AURA ā Who are you?
GABBY āĀ Hey pals, my name isĀ Gabby Villasenor, Movement Specialist and founder of FuelledĀ by Feeling. The best way to describe myself, in a nutshell, is this; Iām a cake sitting in front of you (Dairy Queen ice cream cake to be exact) and Iām split into the following pieces.
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I live for functional movement.
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The reason Iām on this planet is to support people as they explore, transform, and nurture their relationship with movement.
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Iām 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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Iām a classic fire sign... so... noughā said
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Creating is a value Iāve always had but Iām just starting to water
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Chances are, Iām down to do it, but just know Iāll forget something important.
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I make the best coffee youāll ever have
AURA āĀ What is real for you at this very moment.
GABBY āĀ There is nothing in my home or in my life that isnāt meant to be there right now. Iāve done a massive āMarie-kondoā to my energy system and itās been the most refreshing thing in the world. That being said... I think I could use a chair in my house.
AURA āĀ What is your life mantra (quote, scripture, philosophy)?
GABBY āĀ Life mantra:Ā Nothing matters and āYou get toā. Both have very similar meanings to me but I associate ānothing mattersā with anything to do outside of the movement, and āyou get toā is something I almost exclusively associated with the movement.
āNothing mattersā 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 āperfect-nessā of it all. Iād fixate on things that filled spaces they had no business filling, Iād hold anxiousness as if it were a life jacket, and it all really held me the hell back. Iād get swallowed whole thinking about what ALL OF YOUĀ thought about every sentence Iād 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 didnāt give myself permission to create like I know I can. I didnāt trust myself to make any sort of decisions on my own and Iād make myself sick wondering if I was doing the ārightā thing the ārightā way ā whatever the hell that means.
Nothing matters come from a place of:Ā you truly canāt 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 canāt control, Iām missing out on the opportunity to receive SUCH important feedback ā Iām holding onto the shit that doesnāt matter and jeopardizing the opportunity to hear the things that do.
Nothing matters unless you make it matter. And I guess, all in all, itās a refresh in what truly matters. Most things I think matter, donāt. They only matter because Iām feeding them ā Iām feeding the thoughts that donāt matter and stripping myself of the opportunity to feed the ones that do. So Iām making buckets ā piles of things that donāt matter and ones that do. Call it a spring cleaning if you will
āYou get toā 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 couldnāt 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, āGabs, you GET to do this ā you donāt have toā. It honours my ability as it is RIGHT now and its perfection ā no expectation of more or punishment for anything less.
AURA āĀ What is something about yourself that you're working on improving/changing and what is your WHY behind this?
GABBY āĀ Something Iām working on is my ability to work and live abroad. Thatās a big umbrella statement because there are SO many intricate details under that statement that go hand-in-hand. But for now.. letās stick with that. Iāve 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 Iād be able to move Fuelled by Feeling primarily online (in order to reach the hands ā and the places I know I will), until the last 2 months. There are always reasons why I āwonāt be ready or why I shouldnātā and the perception of others made me so sick to my stomach, Iād avoid ANY leaps in that direction. It seemed like a daydream that would always stay that way. Over the past two months, Iāve become SO aware of my limiting belief that āIām not smart enough to do thatā and how it shows up in so many areas of my life, that Iām tossing a major middle finger and choosing to water the inverse of that statement instead. So underlying, Iām getting to know these limiting beliefs and turning them into skeletons that live in my closet (because I know theyāll pop up every now and again), and creating a life that allows me the flexibility, autonomy, and privilege to spread Fuelled by Feelingās message.
AURA āĀ Who is one person that has impacted your life? What have they taught you?
GABBY āĀ My superhero: How could it not be mum... Itās always mom. My mom is the strongest human I know. Sheās taught me how to lead, the magic in independence, and the power in leaning into the soft. I wouldnāt be half (literally and figuratively) the human I am today without her and sheās always taking the cake on this one.
AURA āĀ Describe your biggest obstacle(s) in life and how youāve mastered them.
GABBY ā One of my biggest obstacles is the one Iām sitting in. Re-writing the narrative for the ārulesā that dictated so many actions or inactions in my life. Noticing how these beliefs have spilled over into all slices of my āGabs cakeā (mentioned earlier), Iām pretty over the cycle Iāve been on and ready to write a new one. Not to say this is the first time Iāve done it, but something about this time around feels like the real deal. Itās like shedding snakeskin. And I also donāt know if āmasteredā is a word Iād use. Iād say, Iām currently seasoning myself at this practice.
AURA āĀ What has been your biggest epiphanies; the moments of life-defining change that shaped you into the person you are today.
GABBY ā 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 āIām creating a reality where this happens oftenā.Ā
- 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 reality⦠nobody cares. Everyone is focused on their own responsibility and the validation Iād seek from people only buried me in a pile of worry that never truly existed. Thereās a lot of freedom and autonomy in that statement and thatās what I extract from it.
AURA āĀ Where are you headed, what are you up to, what do you want us to know.
GABBY āĀ Right now, Iām SO excited because Fuelled by Feeling just launched our first Membership site! Itās 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 ā thatās what this membership was created to support you ON and OFF your mat. With experts from 3 fields (Move, Nourish, and Write & Reflect), weāre all hands on deck providing you with new content every week for you to lead feeling supported and tended to on all fronts. Weāve set up aĀ FREE two-week trialĀ that you can snag here:Ā https://fuelled-by-feeling.mykajabi.com/homeĀ and it allĀ starts on May 1st.Ā
Weāre collecting our Founding members with exclusive community deals, merchandise perks, and limited membership pricing. Sign up before March 15th and youāre one of our founders!
CONNECT WITH GABBY
Instagram:Ā @fuelledbyfeeling,Ā @gvillasenor
Book with Jess:Ā https://campsite.bio/fuelledbyfeeling
Membership sign up:Ā https://fuelled-by-feeling.mykajabi.com/home
Website:Ā Ā https://www.fuelledbyfeeling.com/
#FuelledByFeeling #ChooseToFeel