Check out Candy Wheeler’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Candy Wheeler.

Candy, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
High school graduation approached much faster than I was mentally prepared for as a “mature” teenager and I felt the pressure to make a decision quickly. I was asked what I wanted to do, and at that point, all I had really known about myself was that I loved playing basketball. The only two choices I saw for myself were to either go to college, potentially carrying on playing the sport or to get a random job doing who knows what.

Obviously, the “real world” was much more frightening for a young girl who hardly knew anything about what she desired out of life, so I took the college route only to find out sooner, rather than later that basketball wasn’t quite it for me. There was something about the sport that kept me playing, but what I discovered for myself long after I stopped, was that it was never really the game itself.

For me, it was the sense of community that it created. I was sharing my passion with a team of women facing their own individual challenges, yet coming together for a common goal. Life lessons, right?! Except, I didn’t really get that until years down the line.

I continued on and graduated college with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise & Wellness, another passion of mine, only to find myself in the exact same spot of, “What now?”, going straight into a career of facilitating health promotion at the workplace.

I was essentially in my ideal dream job, or at least I thought I was because I doing what I love on a daily basis, which was helping people get healthy and reach their goals. I battled with feeling guilty as I observed my life in the direction it was going. I remember thinking, “Well, this is what I am supposed to be doing right? I should be really happy right now.” Don’t get me wrong, I was extremely grateful. I graduated college, found a pretty great career, was in relationship, thinking about getting a house and starting a family, yet something was tugging on my heart saying, “This isn’t it”. I couldn’t ignore that I had this burning desire for something else, something more.

Ultimately, I realized that, through this journey of complying with what I thought was the “right way” to go in life, I wasn’t truly leaving any room for me to do what I desired or to even explore what that was. A dear new friend asked me the question, what brings me joy and I was stumped because I couldn’t answer the question authentically. I really didn’t know.

At that point, I went on a journey of self-discovery that began with a simple challenge I gave myself to begin taking action on these subtle nudges that would tug on my heart. I committed to saying yes to all the things that would bring me joy despite of any fears or discomfort that would arise and I couldn’t have possibly dreamed up what would happen next.

Within less than two years, I started a thriving virtual coaching business called, “The Warrior in You”, providing women with support and guidance through their healthy lifestyle journeys & hosted my very first women’s retreat bringing in that sense of community that I was always so passionate about. I was able to create the financial freedom to leave my full-time job and travel to 11 different countries, climbing some of the tallest mountain peaks in the world, including Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal, 13,550 ft. Along the way, I attracted the most amazing tribe that provided me with unconditional support, helping me bring my dreams into reality.

Doing all of this for myself opened so many doors for what is possible. I now use my powerful story and experience to help other women who desire more for themselves ignite their passion fire and get into action around their big dreams to step into the role of a leader. My business has expanded to facilitating community events, group coaching programs and transformational women’s retreats around the world. My mission is that women across the globe are connecting to the power of their inner warrior and taking a stand for themselves and their vision to be a massive impact on the world.

I truly believe we are all individually gifted with unique stories and passions that, when shared with others, ultimately help raise the collective vibration as a whole. This generation is waking up to their power to make a huge difference here and it’s time to own it. Why suppress something so beautiful? Share that!

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The community events, group coaching programs and women’s retreats facilitated by The Warrior in You are designed to help women explore and get connected with their own power and learn to use it in everyday life. We host 8-12-week virtual coaching programs in the areas of healthy lifestyle, self-empowerment and leadership. The message behind all of our offerings is truly to move through life The Warrior Way and decide how we want it to go. We share empowering concepts that, when put into action, create powerful results. We hope to inspire women everywhere to say yes to themselves above all, discovering that the impact lies in our ability to nurture our own needs before tending to the world’s many requests.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
The way I choose to define success is by being in alignment with my personal vision that every single day I feel confident, courageous and alive, showing up as a contribution through playing in my passions of being a leader, spending time in nature and cultivating community causing a shift in the collective consciousness, always acknowledging how far I’ve come.

I think it’s essential for all artists and creators to have a personal vision statement like this one, consciously choosing how we desire to feel, deciding what passions bring us those feelings and truly living out our unique message. This statement becomes our internal GPS system and we can say, “yes” to what aligns and, “no” to what is not.

Goals are amazing and work wonders for achieving things we desire, but there is a huge difference between having goals and moving through life with intention. I believe to truly be successful depends on what is important to the individual. If we never define what that is, how can we possibly define success? When is it ever going to be enough?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.womanwarriorinyou.com
• Email: womanwarriorinyou@gmail,com
• Instagram: warriorwomencommunity
• Facebook: facebook.com/womanwarriorinyou

Image Credit:
Candy Wheeler

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