Conversations with Danielle Chastity

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Chastity

Hi Danielle, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It’s difficult to pin point a place to start, when “all of it” has brought me to this point in my life. I remember sneaking out of the house, in the middle of the night with my big brother, we’d lay side by side on this old cement table in the backyard and stare up at the stars. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more magical stars in my life than the ones I saw on those nights. “What do you want to do when you grow up, Ray?” There’s a million dreams that a child should wish for but our dream was to escape to a better place. “I want to move far far away, a happy place, somewhere where we’re safe… somewhere where mom is safe”.

Success is a lot like jumping in the deep end before your body knows how to swim. You stand back and watch the world move around you; some people have their parents to hold them, some have floats, some start off by testing out their skills in the shallow water, and then there’s those select few that have watched just enough to make a choice. You jump in hoping that if you begin to drown someone will save you. The problem with being saved prematurely is that you don’t have the opportunity to regulate the fear inside of you. Those few seconds of drowning seem like an eternity but when you realize that no one is coming quick enough you learn to move your arms and legs and bring yourself to the top.

Poverty, addiction, abuse pushed me into reality before I had the opportunity to be a care free child. I became aware of what was required to survive and so my dream was to be powerful and wealthy. My mother’s love gave me a purpose, my families persistence to stick together against all odds taught me to be determined and prayer gave me the faith to move forward through fear. I’ve failed multiple times and I have a few more failures up my sleeve but one day I know I’m going to wake up and realize that this is it, this is the part of my life that I wished for many many years ago.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
You can study hardship and comprehend it but you could never understand something that you have not lived through. “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit” -Napoleon Hill. Hardship instills this unyielding desire to augment the aspirations of those that came before you, to unveil what has bound your family to intractable cycles of failure, and to equip the generation that proceed you to lead a life worthy of honor… one that pleases God.

My biggest struggle?…. being a single mother with the desire to pursue my “dreams”. You often hear of the sacrifices that people make when it comes to success, “What are you willing to give?” 18 years seems like a long time until you watch your child take its first breath, their first step, say their first word, the endless continuation of growth. They change every day and you think that you have enough time to trade. One day they’ll be adults and you’ll grow old hoping that they’ll choose to give you time in the midst of pursuing their own desires. What did you teach them?
“The most important lesson and ‘the ultimate test’ of a life well-lived has nothing to do with money and everything to do with love” -Warren Buffett
My sacrifice was neither time nor money it was the idea that I couldn’t do both.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am currently a realtor with David Ivy Group. I work closely with clients to navigate the real estate market, providing expert guidance in buying, selling, and investing in properties.
Beyond my role as a realtor, I have multiple business partners in both real estate investment projects and e-commerce.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
It’s an odd feeling to think that we went through a pandemic just a couple of years ago. I remember being terrified that I was going to lose the people I loved. There was this fathomless fear of not knowing when would be the next time l would be able to hug my family, how long it would be before I could safely leave this home that has become a physical prison of the anxious thoughts that plagued my mind. Would life ever be the same again?… it hasn’t been the same since.

Covid changed that part of me that compulsively sought out the most favorable outcome. Control is not something we can subjugate. The idea of control is a response to the part of your existence that is terrified of what it cannot foresee.
During the first year of this universal misfortunate I would get so lost in all the apprehensive thoughts in my head that I would find myself motionless, having to remind myself to be present. It wasn’t panic, per se, it was just this daunting feeling of not knowing for certain if I would get the opportunity to complete the journey of who I was to be. I thought about all of the traumas that prevented me from thoroughly loving the people I was subconsciously judging, I thought about the excuses I nurtured that kept me from expanding my potential, I thought about the way I deceived those around me into believing that I was composed when in reality I was just trying to survive my own irrational expectations. I was exposed to the virus within my own existence. Are you afraid of death or unfulfillment?

This forced state of isolation delivered me from the confines of my own mind. I realized that if I feared not knowing when was the last time I held the ones I loved then I should cultivate my relationships, If I was afraid that failure was the end then I should learn to optimize the opportunities that are ahead, If I was terrified to die then I should equip myself and my son to equally find gratitude in the midst of peace and adversity . Fear is an illusion; challenge the inconsistencies in those negative thoughts, pull yourself into a place of logical reasoning and give yourself a choice between abdication or prosperity.

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