Meet Dolores
Dolores is an earthling who enjoys long walks to the taco shop and ketchup on rice.
My Story
My Story
I am a 32 year old woman who decided she was tired of trying to fit in to a life that was not authentic to her. I am the daughter of Mexican immigrants. I never felt like I fit in with my Mexican-ness or my American-ness. I did what was expected of me until around the end of my Saturn return. I kinda gave up being miserable. I started coming up with ideas and listing what I enjoyed in my youth, what I am naturally good at and my interests. I knew I wanted to try life somewhere else, pursue what genuinely brings me joy and lean in to ease. I went on a 3 month remote work summer in Portugal and the South of France. I decided I wanted to move to Lisbon on my 3rd day there. By the end of the 3 months, I couldn’t imagine life back in San Diego or continuing working at my toxic job anymore. I got home, made an appointment to get a Visa with the intention of becoming a temporary resident. By the end of the year, I was becoming extremely unhappy at my job and started coming up with ideas for a pivot and decided what would work best for my goals would be creating something on the internet.
Before I knew it I had my appointment in January, I got my Visa in April and I was on a plane back to Portugal soon after. I found an apartment a few weeks in and started settling in which was a lot harder than I imagined before. I have never lived more than 30 minutes away from my hometown, being 11 hours by plane was wild. I finally decided to start working on the website because it’s been a work in progress for at least 2 years now. While this all happened I was on a medical leave from work for mental health. While on leave I was laid off from my job, which was a blessing in disguise, and I flew back to San Diego to return work equipment and refill my cup with family.
Content creating has always been something I have been interested in, but the word makes me cringe and brings up negative ideas. In my mind, I am a storyteller sharing what starting life over at 32 is like in Portugal. I am going to talk about mental health, beauty, shopping, traveling and of course Portugal. Since I am now unemployed, I want to make this my full time job and give myself at least 4-6 months to make this dream come true.