Olga Castillo, Chicana Boxing BadA$$!

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I hope you all remember me introducing Olga Castillo on Candid Chicana .

She has since won some more medals and titles since I first introduced her here on Candid Chicana.

Let me remind you why this woman is freaking amazing.

  1. She’s a WOMAN, Boxing Champion.
  2. She overcame a dark past of sexual abuse.
  3. She overcame a domestic violence relationship/marriage.
  4. She’s a HOT grandma y’all and she’s a sexy mama. Do your thing girlfriend, you look beautiful!
  5. She has a beautiful spirit and loves to positively influence others, particularly women, but anyone in general as well.
  6. She loves her family deeply, and they love her so much too. I’ve never met them, but it’s evident when I hear them speaking in the videos of her fights in the ring.
  7. She exudes confidence, discipline, and grit baby!
  8. She keeps challenging herself.
  9. She’s living her dream, and enjoying her life.
  10. She’s my friend, and she kicks a$$!

So, I just wanted to share her successes right here to rejoice with her along the way. Congratulations! Keep on, keeping on!

Click this link to watch her in action.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1455621947867327&id=100002586085574

Discerning The Direction Of Your Dreams

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Sometimes I wonder why God gives me these Herculean dreams. I can be thinking that I have it all figured out, and then suddenly God gives me more.

That’s not a complaint really, I’m thankful HE trusts me so much, to assign these special jobs to me. But I am just sitting here talking to God, and maniacally ruminating over every idea and project.

Thinking,

Dear Lord, can I handle all of this? God I have the first documentary to work on… now you bless me with this one. But you’re right LORD, this project is immensly more meaningful, powerful, and massively needed in the Mexican community. God what about my childrens book series? I should be doing that as my PRIORITY. After all, that is my very first project idea. Not to mention my illustrator is patiently waiting on me to finish this. GET IT TOGETHER DEANNA! I tell myself. Tick-tock, tick-tock! Time is of the essence D! Where will I get the resources and finances to fund this? How? How? How? Please tell me now LORD! Yikes! This could take years. Where do I even find the equipment? What about that project I wanted to help my daughter with? They will be grown and gone before I know it. (Big sigh).What about my creative business idea? Can I incorporate that in too, into my schedule and into my life? I have to! It’s mandatory not optional.What if I never finish, or I die? That’s like a permanent, irreversible, INCOMPLETE on my entire life. God please let me accomplish all these wonderful ideas you have put on my mind! It scares me to think what if my dreams don’t come true? What if my time runs out?Etc. Etc.

That would be the greatest tragedy of my life. Those are the things I obsess over daily.

Mix together my maniacal thoughts, with a dash of fear, a half cup of doubt and cup of procrastination. Guess what you get?

You get a lone loba writer, stranded on the deserted island, of the Prisoner Of Words. Cautiously, waiting for the spirits to guide me in the right direction. Waiting to be free to run into the wild once again, to regain my clarity and my vision.

I don’t have all the answers. Most days, I can see the vision clearly, and other days I don’t have the focus. But the appetite, the hunger is never entirely satisfied. Just when I think I’m full, I get hungry for more.

My brain tries to put all the pieces of the puzzle together quickly and painlessly. I try to be strategic in my plans and organization. In the end I know I can do more, and I have to do more. Most importantly I must conquer the fear.

My ideas are as colorful and infinite as Charlie’s Evergobstopper, in Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. They don’t dull or diminish.” They keep coming. To this I marvel at my God!

I found some apps this weekend to help me keep track of my writing productivity and projects. I am excited that I’m on a new journey. One I’ve never been on before. One that scares the bleep outta me.

But I feel my spirit leading me. It’s difficult for this lone loba to go to uncharted territory and pave a path. But I must confess that when a dream placed on you brings you to tears, and you feel it inside all of your soul, you follow it.

This is what I am being led to do. Hold nothing back. It’s better to try and fail than to always wonder what if. And it’s EVEN BETTER to make your magic in the world.

Leave your mark. Trust your instincts! They will lead you if you listen!

God Bless. I pray that God is giving you direction in your own creative dreams and goals. And that you can listen to the spirit guiding you.

You love what you find time to do.

-Dr. Robert Anthony

Quote: Anthony, Robert Dr. THINK BIG A Think Collection, Berkley, Aug. 1999

Photo Credit: http://www.freeimages.com,TomTown

OLGA CASTILLO, Born To Box

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https://candidchicanachronicles.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/fb_img_1498875950312.jpg

I had the most honorable privilege of becoming aquianted with a remarkable woman. Olga Castillo, a 43 year old woman, and grandmother, who shared with me that she is a boxer. Y, orgullamente es Chicana tambien!๐Ÿ˜

It was inspirational to hear her story, that I asked her to share all of the most intimate details with me, so that I could share it on my blog. I love women empowerment and this story just embodies all of that woman power!

Olga started boxing at the age of 33. She has been boxing for a decade now. She says she started out by learning the basics and worked her way into competing in matches.

Olga confided with me that she had experienced some hardships in her life and that she was already “FIGHTING ALONE.”

She decided to join, because boxing is in her blood. Admittedly, she confesses that boxing is her therapy.

Maybe to you and I that sounds a little unorthodox, but after you hear the circumstances she endured, it makes sense that she would turn to boxing, a formerly male dominated blood sport, and destroy that fallacy with all her poder.

Women…belong in the ring! Especially if that is where they choose to be.

So let us go back a little.

Horrifically, Olga was molested by her own brother as a young girl. This in turn caused her to feel like she didn’t have a voice. She grew up to be shy and understandably a little insecure.

Once a married adult, she found herself trapped in an abusive marriage for 4 years. In these dark years, she was beaten by the very person who had vowed to love her and cherish her. Thus too, contributing to her insecurity.

One source says, “Sadly, one out of three women are victims of domestic violence. And these women come from all walks of life-yes, all! Whether rich or poor, young or old, whether educated or not, employed or not, religious or not, abuse abides by no boundaries.”(Hunt,June)

I myself, have become disheartened to learn about how bad women are really treated….all over the world. It’s like God has given me a revelation about something that has always been there…but I never paid attention at the severity of it.

Olga says that overcoming her past was the deeper fight. With boxing, she fought to find her voice. She says that with each hit and each punch to the bag, her voice gets louder and louder.

With boxing she has learned to stand up for herself. She is no longer insecure. She is a role model to all the young women who want to pursue boxing as a sport.

Boxing has helped build up her self-esteem, confidence, and strength. She now can stand up for herself and others. And most importantly she found that inner power within herself, that she credits boxing, for giving that back to her.

Check out her boxing moves in the ring in the link below.

https://youtu.be/9ETFT6f6hjU

Olga says the toughest part is staying focused in the ring. She encourages all women to give boxing a try. It was once a male dominated sport, but women have taken it to the Olympics. Which is a big thing!

You never know, you might like it.

She Fights!

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Most of our lives are about proving something, either to ourselves or to someone else.

Ok so I am giving a little sneak peak at what I am working on for my next blog.
It has two to three underlying themes that I really want to cover. I am really excited about this one.

Obviously “boxing” is a dead giveaway with the photo attached, but there’s more to this sport than meets the eye. Stay tuned in the next weeks as I wrap up my research.

Works Cited:

Quote taken from:

Anthony, Robert Dr. THINK BIG A Think Collection. Berkley Publishing. August 1999.

Photo Credits:

Olga Castillo