Sol Aguirre is known by the blog that bears her name “Las Claves de Sol” and she is author of the novel “Algún día no es un día de la semana” (“Someday is not just a weekday”) and a weekly column in the “El Español” online newspaper, in addition to being a literary coach. “One day I was reading a book that led to me asking myself the right question at the right time: What did I love and have a talent for as a child yet I had stopped doing it?” says Sol Aguirre confirming “that was when I began writing”. Since then she claims that not only is she much happier, but that she has found a way of helping other people to find happiness too. So Sol Aguirre has empowered both herself and other women, shining a light on their role in life once they reach forty, a time in their lives when happiness takes many forms and has many different names. ” I never tire of repeating that it is never too late to discover what you want to be and that the game isn’t over until they blow the whistle.” “I tell everyone who asks me how to reinvent themselves at 50, that it’s the same as when you are 20 and when you are 94, by going forward”, she holds.
The writer defines herself as a woman with a great sense of humour who divides her time between Madrid and Ibiza, the island that never fails to inspire her and helps her retain her sanity: “For me Ibiza means family, friends, the sea, tranquillity and a huge dose of energy”. When asked about her secret hideaways, she smiles and ventures that if she reveals their whereabouts that would defeat the purpose, but she adds that the best strategy for spending time on the island is without doubt “to seek silence”. After completing a law degree, she spent the first 20 years of her career in marketing, working for a family business, until, according Sol Aguirre, “I reached a point when, with the onset of the stupendous crisis of the 40s, I realised that I had spent half my life doing the same thing and that I didn’t want to spend the other half doing the same, and then an alarm bell went off in my head and I decided that a change was needed.”
Sol Aguirre recommends “knowing how to recognise the signs” of whether or not we are in the right place, “first you have to listen and learn to know yourself” and after that “we have to get up every day with a clear purpose, it doesn’t matter if it is to make bread, go sailing or write a book, we should not get up without knowing what we are getting up for, if we are not happy or not doing what we really want, then something needs to change”. In this regard and to counter any scepticism about this, her most basic of tenets, she remains adamant “I know that it is difficult but … but what is the alternative?”
Behind “Las Claves de Sol” one of the most widely read blogs in Spain aimed specifically at women, Sol Aguirre regales over 80,000 readers with the tools she uses to forget preconceived notions and learn to know herself. “I have always been in favour of starting out on your path, because once you are on the way, you will find many answers”, she claims. ” I wanted to write, but I was not sure how, so I read a lot and I was writing a lot of stupid stuff, until one day I wrote a post from an ironic perspective, and I realised that I could express myself through humour, as my life was full of jokes and fun. That day 50 people read my blog” she explains.
Thanks to her first novel “Algún día no es cualquier día de la semana” (“Someday is not just a weekday”), which is now in its eighth edition, and which has been translated into Italian, we are introduced to Sofia Miranda, a 42 year old woman who lives in Madrid and is a single mother with two children. “Sofia has a lot in common with me, but the events are not autobiographical”, the author goes on to tell us. In addition to this first novel, and publication of a collection of articles from her column, “Las primeras veces y otros articulos” (“The first times and other articles”), Sol Aguirre reveals that towards the end of this year, her second novel will be published reprising her character Sofia.
Writer, coach, businesswoman and mother, Sol Aguirre is firm in her conviction that the key to success in life is something as simple as having a well organised agenda.
Before saying goodbye, she gives us her recommendations for a visit to Ibiza: “Travel right across the island from Punta Galera to Las Dalias or find some little hidden rocky place where there’s no one about. That’s what I love to do. If I had to choose a beach, I would pick Platges de Comte, watch the sun go down at Hostal La Torre for a perfect evening, and have breakfast at the Croissant Show.”