Featured #bloomgirl: Lorena Hixson; Owner of Passion & Growth!

This month's featured #bloomgirl is Lorena Hixson, founder of Passion & Growth. Passion & Growth is a self-care and personal growth subscription box for women. Lorena has an incredible story to share with our community. She has gone through so much adversity and still continues to thrive. She has great lessons to share of strength and self acceptance. Read more below!

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Hi, my name is Lo and I currently live in Austin, TX where I am pursuing my passion of owning a business. I am the founder of Passion & Growth, a self-care and personal growth subscription box for women. 

What's the biggest challenge you've faced, personally or professionally? How have you overcome it? 

When I was a baby I had a life-threatening tumor on my face. The tumor grew rapidly and aggressively when I just just a few weeks old. At the time there wasn’t a lot of treatment options available. By the time my parents found a surgeon who knew how to treat me I had a tumor that covered most of the right side of my face. This resulted in numerous plastic and reconstructive surgeries until I was 21 years old.

As you can imagine I was left with scars on my face. Due to the trauma I faced, I developed self-limiting beliefs about myself. I told myself I wasn’t pretty, I’m fat, no one will want to be with me, I am not worthy. I felt like my scar defined me and I was always self conscious that people only saw my scar and not who I truly was. I was so consumed with other people’s opinions of me that I never nurtured my relationship with myself. I never stopped to ask myself, “Do you like you?” I spent every moment wishing I could change the way I looked instead of appreciating the life I had. I was literally wasting precious moments worried about trivial things instead of living my life. Who cares if I have a scar and who cares what size jeans I wear. Those things do not define who I am.

I look at myself in a completely different light now. I see someone who has been faced with adversity and has come out the other side. I am freaking amazed by everything I have put this body through. This body has survived over 20 surgeries.This body put one foot in front of the other when my dad passed away. This body gave me strength when I got divorced. This body has walked hundreds of miles in the ER helping save other people’s lives. This body has held me up when I was drowning in my own negative thoughts. So yea, this body might not be perfect by societies standards but this body is perfect to me. I had to learn to love myself as I was, imperfections and all. My body is a gift and I only wish I had realized it sooner.

Learning to love and accept myself did not come easy though. It took many years of self-destructive behavior before I understood what self-love meant. This is why I started my monthly subscription. box, Passion & Growth. I want to inspire other women learn. to embrace and love themselves just as they are!

About 3 years ago I finally decided I’d had enough and I wanted to change the way I was thinking and viewing myself. I realized I would never have a healthy relationship with anyone else without working through my own struggles. So my personal growth journey began. I started and am still in therapy, which is amazing! I read every book I could about mindset and how to get out of my own way. One of my favorites is Train Your Brain by Dana Wilde. It took time and a lot of hard work but eventually I noticed a shift. I noticed that my thoughts were more positive and I no longer despised myself. I was starting to accept my flaws and everything about myself. I learned that I am worthy of having big audacious goals and dreams. It has not been an easy journey but it was an absolutely necessary one. I look back and realize how brave I was to realize I needed to change and then actually take action. I never in my life pictured I would be here, but I would not change a thing. It’s amazing the things that fall into place once your mind is free from self-limiting beliefs.

What are your favorite bloom products, and why? 

My favorite bloom products are the Daily Planners and the Empowerment Cards. The Empowerment Cards are great to have on the go when you need and a reminder that you are amazing and capable of hard things!

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