For the Perpetual Hygge

Feb 1

Influential & Inspiring People

The IIP Series, also known as the Influential and Inspiring People Series, was created to showcase the many talented, hardworking, and innovative individuals I have had the privilege of knowing. I want to be able to share their stories while inspiring others to build their own paths along the way. My goal is to interview and photograph a list of (so-called “ordinary”) individuals who, in my eyes, are extraordinary. Many of them are making an impact in this world through their passions, and I want their stories to be heard. This one is FOR THE PERPETUAL HYGGE.

Diana Lee

Diana is my older sister and best friend. She has created her very own lifestyle brand, Pear Life (People Empowered And Renewed), which focuses on community-building through self-care, travel, minimalism, sustainability, and perfectly imperfect life experiences. From watching my sister overcome bullying when moving from Mexico to the U.S., to climbing to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, she never ceases to inspire me. Diana is committed to sharing her secret to happiness with the rest of the world through her experiences as a sister, wife, mom, pageant queen, friend, cousin, and everything in between. Read on to learn more about my amazing sister, Diana.

How Was Pear Life Started?

It’s a funny story, but it all started when I was getting my wisdom teeth out. I had to request a week off of work, because I was getting all four of my wisdom teeth removed. The day I came back home from the dentist office I was in pain and on heavy medication, the only thing I could do was sit on the porch, watch the rain fall, and relax. During that entire week, I really enjoyed being at home and “watching the day happen.” That is a term I refer to very often. When people are usually at work, working a 9-5 job, they usually don’t watch as the days happen. They get very distracted from the things going on in their life, especially dedicating most of their time to work, that they don’t enjoy the little things in life.

That’s when I had an epiphany. What I was doing before, with my job, I wasn’t happy with. It was not something I truly wanted to do or something that truly brought joy. It felt like I was just letting my life go by, like so many of us do. So I decided to do something that scares me. I’m going to start my business. It’s risky because it’s new, it’s different, and I knew I wouldn’t be earning money for quite some time. I thought the best thing I could do is just jump in and dive in right away. That’s the day I decided that I’m going to start telling my story though my blog while also having an online shop where I can sell carefully curated products. And share my life experiences and advice that I have learned through my years… and that’s how Pear Life came to be!

What Has Been The Best Part Of Creating Your Brand?

The best part of it is feeling like I finally am doing what I’m destined and meant to do. I’m using all my natural born gifts and applying them to one situation, which is this. I feel like I know I can be succesful in it while also bringing joy to people.

When Life Gets Overwhemling, What Is Something That You Like To Do For Your Mental Health?

I really enjoy writing down all my thoughts thorugh my journaling. I like to do morning pages, inspired by Shutterbug Lizzy who suggested I do that. Also, something I love doing is talking to people.

What Did Little Diana Want To Do When She Was Young? Have You Always Known That Being Your Own Boss And Managing Your Own Company Was Something You Were Meant For?

I think my mom said it best when she used the term jefecita, which means cheif or boss in Spanish. I think I was always meant to do something entrepreneurial. I have what it takes to be a good leader. I really like to lead; I enjoy that position. At the same time, I knew I always wanted to be some type of motivational speaker. I like interacting with people and I think that’s what I’m really good at. I think my best skill is intuition. By using my intuition I know what people are looking for, what they want, what they are seaching for and what kind of advice they need depending on the season of life. I think my intuition is almost like my superpower, but it’s lead me to read people quickly… not by judging them, but just learning to adapt to them in conversations and certain situations. Some of the best business poeple are the ones that know their audience and they know how to be around them. Using my intutition, leadership skills, and overall sense of entreprenialship, all of that combined, has finally lead to Pear Life.

Often Times Beauty Pageants Have A Negative Conotation To Them, What Would You Say Is The Biggest Thing That People Don’t Fully Understand About Them?

Most beauty pageants offer the reward in terms of scholarship. That’s something that not a lot of people understand. Most of the women that participate in them want to further their education, further themselves and their career… and just be a more well-rounded person. Even though at face value you see it as a beauty pageant, what people don’t realize is that most of the women want that scholarship money to make themselves a role model in society by furthering their education or just paying off expesnses that go towards the type of career that they want. The biggest take away from all these beauty pageants is something that people have noticed about me and others that participate because we are forced to learn about current events and stay on top of what’s happening in the world every single day. That makes us ask ourselves the difficult questions about where our morals and values stand. How we see the world in terms of politics, how we can be good speakers, and how we can represent oursleves in the best way possible. From beauty pageants I learned to be a good public speaker and how to express myself on the things that are important to me, my views on the world, and the type of goals I set for myself. Something I’ve realized is that my non pageant friends, often times when I’ve asked worldly questions, some of them don’t have an answer because no one has ever asked them a question like that. My friends who have participated in pageants, for the most part they have been asked these questions, so if you were to ask them within a 30 second time frame they can tell you exactly how they feel about that subject. It makes us more worldly and well-rounded.

How Has The Experience Been Living In A Micro Home Or Tiny Home?

At first I thought that the idea of living in 400 sq ft which is the size of a two car garage, it was literally a garage, I saw it for what it was and that scared me. I love to entertain, I love to host people and I thought, “it’s going to be impossible.” How can we fit in our items and necessary furniture.. and the idea of having people over. The idea scared me and I felt a little claustrophobic at first, but my husband, Kyle, who is also my business partner for Pear Life, is the founder of Pear Homes which is a branch from Pear Life to build custom homes - micro homes. He said “don’t worry about it. Trust me. I can build you a home.” I put my blind trust into him. Not knowing what to expect because it was very early on into his building career for Pear Homes. Lo and behold, I saw how the space was transformed into a home. It’s the perfect studio size. It has everything we need from our bed frame to integrated closets to a small kitchen and perfectly sized bathroom. It has everything we need. We are minimalists anyways. There was no problem with our posessions and we were able to still host at least 10 people in our home so that was a quite amazing feat. After reading, ”The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo, we realized that it was an instruction book on how to lead a life full of joy. That’s really what it is at its essence. To keep only the things that bring you joy in your life. That’s when we realized that a lot of the things that we had at the time was just clutter and we kept them out of guilt. Once we realized that, we put ourselves to work, got rid of the things that didn’t make us happy. Now, when we do shop, we only shop for those things that spark joy in our life.

How Has Traveling Influence Your View Of The World And What Has Been The Biggest Lesson From Being All Over And Speaking Multiple Languages?

Before, with my family, we have traveled to different parts to central Latin America and a few states in the U.S. After having been married, I realized that being married to someone that has been effected by the travel bug will eventually get to me… and it did. Being in a relationship with someone who loves travelling as a hobby and as their passion, you realize that you start loving it so much too. I have been exposed to so many different countries and cultures accross different continents and many different languages within that too.

Travel has opened my eyes to the most important things in life which are not material posessions, but experiences. Experiences become memories and memories you hold on to for the rest of your life.

Not only has it changed my perspective on life and what I truly value and hold dear to my heart, but it also helps me shape my life according to the big picture of the world. I’m in the middle of writing a blog post which will be published later on on the website, but it talks about the different lessons that I have learned in different countries. With Africa, something I have learned is really about happiness. Even though it is a struggling country, one of the poorest nations in the world, what I realized is that the children and people I met there are satisfied and content with the little that they have. They don’t need much. They don’t have much. They are happy with what they have currently in their lives. That teaches me something about being a minimalist and how that’s impactful in my life as well. After I finished my safari experience and realized how many incredible animals there are in the world, that was the biggest push for me to be sustainable and eco-friendly. I want to save as many animals as possble, be more plant based, and switch small things in my life - house hold products- that could help towards the conservation of our environment.

What Is Something You No Longer Take For Granted?

The thing I don’t take for granted is good relationships. This is all across the board. It could be relationships with family members, friends, or significant others. I realized that in my life, I was not really happy with some of the relationships I had. It felt like it was very one sided at some points. I was giving all of myself. Texting people, calling people, sending out letters, inviting them over. It felt like I was doing everything possible to mantain a healthy and loving relationship with friends and family members. Not everyone reciprocated. It’s fine not to reciprocate in the same way because everyone has differet love languages, however there was no reciprocation where I felt that I was being cared for and loved. Two years ago, I started to slowly make the transition of not cutting out but phasing out people out of my life. I didn’t reach out to them so I wouldn’t be hurt. Instead I started shifting my focus to smaller groups of people that reciprocated care and attention to me in the way that I gave to them. That small group of friends and family members are people that I consider close and dear to my heart. I was very intentional with the way I picked people in my life.

Are There Any Personal Projects Or Creations Coming Up That You Can Share?

I’m extremely excited for the new developments of my website/ lifestyle brand, Pear Life, because not only is it a blog, which has been a blog for about a year, but it’s transforming into an online shop. Eventually there will be a podcast coming out soon. It’s really growing and I’m really excited to see what it grows into, the collaborations that will take place. I just know that I have what it takes to be successful in my own field. I’m going to make my dreams come true no matter what anyone says because I know that I have an audience somewhere out there that will appreciate what I do and this will be for them. There is a special prodcut collaboration happening between Shutterbug Lizzy and Pear Life. It’s been a passion project of ours since we were young. This vision is finally coming true with Cork & Luna Journaling Co.

For Anyone Trying To Find Peace Within A Stressful Situation, What Is Your Advice For The Aspiring Hygge?

My husband came across the philosophy of hygge which is a Danish word meaning comfort, coziness, and togetherness. It’s such a strange philosophy that in the U.S. it’s not widely accepted or understood. When you see people in Scandinavian countries, they are some of the happiest people in the world. It’s not becuase they have an excess of material items nor because they have tons of money. They learn to be happy with what they have. Most people are minimalists there. They are also aware that most important things in life are to have moments to yourself, moments with others, and a special place of zen where you can be happy and one with the present moment. I would recommend a person looking for some peace and relaxation to pick up a book on Hygge. It’s special because it made our home feel more like a cozy place where we can be ourselves. It also effected how we view our relationships, how we spend time together, less is more, and how to practice slow living.