Support Chelsea’s healing after losing Bandit ❤️

I have to be honest, I feel kinda funny asking for help in this way, as I know there are so many people that are struggling right now. But I am currently having a really hard time navigating my grief.

These last few months have been focused on caring for my soul-dog, Bandit. He was my service animal for my physical and emotional ailments- fibromyalgia, POTS, MCAS, anxiety, and depression. He was trained to know exactly when there was a shift in my body, to bark at me to alert me to lay down, stay present, and calm.

I know you know, but he was so much more than that: my companion, my adventure partner, my baby. I was honored for the tables to be turned and to be his support, as I walked him home to find peace. But I am feeling so lost in this world left behind, and because of it, conditions are flaring, making it difficult to maintain.

As you know, I am an artist. Because of this, I have learned to live below my means. I have a job lined up, a window that will be the focal point to a meditation room. I am grateful that the woman contracting me for this work has been nothing short of graceful with my process, allowing me space to grieve, before creating something so beautiful from this time of suffering. But most of the deposit has gone towards supplies, and after paying rent and looking at my credit card bill, I am feeling overwhelmed. I want to feel a minor sense of stability first, some ease of tension in my body, before I can get to work.

For now, I have been attending grief groups to get by. Next week, I start an intensive out patient therapy program, so I can learn to move through this process with more grace in my step.

I feel it deeply in my heart, in my bones; I am meant to do big things in this lifetime. For now, I must turn inward, to integrate these lessons of unconditional love. So that I can be of service to my higher purpose in my community. It is my pledge to you, my dear beloveds, to honor his life in every possible way.

I am so grateful for the outpouring of love and emotional support from my people. Some people have asked if they could support me in other ways, and suggested this route. But please, don’t feel pressure; and know that however you show up, is deeply felt and appreciated. Just knowing you care is enough to keep moving through this time of immense hardship. However you show up for me now, will be returned tenfold in the work I was brought here to do. I promise ❤️