SOS - Stories of Survivors
A podcast dedicated to resilience, healing, hope, and the power of the human spirit.
SOS - Stories of Survivors
Ep. 015 | Awakened by Loss, Guided by Light
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In this deeply moving episode of Stories of Survivors, host Serina Dansker shares an illuminating conversation with life coach and motivational speaker Luzk Cuellar, whose journey through grief led her to a higher calling. Awakened by Loss, Guided by Light explores how even the most painful experiences can spark personal growth, spiritual insight, and a renewed sense of purpose.
Luzk opens her heart about her own transformation—offering wisdom on how loss, when faced with courage and love, can become a sacred doorway to healing. This is an episode for anyone who has ever felt broken and longed to find meaning in the aftermath.
To learn more about Serina Dansker, purchase her book S.O.S.: A Lesson on Love, Loss, & Survival, book her for a public speaking engagement, and discover more stories of hope, healing, and resilience, visit www.serinadansker.com.
S.O.S. Stories of Survivors — Where Survival Sparks the Soul.
Hi, and welcome back to SOS Stories of Survivors. I'm your host, Serena Danster, and I'm so excited for our guest today. Today we are going to meet a radiant, beautiful soul, Luska, who's going to tell you all about herself.
SPEAKER_03Hello, hello, hola, hola. Thank you so much, Serena, for having me here. This is so awesome. Tell us, tell us about what you do. So I'm a life coach and transformational speaker, and just inspiring others to shine with their own light.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing. I am so excited to hear your story, and I know our listeners are too. Can you talk a little bit about um who you are? Before we talk about who you are now, take us back to when you were a child growing up, where that was, and um before you lost your parents and all of that. Perfect.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. So I am originally from Colombia. So I was born in a small town called Sevilla Valle. So a lot of people confuse the city with, oh, you are Sevilla from Spain? No, it's from Colombia. I was born there and I was with my parents and they got divorced when I was very young. So that was really helpful for me. I was like obviously a daddy's girl. So and I stayed with my mom. And growing up, it was like a little bit challenging at the same time before I lose my parents. I was very strong, very determinate. I was like, I'm gonna conquer the war. So when I was 18 years old, I uh moved from Colombia to the United States to be living the American dream.
SPEAKER_00By yourself?
SPEAKER_03Yes. Well, my sister, my older sister, she was living here, but I came here by yes, to be living with her for a few.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So you left Colombia, you're 18 years old, you you know, no nobody but your sister, and you come here. So what was that like? Did you speak English?
SPEAKER_03So I did have some idea of English, yes. I was, I I did do some classes in Colombia, and it was easier for me to understand this. So speaking it was like the hard part. Like for me, reading it and writing it was very easy. And I was like so full of like dreams. I was studying nursing back in Colombia, and that was my dream to continue my career here.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's kind of amazing. So can you share what it was like navigating a new country, making friends, you know? Did you go to school here? How did that work for you?
SPEAKER_03So it's so funny because first when I came to this country, I was like, wow, I'm gonna be making a new life for myself. Because as I said, my parents got divorced when I was very young. And it hurts me a lot. Like emotionally, I grew up being a little bit uh negative and a little bit like not the person that you can see now. But it was a little bit like everything, I every solution, I would find a problem. So I was thinking to come into the United States, I can change my life, and I was like, well, I'm gonna start from zero because no one knows me there, really. I just have my sister, no one knows my story, so I can become whatever I want to do. That is what happened. That story came with me too. It traveled. I didn't pack it in my back, in my back, but it came with me. So that bitterness, that person that was negative, that person that wasn't happy to be social, he was with me here too.
SPEAKER_00And I was like, how come? That's so funny that you say that. Because even though you change your environment, you know, you are who you are deep down in your soul, and that that doesn't change. You can tweak it, you can try and and make yourself a better person or more well-rounded, but you are who you are, so that's really funny. Yeah. So so take me on your journey. So you're you're you're a social person, your problems are still with you, you're in a new country.
SPEAKER_03So, yes, as I said, um, my dream was to be come and finish in my nursing school, but life had different plans for me. Instead of me receiving my diploma to be graduating, I was receiving uh I was receiving um letter from immigration because I was being deported because I overstayed my visa. So I was like, wow. So at that moment, I I have a conversation with my mom and I said, What should I do? Should I come back to Colombia? And of course, my mom was, you can do whatever you want to do because you know that you have my support. You can come back to your house, you know, you have your house here, you can continue studying and everything. Right. But just take the decision that you want to do yourself. Because my mom was, if you come here and you're not happy, I don't want that you, oh mommy, you were the one telling me. So I knew that I have my parent support no matter what. So I was taking like bold moods. So I was, you know what? I'm not gonna take this as a breakdown, I'm gonna take it as a breakthrough. And I start like working four different jobs to be paying all the like legal fees. So I was able to stay in this country. And and then I was starting to do an internship.
SPEAKER_00Um to oh, an internship, okay.
SPEAKER_03An internship with a life coach. Because I was like, okay, I wanna be making a difference for the world too. I don't want to be just being here and not changing myself.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So you didn't get the nursing degree, you decided to do the internship, and and you wanted to make a difference for other people, which is just beautiful and amazing. So let's let's let's fast forward a little bit and and talk about was there a moment that happened in your life that that that changed everything for you?
SPEAKER_03So yes. Actually, when I was 21 years old, I went to my first self-development seminar, which I I think that it just that is like loose cap before and after, and it was uh the landmark forum. So in this seminar, they took us to our so the seminar is like recreating yourself as a person, like you just decided who you want to be, and and just learning all the they call it like rackets and all the stories that you carry. So they brought us to this moment that obviously I didn't know that I didn't know. So our brain has three different sets: things that we know that we know, things that we know that we don't know, but it's the bigger set that is things that we don't know that we don't know. It's like so complex, but yeah. So at that moment in this seminar, I figured out why I was the ways I the way I was, like why I wasn't connected with other people, why I was a little bit um like resentment and and like I couldn't be that happy. So it was amazing because when I remember this moment in my life and when I like bring light to it, I changed the story because that's not who defined me who I am. Right. I was four years old and I was looking at my parents fighting when they were getting divorced. Oh and my par and my father was crying and and asking my mom, please let's not get divorced because of the kids we are four. So it was like a lot of work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Wait, I have to ask. So you were four years old and you remember your parents fighting, and and and there were four there were four children in the family. So uh do you was there was there um just not getting along, or was there more to that, do you think?
SPEAKER_03So I didn't remember this before. This was through the seminar that I went. That when we were doing like remember like your first memories. So is this being that's what is so important to be in an environment when you wanna grow up and you wanna like have uh like self-development, right? Like it be involved with people that is gonna take you to those moments. So for me in this seminar, they took me to that moment that I didn't know that I didn't notice. I was like, what this happened? I I I didn't even have the memory in my in my head. So what I see was just they were let's just I think that it was like one of the last fights that they have, and my dad was crying, like poor in crying, and he was saying, you know what, please let's not get divorced. But at the end of the day, they did. So the story that I create, based on that, what I saw, was I never gonna cry in front of people and I'm not gonna show my emotions because people will step over me. They don't care. And from four years off until I did my first seminar, that I was 21, I keep my promise.
SPEAKER_00Wow. That's incredible that you did that. And that that's how your takeaway was from that. Now, do you still have did you still have a relationship with both parents when you were growing up, when you were younger?
SPEAKER_03Oh yes, I did, I did. Growing up, as I said, of course, because of that story, I was thinking that my mom wasn't full, right? That they have to divorce and everything. So it was a challenging, like yeah, being a teenager and everything for my mom. Like now, like I reflect and I see I can like put all the thoughts like together. I'm like, oh my goodness, mom, I'm sorry so much. Because I know that she did her best and she worked so hard to help us.
SPEAKER_00It's incredible because I I had a single mom uh when I was growing up raising and and just um, you know, they they put everything aside for us, and it's hard to see in that time with the sacrifices that they make are. And it's beautiful that you realize that now. And so let's talk. So you so you were in your 20s, and you do you I think you've lost both your parents uh at this point, or when no, no. Well tell me your story. Tell me what happens after the seminar.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so for the seminar, so I continue. So I start as I say, like internship because I knew that I want to be helping other people. I say, Oh my goodness, I found this solution. I found like the how you can change because I was thinking to changing country, changing my environment, will change myself, and no, you have to be healing, you need to be bringing light to those wounds when you were when you were a child. So then I start being like and training myself and everything, and then in 2014 I find out that I was going to be a mom. Oh so actually it was yeah, that year it was very emotionally because I was being in the red carpets, because being in the billboards, the Oscars, and all of this. But then I was going to be a mom, and I was I always dreamed to be a mom, but I wasn't expecting at the moment.
SPEAKER_00That's crazy. Wait, back up a second. You're at the billboard, you're on the red carpet. Is this because of your your coaching and your life coaching? And talk a little bit about that. That's fascinating.
SPEAKER_03So when I was doing the internship, I was doing it with Karen Hodges. So she is um celebrity coach. So obviously, she was going to all of these events and I was working with her, so I was able to be joining her, and I was like, wow, now I can be doing the same.
SPEAKER_00Oh my, that's amazing. Yes. So, okay, so you find out you're pregnant. Um, did you have a relationship with the father of the baby?
SPEAKER_03Or yes, yes. And so as I said, it wasn't what I was expecting because I was like, okay, like I have different plans for myself in that area. And now I realized that, of course, I was like, okay, I'm gonna decide just to be a mom. And I just dropped everything else at the moment. I was like, I don't know, I felt like a little disappointed of myself that I didn't accomplish everything that I how I wanted. So I was like, I gonna I I really want to be a mom since I was little. I just gonna give it a chance to be just having a family. So in 2015, I was becoming a mom. So that was the best year of my life. I was being a mom for the first time. I was so happy because my mom was able to come. I haven't seen my mom for years since I was here in this country. Wow. Um, so I was super excited. I was like, thank you, God, because you've been so good to me. I have the opportunity to be giving life and have the person to give me life to be with me in the room. That's beautiful. So, yes, it was it was very, very emotional and beautiful. At the same time, three days later that my daughter was born. The doctors told me that my daughter was born with a murmur in her heart.
SPEAKER_00Oh no. Um, so that was within three days they knew that, huh? That must have been really hard to take at that point.
SPEAKER_03Oh so they told me that they need to be doing an open heart surgery to her, but in order to do that, she needs to gain some weight. So she was born seven pounds and 15 ounces. Wow. And she needs to be over 10 pounds in order to be doing the surgery.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, that's that's well, I think they lose weight to begin with when they're babies. I when I had my babies, they were triplets, so they were really tiny. I had my boys were four and a half pounds, and my daughter was three and a half pounds.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow.
SPEAKER_00So we're teeny tiny. And so I to loot, you know, and they did lose a little bit, but we we had to fatten them up really fast. So I can just imagine trying to fatten up a seven-pound baby. That's that's three pounds is a lot.
SPEAKER_03So not only that, so only obviously the the fastest ways to fitting about and gaining that way is through bottle feeding. Obviously, I always want to be breastfeeding, like all natural, holistic, but she needs to be bottle feeding. So it's so funny in the ways that God works and the miracles that he made, because my daughter didn't like the bottles. And I ordered like 20 different like kinds of bottles, like Dr. Brown, Avino, uh, Aventi, like, and I even brought one from Australia that they were saying is is identical to your breasts. So she will make that, like, she will know the difference. Like, if it's yours, it's a bottle. And I was trying everything because she needs to gain weight as soon as possible. Yes, for the surgery.
SPEAKER_00And she didn't like it. She had her own, she had a strong mind.
SPEAKER_03Not only her my cat. Because then I have to buy to be breastfeeding her. And a month later, that my daughter was born, I find out uh my dad died. Yes, he was just walking down the stairs and he fell down, and that's it.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, so he never got to meet your daughter. Oh, honey, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yes, that's one of the hardest things that and it was always in the back of my mind that I cannot believe that my daughters won't have grandparents. Like when I was born, my grandfather died too, like for both sides. So it was like repeating the story, it was like funny, like how they won't have a okay. At least she has the grandmother, my mom is here with me. Yes, yes. Well, like my mom started feeling like she was she started feeling now well, like she fell down here too, like playing with my nieces, and she hit her head and she started forgetting things. And she was here with my stepfather, and they were like, No, it's better that we go back to Colombia, and she can see the neurologist to see what's going on, because it's she's not being herself. And my mom was a very active person, like she will be waking up every morning, five, six in the morning to go walk, to exercise. She was very healthy.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. So she went back to Colombia, and you were alone with your baby, or did you have your sister there to help you navigate that?
SPEAKER_03So I was here with obviously the father of my kid and my sister. But then my mom wasn't feeling well, so she went back to Colombia and they have to do a brain surgery. Oh, okay. Because she had a tumor, and the neurologist was like, Don't worry, it's easy. Like, we just have to take it out. It's it won't be that hard of a surgery. So they did it to my mind, and she was good, but after the surgery, she got a stroke. So they have to induce her in coma. So my sister went back to Colombia to be with her. At the moment, I was I couldn't travel. Right, right. For my situation, number one. And two, because my daughter needed like medical assistance too. So even though I thought about it, I was like, you know what, my mom needs me, I need to be there. Because I think that as a daughter, like you are more like caring for your mother. And it was like it wasn't like my dad that it was uneaspedly, like sundry. But with my mom, like I was like some hope. Yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER_00You know, it's funny you say that because you know, when I my mom is going through stuff now too. And as a daughter, you always want to be there and take care of them, just like they've always taken care of us. And so, and I know that feeling, but it sounds to me like your daughter also needed you, and you couldn't travel with a baby that had the heart murmur. And plus, you were probably recovering from giving birth and all of that at the same time, too.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, it was like a year full of like it was a roller coaster that it was like going through so many things. And the cardiology told me, like, now you have to remember that you're not only a daughter, but you are a mom. Yes, and now your priority is your daughter. So you have to be thinking what you have in front of you, and I know that you want to support your mom and everything, but your daughter needs you more. So obviously, I didn't travel, and my daughter had her open heart surgery on January. Okay, and everything went so good. Like, my daughter Julia is such a brave little soul, like she's amazing. Like, she did very good through the surgery. She like recovered very fast. Like, they were like really surprised how fast she was recovering. Like, wow. And I remember like it was yesterday, it was a Monday, and it was January 11, 2016. And they told us from the hospital, like, you can leave now, like she's in perfect condition, just you have to make appointment with the pediatrician to just make follow-up, yeah. Follow up, like always. And I was like, Oh my goodness, I'm seeing like a lie at the end of the tunnel, at least it's a hope and all these miss of things that is happening. But then I receive a call from Colombia saying that my mom has passed.
SPEAKER_00Oh no. Oh my gosh. Oh honey, I'm so sorry. So you know, life is crazy like that. You get the good news, you know, about your daughter, and then the devastating news about your mother. I can't even imagine how you were dealing with that being so far away. Can you talk a little bit about what that grief felt like?
SPEAKER_03So in that moment, because I know I was only recording for like with my daughter, yeah, but I always and now I laugh because I see like how God like everything that He does for me, how how much He loves me and is caring me like in different ways. At the moment I was pregnant with my second daughter, too. No, yes, so at that moment I was my mom gave her last birth, like her last her last breath of life to my daughter. And I'm so grateful because I know that life took the two people that gave me birth, that gave me life, but I was able to give life to to other people. That's beautiful. So I see then representation of my daughters. So the grief in that moment was I have to be strong once again now because my daughter is recovering, but I'm also pregnant. Wow. So everyone was Luska, please be strong only for yourself, but for your daughters, because all the emotions that you're going through, you passing them through through them. Right. And I was uh just trying to keep it together.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, wow, that's amazing. I I I feel you and I feel your in your soul, and I I think it's just beautiful that you were able to take the situation at hand and and and turn it into um a light, like a symbol from God that this is meant to be. And although you have this tremendous loss going on in your life, you have this beautiful light, two beautiful souls now that you're responsible for, and you uh you know, you probably know that your parents were there in heaven sending you signs and sending you life to help you keep going and and do all these decisions. Did you I guess as becoming Mom and also grieving, you know, how did that shift your way you um you thought of your parents, I guess, and and and has it changed or transformed you into the spark that you now hold to help others? Does that make sense? So in other words, from from losing your parents to giving birth, there was a transition in your life, something that changed. And can you talk a little bit about how that transformation gave you that spark that you now share for coaching other people?
SPEAKER_03All right. So for me, being a mom and going through the loss, I think that was the best thing that happened to me because if I wasn't a mother at the time that I was losing my parents, I think that I would be in a different place. I think that I would be in a dark place because it was the range and the guild that I wasn't able to be within and everything. But at the same time, as I said before, like God is worse in a way that is so beautiful how he does it. And being able, like he was, he knew what's going to happen. And he was like, Okay, no, don't worry. You're gonna have your kids here, someone that you're gonna be worried for, someone that you're gonna be caring for, that you can be transferred, all of that passing through them. So for me, that healing was now to my daughter, because for so many years I was a little bit sad that they, as I said before, that they didn't have the grandparents, not only one, but both of them. So for me, for a lot like for a few years, I was making them like victims, like oh, they they don't have their grandparents, they don't have that love, they don't have the ourselves. And now I transform it, and and you know what? It's not that they don't have it in a physical form, but they do it because as you said, they are here in different ways, but they are here, their energy and everything. So now it's like helping other people too, like knowing that if you lost a loved one, it's just the physical body that is not here anymore. But they are here in essence, they are here in presence with you. Like every time that you talk about them, you they are alive. Every time that you share about them, every time that you do something that they love to do, you bring them to life.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. That's uh that's so true. I I I believe that with all my heart and my soul, that their their spirit lives on and it lives on within all of us, and they're still here sending us signs, you know, letting us know if we're on the right path and giving us kind hints when we're on the wrong path, you know. I um I I think it's beautiful, and I love, you know, I've heard that you use the terminology, what was meant to break me built me instead. And I think that that's beautiful that you used your loss to help fuel your fire and become the woman that you are today. But if you could go back to that four-year-old girl that you were, what would you say to her today, knowing what you know?
SPEAKER_03So, first of all, I will give her so much love. I will like hold her so tight, I will hug her, and I will tell her that she is not broken, she's just becoming and uh every challenge that she is going through life, it will be part of the message that she's gonna be giving to others. I will tell her that she's an amazing girl, that she's so loved, even when she feels that she's alone and that no one's cared about her. That God is always with her, that she's always, always gonna have that love from God, and that just keep going, never give up. That everything is part of a perfect land, every situation, every pain, every tear that she will go through is part of the greatness that she's gonna be giving to the world, the light that she's gonna be bringing to others.
SPEAKER_00That's beautiful. I love that. I um I think that you are such a remarkable woman, and I wonder, you know, has being a mother influenced the way you lead and love and live now?
SPEAKER_03As I said before, a hundred percent. Being a mom is like the greatest gift that I can have. Like being a mom is having that option and knowing that two little people is looking up to you. So for me, giving up is not an option, it's just having that resilience and knowing that I'm not making the difference only for me, only for them, but for the world that is behind us. So being a mom is amazing and just knowing that I have that little princess like looking up to me.
SPEAKER_00That's so awesome. I mean, it's that's it's just lovely that you have that. Now, you're like a role model for your children, but do you have a role model, someone that you look up to?
SPEAKER_03So as I said, like I've been so blessed to be training with different coaches in the industry, to be, as I said before, like looking at wow, who I want to be. So I've been training with the greatest, like Karen Ojo, Sebook Armane, Tony Robbins. But the person that I take more as a role model is myself. Because it's that fire, that spark inside me that never wants to give up. So as I say, my journey has been like a long journey because I started all about self-development when I was in my 20s, now I'm in my 30s, almost late 30s, and knowing that I have that spark inside and never give up, and always is like having that faith that God has like bigger plans for me, and just keep going through adversities and keep shining. And like I know that everything is part of a perfect plan. Just keep going, never give up.
SPEAKER_00You are so inspirational, and you know, I think back to you know how you're you lost your parents uh after shortly after having your two girls, but I'm sure you passed down tradition to the girls. Do you want to talk a little bit about that and how you bring your own heritage to them?
SPEAKER_03So, yes. Um, as I said before, like not having my parents is just the physical uh form, but they live with us in a spirit all the time. Like, for example, when I go uh shopping, like grocery shopping and everything, we always grab like some sunflowers because that was my mom's favorite flower, and I always tell my daughters, oh, this was grandma's favorite flowers, and they always like so happy, so now they love sunflowers. And for example, something that it really um marks from my mom when I was a child. So I was born in this little town called Sevilla Valle, and I was growing up in Armenia, which is a little bit of a bigger city, but we will go every other weekend to Sevilla to visit my grandmother and visit family. So I remember my mom every like every other weekend we would go there. We would go like to the less privileged neighborhood, and she will bring groceries to them. And she, I don't think that she was making it to like like make a difference for us. I think that that was her. Like she was very like noble and generous to other people. And that to me, oh my goodness, that one of my number one like uh values for me, so important to give to others. So thank God I have the opportunity to go back to Colombia. So I went like a few years ago, and I when I went to my daughter, it was Christmas time. And with my daughters, I was like, okay, we're gonna be buying gifts for people that is less fortunate. Because in this country, we are so fortunate that we can like they can have anything they want. They don't, they haven't seen the other, I said the other face of the coin. They think that all the kids have what they what they have. So we got some toys there, then we pack it up, we wrap it up, like in nice. And we went to this the same neighborhood that my mom used to brought me. And I opened the trunk of the car that we rent, and all these kids started running to get it, and they were barefoot. And it was just like a uh like the the streets there is just like dirt and everything. And and and they were so happy when they received this gift and everything, they they their face light up. And I want to make that difference for my daughters, knowing that they're making the difference for others, like giving that legacy from grandma, yes, having that gen, like generous heart. Yes, and for my dad, what I bring from my dad to then is that every time that you speak to my dad, you have to be looking at his eyes. If you're not speaking to him, like looking at his eyes, he will say, like, okay, if you're not ready to talk to me, let's talk later. So for him, it was that presence. Yeah, he wants you to be here and now and talk to me. So with my daughter, he says, Okay, let's stop but looking looking to my eyes, like let's be present here and now because it's so much like noise right now, like technology, like music. Like before growing out, we didn't have like phones, tablets, TV, all of that. So it's just having them to be here and now, like when we're talking. So that's like the legacy.
SPEAKER_00And I love that. I love that he wants you to be present, and so often, you know, we're busy looking at our phones and we're half listening or we're not paying attention. I think that's such a beautiful lesson. And your mom, oh my gosh. I I went on a safari once, and we our family brought um gifts to the to the young children there, and I mean the looks on the children receiving were unbelievable, but what filled my own children by being the givers that they'll hold for their whole lives. So I can totally see what you gave them and the gifts that you give. It's just beautiful, Luska. Oh my gosh. So I have to ask you, um, I asked you about what you would tell your younger self. Now, what do you think your future self, maybe five or ten years from now, would thank you for doing today?
SPEAKER_03Well, number one, I see myself as so happy in love, and I will thank my future self taking like what she's thinking. So I will thank you for never give up, for always continue to making a difference. Always like, thank you for never give up. Thank you for going through any challenge you were just going through. Thank you because you believe in yourself. Thank you because even the days that you didn't believe in yourself, you just start up because it's some days that obviously you don't want to do anything, it's some days that you just feel like you're not making a difference, it's some days that you don't even want to wake up. And as I say, motherhood changed me everything. So I know that I have to wake up because I have to take my daughters to school. And some days I will thank her to to just being there, being present, and and and even when people will tell you, I don't believe in you, you keep believing in yourself, you keep going. And and when other people say, Well, I believe in you, you have greatness in you, you have light in you. Yes, you trust that person, and you just like continue to to making a difference and just sharing and inspiring others to be lighting up with their own light, yes, knowing that everyone has a story to tell, everyone has light with an end.
SPEAKER_00Oh, amen to that. We all have our stories, don't we? And it's just it's incredible the amount of stories of of people who have been through so much in life, but yet they have that that light that helps them carry on. And for those that haven't found their light yet, they can learn from those who who do and who carry on. And it's it's amazing because none of us are alone. We all share similar stories. Um, so I'm gonna ask you, um, what is uh if you could talk to your parents today, what would you say to them?
SPEAKER_03Right now, if I will be talking to my parents, I will say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for everything that they gave me. They did the best they could and they knew. Yes, they did the best they could. So I will thank them for being present with me. I will be thankful the situations that I went through. I will be thankful that they support me no matter what, that they were there for me, that they were they were really good parents. They were like when my mom never cooked. And when she came here to help me when I was having my first baby, like she was like cooking and doing so many things. She always was like like well dressed and everything, and she will never do like uh house chores, and she will be like a and he was like I remember like Moppy and like like like I was like mommy, take you yes, but don't gonna tell your brother because he won't be that's so funny.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god.
SPEAKER_03So thank you because she was there for me when I knew her. She was there and she didn't care that she didn't do what she did. She was like, Okay, I'm gonna just supporting her.
SPEAKER_00That's just that's beautiful. Um, all right, so I'm gonna make it a little lighter for right now, and I'm just gonna do like some lighter questions. So I'm gonna ask you, uh, what do you think one word that captures the essence of motherhood for you? Just one word.
SPEAKER_03One word, it will be grateful.
SPEAKER_00That's a beautiful word. Oh my gosh. How about a song that instantly lifts your mood and makes you want to dance or makes you feel empowered? Do you have like a song that you listen to before you go out and speak or or do things?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I have different songs. So in English I have one that is called Unstoppable. Unstoppable. I know that I love that one. And in Spanish, I have um some other different words too, like um, is this artist that is called Alberto Plaza? And the song, oh my goodness, I forgot it right now.
SPEAKER_00Let me let me uh don't worry, that's okay. I just I I I know that the unstoppable song is one of the best ones that lifts your spirits, and um, when you think of the Spanish one, that's fine. Is there um uh one lesson that your kids have taught you that you'd like to share with others?
SPEAKER_03So something that have touched from my kids is they are so kind to others too. And they are and they are such a like I'm so surprised how entrepreneurial they are. They are so amazing. So they always like motivate me to be my better version. So my kids, for example, they do bracelets or inspirational bracelets for other people to remind, like if you're having like a tough time or whatever, you can just look at the work and just change your mood. Just knowing that um that you can change in an instant. So they can and then they show me, like, for example, if sometimes obviously not like kids are kids. So anytime that I get upset to them or anything happened, I can be like like okay, having a moment with them, and five minutes later they are just hugging you and giving your kids, like they just like for them is everything is momentaneous, like they don't live in that moment.
SPEAKER_00That's the beauty of being a kid. I I really think it's uh it's fascinating how they can change and they can uplift us. It's just it's really nice. So they're they're still teaching me, my children, and they're in their 20s now, and they're still teaching me. I think it's just amazing. Oh, I think it's yes. Um, how about uh a quote or a mantra that you live by? Do you have something that uh inspires you or a quote of some sort?
SPEAKER_03Yes. So one of the quotes that I always tell myself is I do like an affirmation every single morning, like to remind me and I'd say, I'm an amazing mom and love, and I got this.
SPEAKER_00That's beautiful, really beautiful. Um, okay, how about a dream destination for soul healing travel, someplace you've always wanted to go?
SPEAKER_03So it's a couple of places. So one to be like um seen and like enjoying, it will be Venetia. That's one of the places that I always want to see because for me it's like wow, all the cities in water. I want to really experience that. And for my soul, I really, really want to be going at least three weeks a month to India. Just be inside, not for the whole month, but yes, yeah, yes. I would love to be like in silence and being just in the present moment and just being um healing and be just more spiritual, like being with gurus and just enjoying your presence.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that sounds wonderful. I love that. I keep threatening my husband that I'm gonna go on a silent retreat, they do for like a weekend long, but he thinks I can't do it. Oh, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_03Yes, that's we think that, but once we're there, it's so easy because as I said before, if you are surrounded by people that is lifting you on and is believing in you and they are there for the same reason, it's easier, like, okay, I can do this.
SPEAKER_00And it's that's so great. That's so funny. And okay, what's the legacy that you hope you leave behind, not just for your kids, but for the world?
SPEAKER_03So, one of the things that I really want to leave uh behind is a community that is connected through love, light, and faith. Like knowing that we always have that, and you were saying before about found finding that light. It's not finding it, it's awakening because everyone has light within itself, yes, within ourselves. So the legacy that I want to be living for others is awaken your light and shine with it, because I know that sometimes some people get like when you look in a like a light right now, yes, you just get a little bit burned or a little bit uncomfortable. But no, if you're coming from a place of love, like you're gonna be helping other people and just know that to have light, you need to grow to darkness. Because that's the only way that we make the difference. Because everything is on here. We don't know what is like the difference between one another. But if we turn on all the lights here and this is dark, and just one light goes on, you can like see the difference. So every dark moment that you go through it is is it's a part of a perfect plan to bring the light that is in you.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I love the way you say that. It's just so beautiful. Oh, Lizka. So at the end of every interview, I share a poem from my son that passed. He was a poet, and some of his poems are just so beautiful. So this one um I picked because it just reminds me of people who are changing, and he was 16 years old when he wrote it, so it's got some bad words in it, but it's okay. It says, Still the same. I'm in a new environment, and most days I can't stand the sight of it. Some people are egregious, some people are prestigious, but others to just suck my penis. Not in a good way, but in a bad. Everyone just needs to calm down and look around. All the things being fought about are pointless, makes my life joyless. For the countless times people use their wits and minds to make others commit suicide. To what gain? It makes me go insane that people think it's okay to inflict so much pain. I hear all the time suck it up. Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you. And that's wrong. But I listened. I believed in that crap that was fed to me at a young age, pushing me further away from the man I was born to be. Be the person I should be. Even at the age of 15, I know I'll never find the absolute true me. For it's buried under all the lies that I let myself believe. Because of that need for acceptance is so strong. It blinded me, hiding me from the truth that I and everyone else so desperately need to see.
SPEAKER_03Crazy, right? Wow, amazing. It's it's very beautiful and sad at the same time to be thinking that he's never gonna find the person that he was supposed to be. Because that's not true. That happened to me when you were reading it. Wow, I feel like very connected to that poem because it was different environments for him, but he was the same. And that happened to me until I took action, until I decided to start healing.
SPEAKER_00And that that's that's the beauty of it. You know, my son never got to realize, you know, that this was temporary, you know, because that was in his mindset. And I hope that by sharing our stories and by telling people, you know, that yes, there is a rainbow on the other side of the storm, you gotta get through that storm. But you know, it's hard, it's not easy, it never is. But if you can put one foot in front of the other and make your way, it will be worth it, you know.
SPEAKER_03And another thing that I always tell myself, too, when you were asking me about like a phrase, yeah, when I'm going through like like like challenges times, is this will this show happen. Like this is a book that is called New Earth from Eckhartol. And you always say, like, this should pass, this is temporary, this is now forever. Like I remember when so a few years ago, like I was living in Norwalk and it was this heavy rain and it got my house, like like flooded. Oh and it was like all of this is temporary because this will happen, like this show passed too. So if you're going through tough times, if if you're going through something that you don't see like a she was saying like a rainbow at the end of the storm or seeing that light at the end of the tunnel, believe me, believe me, it is light at the end of the tunnel. It is rainbow after the storm. So just keep going, never keep eye on yourself because you have light within you.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, thank you, Luzka. You are such a beautiful light. I'm so happy that you were able to join us today. You're inspiring, and I'm grateful we were able to share your story with our listeners. And if you like our podcast, it would mean the world to me if you would rate us, subscribe to us. Donations and advertisers are always welcome. And remember, SOS Stories are survivors, where survival sparks the soul. We'll see you next time. Thanks for joining us.