AURA โ Who are you?
GABBY โย Hey pals, my name isย Gabby Villasenor, Movement Specialist and founder of Fuelledย by Feeling. The best way to describe myself, in a nutshell, is this; Iโm a cake sitting in front of you (Dairy Queen ice cream cake to be exact) and Iโm split into the following pieces.
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I live for functional movement.
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The reason Iโm on this planet is to support people as they explore, transform, and nurture their relationship with movement.
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Iโm happiest on a beach, in water, with a surfboard in hand, making food out of my truck.
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My people are gold and I love them endlessly
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I really value my brain space and time alone
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Iโm a classic fire sign... so... noughโ said
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Creating is a value Iโve always had but Iโm just starting to water
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Chances are, Iโm down to do it, but just know Iโll forget something important.
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I make the best coffee youโll ever have
AURA โย What is real for you at this very moment.
GABBY โย There is nothing in my home or in my life that isnโt meant to be there right now. Iโve done a massive โMarie-kondoโ to my energy system and itโs been the most refreshing thing in the world. That being said... I think I could use a chair in my house.
AURA โย What is your life mantra (quote, scripture, philosophy)?
GABBY โย Life mantra:ย Nothing matters and โYou get toโ. Both have very similar meanings to me but I associate โnothing mattersโ with anything to do outside of the movement, and โyou get toโ is something I almost exclusively associated with the movement.
โNothing mattersโ stuck because as my soul pal [and designer] and I were jamming back in the inception days of Fuelled by Feeling, I would get SO wrapped up in the โperfect-nessโ of it all. Iโd fixate on things that filled spaces they had no business filling, Iโd hold anxiousness as if it were a life jacket, and it all really held me the hell back. Iโd get swallowed whole thinking about what ALL OF YOUย thought about every sentence Iโd put out *ahem: hello validation* it prevented me from creating anything at all. I put ideas to the side, I scrapped momentum at times, and I didnโt give myself permission to create like I know I can. I didnโt trust myself to make any sort of decisions on my own and Iโd make myself sick wondering if I was doing the โrightโ thing the โrightโ way โ whatever the hell that means.
Nothing matters come from a place of:ย you truly canโt do it wrong. You roll something out [an idea, a product, a post, whatever..] and you hear feedback. The magic is in the feedback you hear and what you choose to do with it. So while I sit with my anxious life jacket worried about things I canโt control, Iโm missing out on the opportunity to receive SUCH important feedback โ Iโm holding onto the shit that doesnโt matter and jeopardizing the opportunity to hear the things that do.
Nothing matters unless you make it matter. And I guess, all in all, itโs a refresh in what truly matters. Most things I think matter, donโt. They only matter because Iโm feeding them โ Iโm feeding the thoughts that donโt matter and stripping myself of the opportunity to feed the ones that do. So Iโm making buckets โ piles of things that donโt matter and ones that do. Call it a spring cleaning if you will
โYou get toโ comes from a point in my life where I had to stop moving in any and all the ways I knew how. I experienced adrenal fatigue and my doctor told me I either had to stop putting my body under so much stimulus or this would all get a lot worse. Once I began re-integrating movement back into my world, it was so bare bones. My HR couldnโt exceed anything over a moderate intensity (at this time I exclusively lived in all things high intensity), no loud music, and definitely nothing more than 20-minutes every other day. I remember so vividly, in the park down at coal harbour, barefoot, just moving. No real plan, just flowing with whatever my body was asking for. I kept looking at my hands and feet with the most amount of gratitude for even bringing me this far. And that was the period of my life where I realized my ability to move is one of the biggest privileges I have. I kept saying, โGabs, you GET to do this โ you donโt have toโ. It honours my ability as it is RIGHT now and its perfection โ no expectation of more or punishment for anything less.
AURA โย What is something about yourself that you're working on improving/changing and what is your WHY behind this?
GABBY โย Something Iโm working on is my ability to work and live abroad. Thatโs a big umbrella statement because there are SO many intricate details under that statement that go hand-in-hand. But for now.. letโs stick with that. Iโve said for a while now that my purpose is to leave my heart in as many hands and places as I possibly can. I never truly believed Iโd be able to move Fuelled by Feeling primarily online (in order to reach the hands โ and the places I know I will), until the last 2 months. There are always reasons why I โwonโt be ready or why I shouldnโtโ and the perception of others made me so sick to my stomach, Iโd avoid ANY leaps in that direction. It seemed like a daydream that would always stay that way. Over the past two months, Iโve become SO aware of my limiting belief that โIโm not smart enough to do thatโ and how it shows up in so many areas of my life, that Iโm tossing a major middle finger and choosing to water the inverse of that statement instead. So underlying, Iโm getting to know these limiting beliefs and turning them into skeletons that live in my closet (because I know theyโll pop up every now and again), and creating a life that allows me the flexibility, autonomy, and privilege to spread Fuelled by Feelingโs message.
AURA โย Who is one person that has impacted your life? What have they taught you?
GABBY โย My superhero: How could it not be mum... Itโs always mom. My mom is the strongest human I know. Sheโs taught me how to lead, the magic in independence, and the power in leaning into the soft. I wouldnโt be half (literally and figuratively) the human I am today without her and sheโs always taking the cake on this one.
AURA โย Describe your biggest obstacle(s) in life and how youโve mastered them.
GABBY โ One of my biggest obstacles is the one Iโm sitting in. Re-writing the narrative for the โrulesโ that dictated so many actions or inactions in my life. Noticing how these beliefs have spilled over into all slices of my โGabs cakeโ (mentioned earlier), Iโm pretty over the cycle Iโve been on and ready to write a new one. Not to say this is the first time Iโve done it, but something about this time around feels like the real deal. Itโs like shedding snakeskin. And I also donโt know if โmasteredโ is a word Iโd use. Iโd say, Iโm currently seasoning myself at this practice.
AURA โย What has been your biggest epiphanies; the moments of life-defining change that shaped you into the person you are today.
GABBY โ The two biggest epiphanies that first come to mind are:
- When my favourite people and I took a road trip down to Oregon and we camped on the beach, made food out of our trucks, spent all of our time playing spike ball and in the water, and I KNEW I needed more of that in my life. I remember driving home and saying โIโm creating a reality where this happens oftenโ.ย
- Nothing matters and nobody cares. Please know, things matter and people DO care. What I mean by that statement is that you are in control of your entire being. You decide what sticks, what actions or inactions to take, the people you let in, the work you do, how you spend your minutes, everything. There is a major responsibility for your life and I spent so much time worrying about how other people would perceive my choices when in realityโฆ nobody cares. Everyone is focused on their own responsibility and the validation Iโd seek from people only buried me in a pile of worry that never truly existed. Thereโs a lot of freedom and autonomy in that statement and thatโs what I extract from it.
AURA โย Where are you headed, what are you up to, what do you want us to know.
GABBY โย Right now, Iโm SO excited because Fuelled by Feeling just launched our first Membership site! Itโs called: Fuelled by Family: A Members Collective. Fuelled by Feeling exists to support your relationship with movement and by extension, your health. We know and we know that YOU know, your health revolves around more than moving โ thatโs what this membership was created to support you ON and OFF your mat. With experts from 3 fields (Move, Nourish, and Write & Reflect), weโre all hands on deck providing you with new content every week for you to lead feeling supported and tended to on all fronts. Weโve set up aย FREE two-week trialย that you can snag here:ย https://fuelled-by-feeling.mykajabi.com/homeย and it allย starts on May 1st.ย
Weโre collecting our Founding members with exclusive community deals, merchandise perks, and limited membership pricing. Sign up before March 15th and youโre one of our founders!
CONNECT WITH GABBY
Instagram:ย @fuelledbyfeeling,ย @gvillasenor
Book with Jess:ย https://campsite.bio/fuelledbyfeeling
Membership sign up:ย https://fuelled-by-feeling.mykajabi.com/home
Website:ย ย https://www.fuelledbyfeeling.com/
#FuelledByFeeling #ChooseToFeel