“If we can envision it, if we can hope for it, if we can dream it, we can create that life for ourselves. There's really no limits. I really, truly, truly believe that for all the wonderful things that we can do and be.” Those powerful words come from Dawn Chartrand who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba where she’s lived most of her life. Professionally, she’s spent many years working in administrative roles. These days her livelihood is based on artwork and wellness workshops, something that came about a couple years ago when she focused on making a change in her life and spending her time connecting more to the spiritual side of herself. The administrative work she did has helped her on the business side of what she does now. She’s always finding new ways to enhance what she does by researching on the internet and listening to other people’s stories. 

Packing up her art for an art show can be a big endeavour, from the planning in advance as an artist and deciding what she is going to share. It can be a big risk, from Chartrand’s perspective and she finds she’s critical of herself and her work. At the same time, people tend to receive her work with gratitude. Asking for help is something she has to do, and her husband is very helpful. Without help, preparing for a show can be overwhelming, she finds. 

If she could share a message with her younger self it would be, “we can do, and be so many things, and to never think it's too late… if you have a dream and if you can see it, you are able to realize that dream.” Chartrand believes in the importance of role models for young people and that they hear that there's really not much limit to what they could do, what we can accomplish, what we can learn. 

“I find it so mind blowing, just the amount of people that are out there that are willing to help you along your journey, also that the hard things that we go through as young people, not just young people, but at that time, those times don't last. Believe it or not, a lot of those struggles will help us later, in such a meaningful and deep way,” she reflects. She muses aloud about the times she’s felt close to spirit, where she’s trusted things would work out, that people who would help her and teachers would come, that it’s a process she would learn to trust. 

To help with her wellbeing, Chartrand dives into her gifts, going into her art studio and immersing herself until time has no meaning, sitting and painting. Other times she would draw or write.

“There's a reason that they're called gifts. That's what I always think about, because they're meant to help us to cope with hard things and help us to get by,” she offers. She also does breathing exercises to be more present in her body. Reading stories of people who experienced challenges and came out the other side is something else that helps her.  

In closing, Chartrand shares, “We never know what our gifts are. We don't know until we actually try as many different things as we possibly can. We don't know what's hiding inside of our spirit and what can be drawn out. Try as many new things as you can. I wasn't raised around art or artists, or people that spoke about art, or and or art enthusiast, nothing… It wasn't until much later in my life, I was already in my 40s, the first time I tried to paint, and I found from the very first time, that it calmed my mind in a way that it was a calming, comforting, relaxing feeling, and as somebody who's I'm somebody who's had ADD since I was a child. So my mind is always going. It's something that calmed me right down. I'm like, ‘I love to do this.’ Never did I imagine that I would become an artist where people actually sought out my art and wanted to purchase it… But I found that painting was something that made me feel really calm.” 

Yoga had a similar effect and she went on to become a yoga instructor. She learned to play guitar by watching other players and sang because it made her feel better. She became a musician and a songwriter. She’s learned anything she could imagine, she could create. 

Shifting from administrative to artistic, Dawn Chartrand changed her life professionally and personally. Her gifts have been key to taking care of her own wellness and helping others with theirs and a source of calm for her busy mind. Learning to trust the process, to watch for the helpers and to know that it will all work out, she has found peace amidst life’s storms.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.