go round and round in circles, bitching and moaning about things we need to do, situations we are in or problems we need to fix. We spend so much energy on worry instead of concentrating on making effort towards actions and channeling our energy into finding answers and solutions to make it better. And truly, in the end all the answer are within us.

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