Some places, rituals, and pieces of ourselves quietly get tangled up with the people we shared them with, until what was always ours starts to feel like it belongs to someone else too.

This is part two of a two-part episode, and it's where the Idyllwild story turns. If you haven't heard part one yet, start there, because this is where the trip finds its bright side, and the whole arc lands best when you have the full story.

Chel picks up the morning everything softened: a power outage that never came, a slow and restful start that taught her rest isn't something she has to earn, a breakfast she almost talked herself out of and circled back for anyway, and an unplanned stop at a quiet Zen center on the way down the mountain. Underneath the side quests is the real work of the episode: what it actually means to take back a place that got muddied by someone else's energy, and how she moves from the story into the lessons.

Sound familiar? Maybe for you it isn't a mountain town. Maybe it's a hobby, a song, a city, or a part of yourself you handed to someone who didn't hold it gently. This episode is about how you reclaim it, not by erasing the past, but by finding your own way back.

This episode covers:

• What reclamation actually is: taking back the part of something that was always yours, without erasing the time you spent sharing it
• The honest truth that sharing it can be easier, and why easier was never the point
• How a slow, restful morning became its own lesson in trusting that rest isn't unproductive
• Catching an anxious spiral mid-thought and choosing the intuitive nudge instead
• Why adapting through the hiccups built more self-trust than a perfect trip ever could
• Holding duality: honoring the good in what you shared while keeping what's yours
• How reclaiming something first can actually free you to share it again, on your own terms
• A reflection prompt for finding where in your own life something is waiting to be reclaimed

A note from Chel: If you've ever struggled to feel at home in a place, a hobby, or a memory after sharing it with someone who's no longer around, this one is for you. Reclaiming something doesn't mean it suddenly becomes perfect, and it doesn't mean pretending the time you shared it didn't matter. It just means you're not giving up on yourself, or on the thing that was yours to begin with. I'd love to hear whether you think reclamation is possible after hearing my story, and where in your own life you might be ready to do it.

✨ Before You Go: Something I Made for You

If this episode resonated, 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 🤍

📓 Get 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, 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.

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 🤍

📓 Get 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, 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.

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.