Today we’d like to introduce you to Shauntel Farland.
Shauntel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
There is an inner part of each us that is unconditionally loving, forgiving, kind, compassionate, and egoless. I often refer to this part of our being as our “inner light” or our true self. It’s easy to believe that this light doesn’t exist within us because of hardships we have faced that cause us to feel angry, frustrated, and unforgiving. But our true self never dissipates. Most of the time, it’s hidden under the dirt of our past, our fears, and our limiting beliefs.
For most of my life, I didn’t recognize my own inner light because I had a habit of avoiding my emotions. I was trying to avoid the pains of my life, the pains of being sexually assaulted by a family member in youth, the pains of harboring that secret alone, the pains of neglect, the pains of financial and food insecurity, the pains of the wounds even my parents hadn’t healed from.
But eventually running away from my pain became exhausting. Once I stopped to rest, to feel, I realized that the avoidance of my emotions and history was the real source of my suffering. This realization transformed my life. I started to welcome all emotions into my life experience. I embraced them. Welcomed them. Felt them. Healed. I chose to set my light free by accepting all sides of my being, good or bad.
This healing and self-acceptance gave me the energy, space, and self-awareness I needed to turn within to find the answers to a meaningful and abundant life. I began to ask myself what was missing in my life, found maintainable ways to fill the holes that were causing my life dissatisfaction, and reflect on whether or not those strategies were improving my sense of fulfillment. I wasn’t aware of it, but I was life coaching myself.
I truly believe that every hardship and blessing in our lives is meant to teach us a lesson. Mine taught me the skills that allow me to help others who feel broken, lost, and unfulfilled work towards greater life meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Life is never a smooth road. If it was, none of us would grow in the ways we need to flourish as whole, expansive beings! The greatest struggle I had to overcome in my life was myself. As cliché as it sounds, we really are our greatest enemies.
As aforementioned, I had a very bad habit of avoiding my pain. At 11 years old, I was sexually assaulted by a family member and, afraid of the repercussions of speaking this truth, I hid away this secret until I was 20 years old. Since I couldn’t find consolation in my family up until that point, I did everything I could to run away from this pain. Food ended up being my greatest ally.
Shortly after graduating high school, I developed a binge eating disorder where I gained 30 pounds in a little over 3 months. I often ate until my mouth bled and felt so overstuffed I often had to force myself to sleep so I would avoid puking. Most of the time the food didn’t even taste good to me. But feeling the physical pain of overeating was much easier than facing the pains of my emotions.
I also used relationships to run from my emotions. In relationships, we often attract what and who we are. I, unfortunately, would attract men who were also emotionally incapable of feeling and would emotionally abuse and manipulate me. Spending time with these men, though, felt easier than spending time with myself.
What did I learn from all of this? That avoidance doesn’t make emotional pain and trauma disappear. Instead, these pain points begin to fester and mold within our beings until we are forced to face their reality. Although quite difficult, the most courageous thing we can ever do for our own selves is to honor exactly what it is we are feeling. Feeling is freedom. When you feel, you truly set yourself free to accomplish all of the amazing things you were meant to do.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I have decided to use all of the wisdom and skills that I have learned from years of transformation to help others who feel lost and unfulfilled in life through life coaching.
My purpose as a life coach is to help other turn within, connect to their true self that is often hidden behind limiting beliefs, fear, negative thinking patterns is that they can ultimately find the answers they need to live a life of meaning and purpose. My hope is that their illumination will also inspire others around them to turn within, find their own answers, radiate their light, and initiate a karmic healing cycle. I truly believe we can begin to change the world in this way.
During my coaching sessions with my clients, we do meditation, visualization, and self-reflection techniques to pinpoint their values, needs, and desires, along with their current life problem areas. The techniques help them find some of very important answers: What am I alive to do, be, or have? What’s my next step? Who am I? How can I be the best version of myself?
Together we work revive and balance all of the different facets of life that contribute to our total wellbeing: health, mental/emotional wellbeing, career, relationships, spirituality, and fun/recreation.
Nothing fulfills me more than knowing I had an impact on someone’s life. I genuinely believe all of the pain I went through prepared me to give to others in this way. This work is my life purpose.
What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
I like to substitute the word luck for “blessings” because luck often has negative connotations and is associated with an undeserving passiveness. I truly believe that each situation or circumstance we face whether positive or negative is a “blessing” that has purposely entered our lives from some higher power to teach us a lesson. Regardless of whether or not you believe in a higher power, a growth mindset is key to success in any endeavor. If we ask ourselves what every circumstance, good or bad, has taught us, it can propel us forwards regardless of the effect it had in our lives.
This mindset is what propelled my own life and business forwards. My hardships gave me skills rather. The 2 schools I transferred from and the 2 majors I changed, gave me greater insight into where I did want to attend school and what I did want to study. These circumstances could have easily held me back from starting my business and living a fulfilling life. However, if we choose to believe that everything is a lesson, we grow from that lesson, and move forwards with faith and resilience that thing will change or improve, we will succeed! I hope my story and those of my clients can be proof of that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.farlandshauntel.com
- Email: farlandshauntel@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shauntelfarland/?hl=en
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