Meet Chellie

While hanging my hammock between two beautiful trees in a botanical garden, I glanced around at the natural beauty surrounding me. In the middle of the forest, I discovered inner peace and connection that was unexpected. It took only a glance and my heart skipped a beat, as my eyes connected with the most magical tree—a tree with a curvilinear path—a twisted tree. This tree, more than any other, spoke to me. To me, this tree was more beautiful than its linear counterparts. I noticed in each outward curve, its strength, persistence and fortitude to keep going. I sensed how fully rooted this tree really was to the earth. In order to press outward and upward, its roots were certainly firm. I felt its courage to continue to reach the heights of its greatest potential. In this moment, I connected with the spirit of this tree.  Looking back, my life was taking the path of the twisted tree.

While gazing at the twisted tree, I saw my life events pass through my mind’s eye. From an outsider’s view, my life has had challenge after challenge. From my perspective, each moment has taught me something new about myself, offered a new tool to move forward and brought me to the next opportunity for growth and enlightenment. This is the growth mindset.

None of this has felt easy.  But as Thich Nhat Hanh states “No mud, no lotus.” Without the mud offering nutrients, the lotus cannot grow. Unsure of whether I was like a sapling tree or the muddy lotus, I was determined to grow and grow strong while learning from life.

I experienced a multi car accident more than a decade ago. My perspective of this moment in time continues to shift as I gain more insight and awareness into all the ways I have grown and changed because of it. It was this moment, more than any other in my life where I felt unsupported, uncared for and unloved. I felt powerless and alone. This feeling of powerlessness did not resonate with my core feeling of hope and meaning making. Although it is true that many people in my life were not there, the truth is, I was not consciously aware of the support I had. I felt like a victim of my circumstances. I only looked at what I didn’t have, not what I did. I needed to shift my focus, shift my energy, and shift my perspective. I needed to make this accident mean something to move forward. Once my perspective changed, so did my reality. I used this experience as a catalyst to teach me where I needed to heal relationships, strengthen myself, and rework definitions that no longer served me. I believed then and now that experiences such as these do not need to define me but can be used to refine me.

As part of my healing, two values became very important, education, health and wellbeing. I earned a degree in Social Work and accomplished a long-awaited dream. Yoga became a part of my daily life. Through this practice, I learned self-love, acceptance, awareness and gained inner peace all while building resilience and a strong foundation for my life to begin anew. I felt compelled to share the benefits of yoga with others so I became a registered yoga instructor (RYT 200) taking classes to become trauma informed certified.

My professional experience includes being a non-profit fundraiser with more than 20 years’ experience including outreach and working with board members and executives. I had the honor of serving on the board of directors of a medical non-profit as one of its founding board members. Volunteerism is a strong value of mine. I served as a court appointed Guardian ad Litem for the State of North Carolina advocating for children and their needs. I have also been an active disaster responder. I worked as an Independent Living Specialist with people who have disabilities. I supported them as they reached for and achieved personal and professional goals. It was this role that sparked my desire for coaching. Finally, I earned my Certified Professional Coach, Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioners, and COR.E Dynamics Specialist credentials.

Yes, my journey to now is a bit different than others, but I am thrilled my life brought me to this. Every day I choose joy.

I learned through this experience, how to heal my wounds, speak my truth and live authentically with my values. What I discovered was the path to joy is so much easier with someone supporting you. I would like to be that person supporting you as you plant your roots, reach toward your goals and grow stronger in your authentic self every day.

As part of my own transformation from pain to purpose, I write about my personal experiences. It is a way to process my feelings that will eventually serve to help others. Currently I am writing my memoir. You can find some of my writing on Substack. Much of the writing is about how I have overcome personal trauma. I also host The Bridge Writers Group which is a 4 week writer’s workshop. We meet daily, write from a prompt and share raw writes in breakout rooms. Please join the next Bridge, a new one begins every 4 weeks.

Are you ready to stop letting circumstances define you?

Together, let’s see how all of your life can be used to refine the vision of who you are and who you want to be.