From Punta Cana To Chicago: Choosing Ease, Healing, And Intentional Rest

The first breath back in Chicago stung a little—cold air, dry throat, layers on layers—and that jolt made the real lesson click: rest away is easy, but rest at home is a decision. I’m sharing what this week in Punta Cana unlocked for my body and spirit, from long laughs with a lifelong friend to the quiet confidence of wearing a two-piece after surgery and chemo. No performing, no proving—just letting ease teach me what my nervous system has been asking for all along.

Live Aqua surprised me in the best way. I thought “all-inclusive” meant indulgence; it turned out to mean fewer decisions and more presence. Meals slowed down. Food lost its guilt. The beach became a meditation. And then the spa—body scrub, massage, hot water, aromatherapy—shifted me at a cellular level. That care wasn’t extra; it was corrective. I left with softness etched into my memory, the kind you can feel even when the plane lands and winter hits your face.

We trace childhood road trips to Mexico, the weight of responsibility many first-gen women carry, and how travel without performance lets us meet ourselves. I unpack why presence beats productivity, how to prune the mental weeds of comparison, and why we should name the feelings we’re truly chasing—ease, joy, safety—before we chase goals. We talk guilt, too: the voice that says rest is selfish. My reframe is simple—choosing ease honors our ancestors’ work by refusing burnout as destiny. I’m getting specific about what I want, writing it down, and taking small, steady actions to receive it.

If you’re craving permission to slow down without apology, to make rest a daily practice, and to hold onto vacation softness in the middle of real life, this one’s for you. Listen, breathe with me, and then tell me: what does ease look like in your week? Subscribe, share with a friend who needs the reminder, and leave a review so more of us can choose softness on purpose.

Transcript

Back Home And Breathing

Dora 0:05

I'm Hita. Welcome back to I'm Hita Embracing Your Raíces, Reclaiming Your Essentia. I'm recording this episode from home. Back in my space, back in my bed, back in Chicago. And if you've ever come home from a trip and felt that mix of gratitude, nostalgia, and whoa, I really needed that, then this episode is for you. This is not me being on vacation anymore because I went to a beautiful place. This is me integrating. And honestly, sometimes the lesson doesn't hit until you're back. So take a breath with me and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Let your shoulders drop and just be here. So grab your beverage of choice, cabecito, tecito, or agüita, water, and let's dive into today's episode. There's something about flying back to into Chicago that wakes you up real quick. Well, me specifically. The cold air, the layers, like I had to put on my like coat and then my sweater and all the things. And the pace. One minute you're warm, barefoot, relaxed. And the next you're bracing against the wind here in Chicago. And it's been so dry lately that my throat has been like raspy, and I've been having like sinuses act out. And it made me realize something important. Rest feels obvious when you're away. But it becomes intentional when you're home. That's when it actually matters. So I love being in the airplane, and then you know, kinda like the bolita kesue, like that little ball or the gut that goes up and down every time you take off. If you've had the pleasure of going on an airplane, for me, I didn't go on my first airplane until I turned 30. It was kind of odd. Um and I really I got to enjoy those first with my family when we went down to Mexico. But on this occasion, I went to someplace different. So I went to Punta Cana with a dear friend of mine that I've known for 30 years. And I keep replaying Punta Cana in my mind. The color of the water, the kindness of the people, how warm and welcoming everyone was. Being in Punta Cana felt soft. It felt human, like I finally got the interaction, especially with nature, like the palm trees, the water, the beachside. And we stayed at Live Aqua Punta Cana. And truly, everyone there was so kind, like genuinely kind. From the moment you walked in, nothing felt rushed. Like I felt so at ease, so present and in the moment. And being there with my friend, just talking, laughing. Oh my gosh, we've had so many piñacoladas with no alcohol, with no alcohol. And the bartender kind of looked at us kind of sideways because we were just having such a good time. And just sitting around, doing nothing. That was such a present in and of itself, like such a gift to us. It reminded me how rare it is for me to do that without multitasking. With no fixing, no managing, no holding space for everyone else, just being. And got to nap, got to do all the things that I normally don't get to do here in Chicago, which is just breathe. Just breathe and being. And sometimes it was laughs, sometimes it was just silence. Or like my friend pointed out, I kind of moan when I'm in my sleep. And that's when I know I'm in deep sleep. So it's such a gift that I have that I can fall asleep anywhere. Um I actually was falling asleep in the airplane um on my way back here from because I landed from we went I went from Punta Cana to Detroit, where my friend lives, and then from Detroit here to Chicago, and the the ride over was about an hour, and I fell asleep. I didn't need no headphone, no nothing. Like I was just woof, slept. And it felt so good just to like be in that present moment. And it was so good to be away from Chicago, especially from the dryness and the cold. And in Punta Gana, there um it was a little cloudy, which I actually benefited from because I can't get like in the sun too much because of all the chemo I'm I'm doing. And I also discovered that I have um cancer acne on my head. Oh my! So I had a lot of nice wraps that my aunt, my dear aunt, bought me, and I got to wear one every day. I got all these dresses and everything I got to wear, my shorts. So I've been working out, so I definitely will be dropping an episode on health and wellness, but I've been working out and I finally got to put on a two-piece bikini. Oh my. I actually went shopping for it at Target, and they do have a selection here in February, like the beginning of February. And I was able to enjoy just putting that thing on because that is such a big accomplishment for me, especially with all this journey, getting new boobies and my uh tummy tuck in a way. I'm still swollen. But it's been so good to feel myself in my body and be able to walk around and pelona with like no hair, right? Bald. That was new for me. And embracing it, putting on makeup, like doing the works, like being me, and just showing up with that vibrant smile and like loving everybody else's energy. It's just so vibrant. Um the all the different greenery that I saw, like the flowers and the trees and the palm trees and everything. I feel like I was like high on life, no joke. Like, such a big accomplishment, especially now that I'm 12 weeks post my surgery, my my last surgery, and I was able to recover. It was such a big accomplishment to just fly to Punta Cana. I know there was a few people around me that were saying, hey, don't go. And I was actually wearing a mask for a couple weeks because I didn't want to get sick. So that's how conscious I've been about my health lately and making this trip happen. Growing up, travel looked very different for me. My parents would take us to Mexico, road trips, long drives, from here, from here to Chicago to the border, my dad would be taking like 22 hours. We would totally pack the car, and the coolers would be full of food. And I remember my mom, she would make burritos of chorizo con huevo or chorizo con papa or frijoles con chorizo. And that's where we my sisters and I we would eat everything before we would leave like Illinois or even the Chicagoland area because we wanted to buy food so bad. And you'll hear my baby tlachi, my doggy, my cholasquinkle in the background. He's loves sparking. I must been it must be his cat outside. There's a there's like three straight cats that we have outside, and they it's one gold one and the black one. I think there's two gold ones. I don't think it's the same one because I I was having a double tick the other day because I saw two of them. But yeah, he goes crazy when when he sees them. And I'm actually recording this a little different because today I had such a busy day at work that it went by so quick. And I usually wake up early and record this or the day before, and because I got in late last night and then this morning, I just really want to be intentional of my trip, and I got to reminisce. And right now I'm I'm reminiscing on all the memories, especially traveling. And as I was saying, like in Mexico, like going down there, it would be always like run run running around. So those trips were meaningful to us because we would take them like two or three times a year, but they were about family. Like you would I would my sisters and I, and my mom and dad, we would spend time together, but it was a lot of quality time, especially in the car. And they were also about going back to our roots, going back to Sotela Marina Tamaulipas, where my parents are from. It's an uh town that's about two hours and a half from the border, and it's like 45 minutes to I think half an hour, half an hour to 45 minutes from Gulf of Mexico. Or that coast. But they were not those trips were not about rest at all. I remember my dad would just run around and drive like crazy. My grandma needed his mom would need certain things and we would travel to go get them, or we would always visit family. But I don't know, my dad, it seemed like he always drove. And when I finally turned six, no, 15, 16, when I first turned 16, I was able to drive. So that was pretty cool for me. Like, and I remember my dad fell asleep, and he woke up, then he asked, Where are we? And I'm like, Oh, we're already in Texicana, you know, my Texas. He's like, How did we get to Texas so quick? And I'm like, Oh, I might have been going like 85 none day. Um, well, it was you know, I felt like a smooth driver, like I felt like I knew the road already. I was the queen of the road. So these trips were a lot about the movement, the coordination of you know, my mom's family, my dad's family. There was a lot of like extended family as well. And it also re it was about responsibility. So when I think about this trip, I realized this was new for my nervous system. Like this nervous system of just relaxing and just taking a a seat, especially that my friend coordinated everything, and I just um took care of like the flights. So this was travel without performance. Like I'm not I wasn't on for anybody or anything, and I could just be myself, my version of myself that I am at this point in moment in my life. Because before I would hustle and grind and try to do all the things and everything which I do, but it's now without pressure. Like there was a lot of times where we wanted to eat at a certain place and we didn't get to eat at that fancy French restaurant because guess what? We don't we weren't feeling it like during this trip. And without needing to prove anything, like I could just be me. And that felt so good to be finally in my skin, like wearing the two-piece bikini or swimsuit, doing my thing, having my space. I mean, I love my family, but it was also good to like go away be so they can miss me, like my my my mom, my sisters, but my husband and my son and my daughter, for them, they're so independent, my kids and my husband too, that I mean they miss me. They actually miss me, even my doggy. That's why he's like barking and up a storm down there, if you hear him. But as a first Mexican woman, this all hits so deep, like that that difference of traveling alone, especially, because I'm so used to traveling with my family. And I was actually just reminiscing on the first time I actually traveled was back in 2022, when a dear friend of mine that's in Dallas, I went down there uh to visit as a surprise, and she was shook when she saw me, but it was such a meaningful event that I couldn't miss it. And that's when I realized that four years ago, actually in February, how funny is that, I went down there and I bought my ticket. It was I left like 3:30 in the morning and I came back at midnight, and my daughter picked me up from the airport and dropped me off in the morning. But that felt so liberating, and I've traveled now in the past few year few years for work, but it's not the same because it's so relieving, so nurturing to oneself to have that space, you know. You like you don't have an agenda necessarily, but you're going and just going with the flow, and this is what that trip gave me was that gift to myself to be able to just chillax next to the pool or just go through the motions, and that is something that I'm gonna be so grateful to my friend, um, because that is something that is so needed. I'll be honest. Before this trip, I didn't fully understand what an all-inclusive resort was. I thought it was just about luxury, the bouginess, or the indul indulgence, because I mean, if they tell you you can eat like and you're just paying a fixed price, it's like obviously you're gonna eat as much as you can, right? That's what I thought. But now I see it differently. And all-inclusive meant I didn't have to decide. Like I didn't have to plan, well, like besides what restaurants you were gonna hit up or not. But there was no planning, it was like going with the, you know, you kind of have the option, and if you want it, great. If you didn't, you don't have to. And I didn't have to manage the experience. Everything was already handled for me, and there was the service there was so great. So you're playing paying a flat rate or a fee per night, but you get to enjoy like the in if you get the open bar and everything, um, shows. We got to experience Michael Jackson show live, and I'm telling you, those Dominicans know how to throw it down. Um, and my favorite terms like ya tu sabes, it's very genuine, like the charisma, like the nature, the wind that came through, and all the things. But being by the beach, like that was something that is forever gonna be instilled in my mind, is it was like photogenic, like a photo per picture perfect moment where we were my friend and I were sitting there eating next to the the um beach, and just witnessing like the atmosphere, the palapa, the like the natural kind of aesthetics of everything. It's just it's so breathtaking. It's so breathtaking. And I just gave my body permission to soften in ways I didn't know it needed. I didn't know it needed to like absorb everything that I was seeing and embody it and instill in it. Like if I and I was curious on things like, oh, I wonder what this texture feels like, and I would just go touch it, or like if the water was cold, I would put my foot in it. Um and of course there was stuff that we didn't try due to time and things, but like the indulgence of just going for it and trying different foods, not finishing everything on my plate like my mommy would say, and that was such a different experience. And we did go to different resorts, so we stayed at the Live Aqua in Punta Cana, and we did go to Excellence, where we found and shout out to my new buddy and friend Cecilia, she was such a great person to meet um and bonding on a whole different level, and she was able to show us the different properties. I personally liked that there was a jacuzzi inside the room. Well, you kind of had this private area, and the ground levels have the swim-ups, and that's normally standard for all of the resorts in Punta Cana that we saw. Um, and then we saw definitely the Hyatt. So Diana there gave us a tour of the Hyatt Silara Cape Canaan, and that's a gated community and super bougie, super good. Oh my gosh, the restaurants, the everything. I fell in love with the gym, and they I I mean the pictures on the website probably don't do it justice, but they have a lot of options, but of course, that's definitely one of the top tiers. So I'm just saying, my I'm definitely coming back. I'm going to an all another all-inclusive, and I would definitely love to try all that food. So this will not be my first time making a trip, and that I'm I don't know who I'll be bringing with, but definitely worth the investment. Let's talk about the food because whoa, trying all the foods, eating without rushing, eating without guilt. So now that is food, that is life. The Italian restaurant was my favorite, hands down, because I love pasta. Well, maybe that's what I'm craving right now, but the pasta, the different flavors, and then we had the risotto, which was amazing at the La Vaca Resort. And we did talk uh chop, we did try the Mexican restaurant and the first night. And let's just say I'm used to my Mexican food. My mom was cooking, so obviously it wasn't up to par from what I'm used to here at home. But sitting at the beach, eating, looking out at the ocean, it was, I'm telling you, it was breathtaking. It was like that postal card, and the food tasted different when it wasn't tied to obligation, like the obligation to eat everything on my plate, the obligation to pay, or the obligation, like all those worries were like out of sight, out of mind. So when it wasn't about feeding everyone else first, usually, like I'm cooking and you know, everybody has to wait until I'm done, or like I'm rushing to make food or something. That totally did not feel like the case. My friend and I were waiting around, but that's because we were being served to. Like, that is such a different feeling than being the one serving, and that was such a treat in and of itself. Um, at the Italian restaurant, though, made me think about right now the cannoli and the teramasu that I ate. So, so good. If you want to see the views, the food, the beach. I did share a reel on my Instagram and Facebook. Interest me, the pictures don't even do it justice, like there's a lot going on there. And I took a few pictures with my favorite peeps. So, just some some treats for y'all if you want to follow me on Instagram. Now, let's talk about one of the most meaningful parts of the trip was the spa for me. Like, that was where I gave myself permission to receive, to immerse myself. Like, girl has worked so hard. Like, my body is my temple, and that's one thing that I was sharing with someone is you don't understand this type of shit, like these words and the sayings and everything, and how manifesting works and all the things until you're living it, until you embody it, until you integrate it. And I had a body scrub and a massage, and that was the best investment ever. And it always is in myself, but knowing that I'm in puntacana, knowing that I'm in like this, like mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, I am a whole different like place and vibe. That's where I just want to say this clearly: receiving care is not indulgent, it's corrective, it's necessary, it's so necessary to slow down, and you don't have to go on vacation for this, but just acknowledging and just holding and embracing your body. My body remembered what it feels like to be held without expectation. And even now, back home, my body still remembers that feeling. So that's how you know it mattered. That's how I know I embodied and integrated something. Something magical happened. Like I don't know what that hot tub did to me, but I remember just being like being tended to, like my body just at a cellular level just changing. Because I got to do me. And it could be the aromatherapy that they had in the in the room, in the water, in the sauna, and the bougie drink of uh maracuya which is my favorite and just like infused water with all these different like um what was it cucumber and lime but just being there and when was the when I don't remember any time where I would say I'm gonna go to the spa so that just felt so liberating so not well maybe liberating is not the right word it was like I felt this sense of like integration with my body with my mind with my spirit with my soul with my everything and thank goodness I listened to my friend and it's like girl do the massage too you know an upgrade because it was so worth it I I learned in my body I learned it's like a tattoo I don't know how to describe it's like a tattoo in your body when you're yes embodying it and integrating everything that rest is key and I felt so restored after that because my body my my skin was so soft like I had strained my neck a little bit on the plane and that got solved which is great but that's where here it's like I want to do those things for myself I want to be able to enjoy like the hot tub and that type of thing. So I'm gonna look for it and then obviously have my massage on a on a cadence because it is so necessary to take of care of one's body because this is in in essence our our temple like we're always gonna have to take care of it. And stuff does catch up to you like if there was things habits and things of course if we don't nip them in the butt or if we don't like go through the motions of making sure our habits don't destroy us then we can go ahead and remediate the sooner we become aware of anything of issues or things that we have going on with our bodies that's where we could do something about it. And you can't do anything about the past like you can learn from it like that before your body or receiving it's from this point forward. It's like what are you going to do for yourself? How are you going to acknowledge what your body has done for you up until this point in moment are you gonna keep on doing the same things or is there one thing you can tweak and usually it starts with I'm gonna sleep my eight hours or my seven hours I'm going to cut back on coffee and I'm not gonna have a whole coffee pot or it might be I'm gonna drink more water or just be mindful when you're eating like be in that grateful in that gratitude and appreciation of what you have before you and I think that's where just being appreciative like I have my legs I have my body I can move I can think and if there are some certain limitations it's like what can I learn from this moment? Like what is that teaching me? That means I just have to maybe compensate somewhere else like the body my left has because of my sciatica and my back like my right always compensates for my left so my right's always leaner it's my more dominant my more everything but that doesn't mean my left is left behind so I have to also tend to it and so I'm challenging you with that is one thing that you can do that nourishes your body from this point forward and sit with that. So one thing I remember also was the night we watched the Michael Jackson show and I I did find it a little comical but then again it's like wow these people know how to put on a show like to dance and get the crowd moving and get them engaged. And what stood out wasn't the show itself it was how present I was like in the moment drinking my piñacolava with no alcohol it wasn't it was not checking my phone not thinking about tomorrow no planning just enjoying the show and noticing how loud the music was my my watch did alert me that it was pretty loud in there and I realized how rare that is for so many of us especially the first gentle women who are always on always going going going going going going like the energizer buddy and that's where just having that presence that presence in and of itself like in this right here right now and if you are going through like anxiety and things of that nature I would invite you just to like remove them like clouds all those thoughts or if you're going through a challenge right now how about if that challenge wasn't a challenge anymore and it was actually the thing that was going to crack you open I don't know somebody probably needed to hear that right now but we're so obsessed with certain things that we don't we don't just let them we we we don't surrender them to just surprise us. And that's where I believe God divine source I surrender myself every day I try to every morning and just ask what is the one thing that you want to show me today or what is the person that needs to come and and cross paths with me but let me be of service let me shine through my love my light and that's what this was in in Buntakan I was like I was laughing so hard to the point where I like almost pee myself I did have to hold it quite a bit like when I we were traveling and stuff so it's just being in the moment that savoring that moment and sometimes you can be in the presence of someone and you don't have to talk all the time it's just being in that like in that aura like the the proximity of someone so like attracts like so if you're always asking for negativity like not asking for it but if you're always saying no well I'm always like in a rut I'm always stuck like nothing good happens to me and you know the the works right you're always gonna be attracting that but if you are in like and that's where I always talk to my clients and my and my people around me like my friends and family I always say you got to prune your garden you got to take out the weeds if you don't tend to your garden like it's so easy to say like the neighbor right the neighbor the we always have that little saying of the grass is always green greener on the other side well if you don't prune and you don't take care of your garden obviously everybody's grass is going to be greener than yours. So you need to tend to your own garden you need to tend to your own body family things but it also matters if you do it with intention so with that intention of what is it that I want to attract don't be focusing on the stuff you don't want because you're gonna just gonna attract more of that in a perfect world what would your what would your life be like and just take a moment to like settle into that take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth and relax your shoulders and just think about if I could have the perfect life what would that look like who would I be with where would I live how do I want to feel like what are the emotions you want to be feeling and oftentimes we're not chasing the thing like the shiny car or the big house or the house or the job we're chasing the feeling we're chasing the feeling of joy peace love tranquility and those are the things we're we're we're chasing is to have more patience and because there's always going to be curveballs that are thrown at you so again it's being in the moment it's savoring whatever is going on even if it's chaotic always trying to see the glass half full versus half empty and I'm not saying you don't plan for the worst I'm saying it's you're always hoping for the best and you always try to have that positivity. Well I know it's hard I know it's hard tell me trust me firsthand I know it's hard but if you try to focus on what if things worked out and what if things worked out even better than I imagined because oftentimes we kind of cut ourselves off sometimes because we don't know what's better for us sometimes. So that's where I invite you to dream that and imagine what it would be like to have that dream life of yours. If you're listening and feeling that voice that says well must be nice Dora you should be doing something productive or you don't deserve this or Mirala se fue de vacaciones like you she went on vacation and she left her family behind I hear you here's the reframe that I brought back with me that rest doesn't erase your roots it honors them and our parents and our loved ones and our ancestors worked so hard so we could have options and sometimes honoring that means letting ourselves choose ease and actually ease is my word for the year I want everything to be so damn easy everything just to flow and to be in that frequency takes a lot so that's where I have guilt. I do have guilt but not once did I have guilt in this trip because I knew I worked so hard for it and I had talked to my family about it and I was doing all the things and if it all aligned I would make the trip happen but I know I'm going through chemo I just had my sixth round tomorrow would be number seven I would wear a mask to work out at Orange Theory like running on that treadmill and sweating and all the works but I'm challenging you to dream the best version of your life because honestly I can say I have no regrets up until this moment I am living my life in such different intention because of my cancer diagnosis and I don't I didn't need the cancer diagnosis necessarily but that was a blessing in and of itself because that makes me appreciate life so much more and I don't have to be productive all the time I don't have to be on or I don't have to please everybody I get to be me in my moment and if I want to snap at someone I snap at someone I will like it happens but at least I'm communicating what's going on inside my body inside my mind and that's where communication is key so if that guilt or the shulda woulda coulda kind of comes up notice it realize and become aware that that is information from your body from your mind from your spirit especially your emotions coming through and it's just it's like a little kid like throwing a little tantrum at the store because they want candy or they want the toy it's kind of like that and you want to notice that like follow the thread on where that's going where is it leading because girl Mijita you deserve like the wildest dreams of your life to be true you don't have to be sitting in the oh this is just how it is oh I can't afford this or I can't afford that like it's with time money space or whatnot. It's like no you can't if you really have the intention and yes I mean we can all pray about it but it's actionable inspired action every day it's those noticeable things those little shifts that are going to get you further along instead of caving into the I'm just gonna surrender to my life because this is how it is well if you're gonna be waiting for like a lifeboat to come by every time and you still don't see it because there is a story on that in the Bible um but if you're gonna be waiting for some big sign to come through you might never get the sign because it's it might come through in a different way in a different form I always go back to like I wanted to be a millionaire. That did not happen the way I thought it was going to happen. And everything in life unfolds so differently that's where I reiterate you want to be careful what you're asked for. You want to be specific don't be so general and whatever you is that you want in your life to manifest I invite you to write it down. Write it down and be very specific down to the to the nitty gritty details because I assure you it will come in one way or another it will come but we also have to be prepared as receive are we ready to receive and are we ready to be a good steward of receiving such a valuable gift so again I want to give a big shout out because my friend was amazing in booking this trip and thank you for all that you do you're you know hearing me out and being part of this journey with me and going on this trip amazing together by the best friends trip ever and yes that's where just honoring ourselves is such a task in and of itself I'm grateful for the trip I'm grateful for the memories grateful to be back in my own bed in the cold here in Chicago and I'm choosing to let the softness stay even in this brutal cold weather tomorrow's supposed to freeze or something and uh snow and ice and stuff so for all those in the Chicagoland area be please be careful and everywhere you are if you're going through challenging weather just be safe but if this episode stirred something in you let it maybe it's a future trip maybe it's a day off maybe it's just one deep breath before your next responsibility whatever it is you're allowed just feel the feels just soaking it and thank you for listening thank you for being here with all my heart conto my coron sending you a huge hug and a big pissle and I'll see you hasta la próxima bye