The Art of Reclaiming What Felt Lost: Part 1 - The Story

The Art of Reclaiming What Felt Lost: Part 1 - The Story

Scroll down the show notes for a reminder about my ebook presale (only up until June 22!) Some places belong to us, until quietly, they don't. In this two-part episode, Chel takes you inside her real-time process of reclaiming a place that once felt sacred, and what happens when shared memories start to blur our connection to the things and spaces that nourish us. She's recording from Idyllwild, California, a mountain town that has always been her go-to for peace, grounding, and coming home to herself, until two relationships left it feeling a little less like hers. With candor and warmth, she shares the messy, funny, very real details of returning to Idyllwild on her own: a power outage that took the whole town offline, a wildlife mishap she's still not over, bug-swarmed hikes, a window that refused to stay shut, and a string of small disasters she walks straight through. She takes you hiccup by hiccup, what each one stirs up, and how she still finds the nourishment she came for, even when nothing goes to plan. Sound familiar? Maybe for you it isn't a mountain town. Maybe it's a coffee shop, a song, a Sunday morning ritual, or a version of yourself that used to feel like home, until someone else's memory got layered over it. This episode is about finding your way back. This episode covers: * Why sharing the things we love can quietly shift our connection to them * The subtle ways we hand over ownership of our own joy, and how to take it back * Solo travel, self-trust, and following your intuition even when it's inconvenient * What "reclamation" really means: making room for your own needs and peace without erasing the past * How Chel moves through setback after setback and keeps choosing herself * The difference between sharing something and giving it away, and how to find the middle * A reminder of what's yours, and a gentle nudge to reclaim it A note from Chel: If you have ever felt like a favorite place, a tradition, or a piece of yourself slipped away after you shared it with someone, you are not alone. This is about more than mountain towns and people who didn't stay. It's about honoring your own sacred spaces, even after they get a little messy, and finding your way back to yourself no matter what hiccups try to knock you off course. Stay tuned for part two, where I share the reflection, the lessons, and how you can do this in your own life. ✨ Before You Go: Something I Made for You If this episode hit home, I think you'll love my debut ebook. The Way Back to Yourself: Soft Strength for Naturally Nice Women is everything I needed when I first set out to reclaim my own life. It's practical, it's soul-led, and it was made for women ready to stop people-pleasing and start belonging to themselves again. It's on presale for just $7 until June 22, and after that it goes to full price. If today's episode spoke to you, this is your next step. 👉 Grab your copy here: soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale [https://soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale] 🤍 📓 Get your free guide, 10 Phrases to Help You Stop Being the "Nice Girl" (Without Losing Your Kindness), at soultripwithchel.com [https://soultripwithchel.com] 🤍 Join the community on Substack: soultripwithchel.substack.com [https://soultripwithchel.substack.com] If this episode resonated, sharing it with a friend or leaving a review helps more women find their way here, and that truly means the world. Soul Trip with Chel is a podcast for women who are ready to stop shrinking and start remembering who they've always been. Chel has been doing this work herself for nearly a decade: learning to accept, trust, and love herself on a deep, unshakable level. Now she gets to guide women like you through that same journey, so you can show up as who you were always meant to be and give your gifts to the world. Soul Trip isn't about fixing yourself. It's about coming home to yourself. I'm so glad you're here.

Don't Let Future Fear Steal Your Present Joy

Scroll down the show notes for a reminder about my ebook presale (only up until June 22!). Some of us treat fear like a full-time job, rehearsing every worst-case scenario before it even arrives. But what happens when that habit quietly steals the joy out of the good things happening right now? In this episode, Chel shares a real-time moment from her life as a working actress: a hard-earned win she almost let slip past her, not because anything went wrong, but because her mind started spiraling into the "what ifs" before she'd even had a chance to celebrate. She walks you inside the room where she landed a dream role, with all the beautiful details she can share, and gets honest about what happened in her mind before the good news could fully land. Sound familiar? The truth is, our minds are wired to scan for danger, even when everything is going right. This episode is about catching that pattern in the act, and learning to let the good things be good. This episode covers: * A real-time story about landing a dream role, and the worry spiral that tried to come with it * Why our minds default to scanning for danger, even when things are finally going our way * What negativity bias is, and how it quietly shows up in everyday life * Simple, practical tools Chel uses to interrupt a worry spiral and come back to gratitude * Visualization, pattern interrupts, and somatic tools like EFT for actually feeling a good outcome in your body * The power of celebrating your wins, especially when everything in you wants to brace for the worst * How to be discerning about who you share your good news with, without dimming your own celebration A note from Chel: If you've ever caught yourself holding a win in one hand and bracing for bad news with the other, this episode is for you. So many of us let the fear of what might happen keep us from fully feeling what's here and beautiful right now. I made this one because I needed the reminder too. Your present joy deserves your full attention. Celebrate yourself. Trust yourself. And let yourself have the good things. ✨ Before You Go: Something I Made for You If this episode resonated with you, I think you'll love what I've been working on: my debut ebook, The Way Back to Yourself: Soft Strength for Naturally Nice Women. It's everything I wish someone had handed me when I was first untangling people-pleasing, the negativity bias that ran the show, and the habit of putting everyone else first. It's practical, it's soul-led, and it was written with you in mind. Right now you can grab it at the presale price of just $7, but only until June 22. After that it goes to full price at launch. If any part of today's episode had you nodding along, this is your next step. 👉 Grab your copy here: soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale I cannot wait for you to read it. 🤍 ✨ More to Explore 📓 Grab your free guide: 10 Phrases to Help You Stop Being the "Nice Girl" (Without Losing Your Kindness) at soultripwithchel.com 🤍 Join the community on Substack: soultripwithchel.substack.com If this episode resonated with you, sharing it with a friend or leaving a review helps more women find their way here, and that means the world. ⭐ Soul Trip with Chel is a podcast for women who are ready to stop shrinking and start remembering who they've always been. Chel has been doing this work herself for nearly a decade: learning to accept, trust, and love herself on a deep, unshakable level. Now she gets to guide women like you through that same journey, so you can show up as who you were always meant to be and give your gifts to the world. Soul Trip isn't about fixing yourself. It's about coming home to yourself. I'm so glad you're here.

Put It Down! How to Stop Carrying Guilt That Was Never Yours

Scroll down the show notes for a special announcement! Some things that happen to us aren't our fault. But somewhere along the way, a lot of us learned to act like they are. In this episode, Chel shares a rare, behind-the-scenes moment from her life as a working actress: something that happened on set that stopped her in her tracks. Without giving too much away, it involved someone else's choices, a situation that was entirely out of her control, and her overcoming an old pattern that initially told her to quietly absorb the weight of it so that no one else would be inconvenienced. Sound familiar? The good news: it had a positive resolution, and the women around her especially showed up supportively. But the real story is what happened in Chel's mind during the moments before that, and what she learned about the deeply ingrained tendency that so many of us have to take on guilt, responsibility, and emotional labor that was never ours to begin with. This episode covers: * A candid on-set story that became an unexpected lesson in self-advocacy * Why so many women default to managing everyone else's comfort, even when they're the ones who were wronged * How to recognize when you're carrying guilt that belongs to someone else * The difference between being considerate and being overly responsible for other people's actions and emotions * How to shed that tendency so you can advocate for yourself clearly and without second-guessing * What it looks like to let someone else be accountable for their own choices, without making it your job to soften the consequences for them * A note from Chel: If you have ever found yourself saying sorry for something that wasn't your fault, shrinking so someone else wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable, or lying awake wondering if you handled something wrong when you weren't the one who did something wrong, this episode is going to hit close to home. And that's exactly why she made it. ✨ Before You Go: Something I Made for You If this episode resonated with you, I think you'll love what I've been working on: my debut ebook, The Way Back to Yourself: Soft Strength for Naturally Nice Women. It's everything I wish someone had handed me when I was first untangling people-pleasing, self-loathing, guilt that wasn't mine, and the habit of putting everyone else first. It's practical, it's soul-led, and it was written with you in mind. Right now you can grab it at the presale price of just $7, but only until June 22. After that it goes to full price at launch. If any part of today's episode had you nodding along, this is your next step. 👉 Grab your copy here: soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale [https://soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale] I cannot wait for you to read it. 🤍 ✨ More to Explore 📓 Grab your free guide: 10 Phrases to Help You Stop Being the “Nice Girl” (Without Losing Your Kindness) at soultripwithchel.com [https://soultripwithchel.com] 🤍 Join the community on Substack: soultripwithchel.substack.com [https://soultripwithchel.substack.com] If this episode resonated with you, sharing it with a friend or leaving a review helps more women find their way here, and that means the world. ⭐ Soul Trip with Chel is a podcast for women who are ready to stop shrinking and start remembering who they've always been. Chel has been doing this work herself for nearly a decade: learning to accept, trust, and love herself on a deep, unshakable level. Now she gets to guide women like you through that same journey, so you can show up as who you were always meant to be and give your gifts to the world. Soul Trip isn't about fixing yourself. It's about coming home to yourself. I'm so glad you're here.

Religion, Worthiness, and How the Two Can Coexist

In this episode, Chel opens up about growing up Catholic, the disconnect she felt between what she was being taught and what she was experiencing and feeling on the inside, and how some of what she absorbed in those early years quietly shaped her sense of worthiness in ways she didn't fully understand until much later. She also shares her own spiritual path, how she found her way to a framework for thinking about divinity that feels true to her, and how she's been exploring everything from indigenous wisdom to practices that often get dismissed as “woo woo” but carry a lot more depth than people give them credit for. And then, there's the plot twist: she's going back to church. 😱 This episode isn't about convincing you of anything. It's not a debate, and it's not a takedown. It's one woman's honest account of untangling religion from worthiness, and finding out the two don't have to be at odds. This episode covers: * Growing up in a strict religious environment and the disconnect between doctrine, lived experience, and inner knowing * How certain religious messaging absorbed in childhood can quietly erode a sense of worthiness over time * Chel's personal spiritual beliefs, how she developed them, and why she finds the framework she landed on quietly revolutionary * Exploring Taoism, Buddhism, indigenous wisdom, and spiritual practices that go beyond what mainstream culture tends to validate * Why she recently started going back to church, and what shifted to make that feel right * The balance she's found between feeling worthy, feeling the divine within herself, and also not having to carry everything alone * A new way of thinking about what it means to be both soul-led and spiritually grounded A note from Chel: This episode is simply my story. If you grew up religious and walked away, if you stayed, if you're somewhere in between, or if you're still figuring it out - there's something here for you. ✨ Before You Go: Something I Made for You If this episode resonated with you, I think you'll love what I've been working on: my debut ebook, The Way Back to Yourself: Soft Strength for Naturally Nice Women. It's everything I wish someone had handed me when I was first untangling people-pleasing, self-loathing, guilt that wasn't mine, and the habit of putting everyone else first. It's practical, it's soul-led, and it was written with you in mind. Right now you can grab it at the presale price of just $7, but only until June 22. After that it goes to full price at launch. If any part of today's episode had you nodding along, this is your next step. 👉 Grab your copy here: soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale [https://soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale] I cannot wait for you to read it. 🤍 ✨ More to Explore 📓 Grab your free guide: 10 Phrases to Help You Stop Being the “Nice Girl” (Without Losing Your Kindness) at soultripwithchel.com [https://soultripwithchel.com] 🤍 Join the community on Substack: soultripwithchel.substack.com [https://soultripwithchel.substack.com] If this episode resonated with you, sharing it with a friend or leaving a review helps more women find their way here, and that means the world. ⭐ Soul Trip with Chel is a podcast for women who are ready to stop shrinking and start remembering who they've always been. Chel has been doing this work herself for nearly a decade: learning to accept, trust, and love herself on a deep, unshakable level. Now she gets to guide women like you through that same journey, so you can show up as who you were always meant to be and give your gifts to the world. Soul Trip isn't about fixing yourself. It's about coming home to yourself. I'm so glad you're here.

Bouncing Forward: What It Really Means to be Resilient

If you've ever made it through something hard and wondered how you did it, this episode is for you. Chel gets personal about resilience: the story of moving to LA in the middle of a global pandemic, what it actually took to stay and build a life here nearly six years later, and the moments from childhood and high school she rarely talks about. Not the highlight reel. The real thing. This episode covers: * Why resilience isn't about “bouncing back.” It's about bouncing forward and coming home to a more healed version of yourself in the process. * How bullying, ostracizing, and feeling like the “other” was quietly building Chel's resilience before she even had a word for it * What resilience has cost her, what she's had to grieve, and what she gained on the other side * Why building resilience can feel isolating, and why that's completely normal * Grieving the old version of yourself as you grow, and why that grief is part of the process * A reflection question to help you see where you're already being resilient without giving yourself credit Quotable moment: “You are just in the before of your next greatest moment.” You've survived 100% of your hardest days so far. Give yourself some credit for that. ✨ Before You Go: Something I Made for You If this episode resonated with you, I think you'll love what I've been working on: my debut ebook, The Way Back to Yourself: Soft Strength for Naturally Nice Women. It's everything I wish someone had handed me when I was first untangling people-pleasing, self-loathing, guilt that wasn't mine, and the habit of putting everyone else first. It's practical, it's soul-led, and it was written with you in mind. Right now you can grab it at the presale price of just $7, but only until June 22. After that it goes to full price at launch. If any part of today's episode had you nodding along, this is your next step. 👉 Grab your copy here: soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale [https://soultrip.gumroad.com/l/presale] I cannot wait for you to read it. 🤍 ✨ More to Explore 📓 Grab your free guide: 10 Phrases to Help You Stop Being the “Nice Girl” (Without Losing Your Kindness) at soultripwithchel.com [https://soultripwithchel.com] 🤍 Join the community on Substack: soultripwithchel.substack.com [https://soultripwithchel.substack.com] If this episode resonated with you, sharing it with a friend or leaving a review helps more women find their way here, and that means the world. ⭐ Soul Trip with Chel is a podcast for women who are ready to stop shrinking and start remembering who they've always been. Chel has been doing this work herself for nearly a decade: learning to accept, trust, and love herself on a deep, unshakable level. Now she gets to guide women like you through that same journey, so you can show up as who you were always meant to be and give your gifts to the world. Soul Trip isn't about fixing yourself. It's about coming home to yourself. I'm so glad you're here.