“You're here and that means you're worthy, you're alive, and that right there means that you're a beautiful being with a purpose,” says Lucy Lindell. She is a Métis woman from Eriksdale, Manitoba. Her spirit name is Eagle Moon Woman and she’s lived in Winnipeg since 2009. A member of Turtle Clan, she’s also Swedish, Scottish and Polish. She’s a beadwork artist and hard at work on her thesis for her Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies, titled Beaded and Braided Stories: The Need for Reflection on Everyday Peace and Conflict. Rooted in autoethnography and memoir, it challenges academic norms. Lindell is an instructor at the University of Winnipeg, teaching in the Indigenous Studies Department and she’s also preparing for her first solo exhibit at the Manitoba Museum. At the same time, she’s writing a book about her knowledge keeper.

When it comes to her educational journey, Lindell has an undergraduate degree in Indigenous Studies and she received a gold medal of achievement with that degree because of her informal training, where she would go to ceremony, spend time on the land and learn from knowledge keepers. She had been working on a business degree but struggled with the way economics was shared so she stepped away. Now in her Master’s, she’s enjoying the way she can bring her culture into her thesis. Informally, she learns from her knowledge keeper, Dan Thomas, in ceremony. Before the pandemic she used to spend up to 12 hours a week with him.

Her advice to young people considering leaving their home community to go to school is, “It's a big step, but there are reasons to visit other places, other cities, and to learn things and to do things. The first part is really trusting in your heart that you're always going to be where you're meant to be, and that means trusting in creation as well, but it's also taking the steps to find where your new home can be.” Lindell recommends finding the Indigenous centre at the university you will be attending to find support to build a foundation for yourself. “Humans aren't built to just be alone,” she counsels, advising to listen to your heart about where you’re meant to be, finding routines and safe people.

As far as obstacles go, Lindell recalls moving out of a building she lived in, realizing her education wasn’t supposed to be that way and she wasn’t supposed to be so alone. At first, she blamed herself but eventually she took action. Other obstacles she faced were discrimination and harm as an Indigenous woman but she learned she didn’t have to accept that behaviour and started to set boundaries around it.

If Lindell could share a message with her younger self it would be to not take things so personally. Lindell feels other people’s energies deeply and matches them and she’s learning she can just be herself. “I can always come from the love in my heart, that has been the biggest thing,” she shares, knowing she has choices in how she reacts to other people’s behaviours.

To stay well and balanced and whole, Lindell finds moments to step away from the busy pace of life to do single needle beadwork on wool felt. She has a self care routine for herself, does tobacco offerings, and eats healthy food. For exercise, she goes for walks or dances.

If Lindell were to advise someone who was struggling she would say, “There is help all around us. It's not just human life that's important here. We can ask our water to help us. We can ask our food to help us. We can ask the water in the shower to help us, or in the bath, even the blanket we lay under right like, everything comes from creation.” She also recommends taking part in a daily practice of writing out what you love about yourself and reading it once a day. She suggests evaluating one’s situation in terms of identifying what support is available, how more support can be lined up. She says to look at who is in your circle and how you feel after spending time with them. When it comes to inspiration, Lindell is inspired by the beauty of creation, the way the sun sets and rises, and the moon in the sky. She says she is also inspired by “when we can come from our hearts, when we’re so truthful and heartfelt.” She feels motivated when she sees people struggle and she knows she can help or when she sees people in situations she’s been in, she feels inspired to keep growing.

A beader, an instructor, and a writer, Lucy Lindell wears many hats. Learning not just from books but also from her knowledge keeper and from the land, she won a gold medal of achievement with her undergraduate degree. Now working on a thesis for her Master’s degree that shatters academic norms, she’s a life-long learner who keeps on growing.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.