Last week Luis (my boyfriend) and I went back in time. Let me tell you the story of us… or at least a short, sweet version. We have been going-out, dating, in a relationship for 5 years. FIVE FREAKING YEARS! that’s half a decade. It’s A LONG TIME. When we met, I was 21 and he couldn’t drink (he’s 10 months younger than me!), I had already graduated college, going to grad school and I had started a small business with my family but, I was still a kid. I think about how my life was 5 years ago and I don’t know where my energy came from.
I worked all day, went to grad school at night until 9pm, got home around 10pm and would get dressed and drive to Boca (for those of you not from Miami, this is about an hour drive – Luis lived there; this is where we met) and go out to some bar or club. wow! We were very young and crazy and it was so.much.fun.
Well, it’s been 5 years since we’ve been to a party like the one we went to last week. Things got complicated with work and simply, life. I don’t mean that we never have fun but things have calmed down a bit, or a lot? We usually spend the weekend at the house, unless there’s a birthday or a special celebration and our go-to drink is either beer or wine… no nothing crazy and to be completely honest, I love it. I love finishing a long week of work with a glass of wine, pizza, movie and cuddles but there’s times when I go a bit neurotic and start complaining that everything we do is BORING. 
Actually, if you ask Luis, I go neurotic a lot of times! He says that every 2 months, I start complaining… he has the timing figured out. And he blames my complaining on social media. According to him, I complain because I compare my life to what I see on instagram and instantly feel like I’m not doing enough or like I’m missing out. I never tell Luis he’s right but… he is.
We base our outlook on life and what we should we doing on a little app that shows beautiful pictures. I post pictures on instagram for a business purpose and I KNOW that what I post is very carefully selected so, why do I get so caught up on what I see online? This is something we constantly have to remind ourselves of. What we see online are the highlights of normal, common people’s lives. We should social media as a form of inspiration and even, connection with one another but NOT to compare.
There’s no reason to belittle your relationship or your achievements because of what you see other people doing. Know that finding joy in the little things and completely and genuinely enjoying the big things is what life is about.
So, on an early Saturday afternoon (last week), Luis and I went to ULTRA Music Festival! It was weird at first! I think we were a little rusty on parties like this and we even got into a small argument and were ready to head home but somehow we stayed and it. was. AMAZING!! We had such a great time together and it was an awesome little break from all of our responsibilities. For s second (10 hours) we were 21 again <3. I don’t think I would have enjoyed this festival/party if it were a regular thing we did so it’s good that we have lots of responsibilities and dreams and goals to keep us busy and then, when the time comes to relax… we remember how to do so! 
I want to leave you guys with this quote which brings my story of going to ULTRA, my neurotic self and social media, all together. Repeat after me:
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
Enjoy YOUR life. Live YOUR life they way YOU want to.
Thank you so much for reading as always and for supporting this space, a Hint of Life. Yesterday, I shared this blogpost and I was really blown away by the response. If you haven’t checked it out, please read here and make sure to watch the video!!
xo Belen
