Today we’d like to introduce you to Michal Grappe.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I began blogging a year ago. It sort of happened by accident. I switched my Instagram account to a business page to see my insights and it automatically made me a business Facebook page. I called my sister and panicked. “What have I done!?” She laughed at my mistake but then encouraged me to do it anyway. She said things like…”you’re so good at writing, you could write about health..your story…family…everything!”
I sat on the idea for a week and built my website on my cell phone because my laptop is an antique and my desktop is prehistoric. I am not technically savvy so it’s no credit to me, but to the website building program. I stumbled into every step of this process. I was mostly curious to see if I could figure it out, and hoping that any mistake I did make would be repairable. Creating content has been fun, intimidating, and some of it has been hard to share. I want to own every part of my story not just the pretty wrapped package. And to do that has required deep vulnerability.
But my story?
My story has inspired every square on my Instagram feed, every post on my blog, and every email that has been sent out. And it began seven years ago.
I was in my second senior year of college finishing a second degree when I became chronically ill. I had just run my first half marathon a few weeks prior when my legs began to lose their ability to feel and move. It gradually ascended to my lungs, heart, arms, and hands. When the horrific pain set in was when I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
Guillain-Barre Syndrome is an autoimmune disease of the peripheral nervous system. It can be fatal, but I somehow managed to straddle the line of severity. Every day felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, seeing the depths below me, wondering what that fall would feel like. Would I know if I was falling? Would I plunge? Or would I sort of float down? It was like I could feel the eerie calm air off the rocks. I would hold my breath. And a gust of wind would push me even closer to the edge. The strength of my will, tippy toes, and many felt prayers, I could resist the wind. I could push back. And I could stand there another day, another month, another year, sinking my heart even deeper into the meaning of life, faith, and love. Each day was built upon another to manifest those meanings.
It was when the noise of the world was silenced, that I was actually able to hear. I was able to see. I was able to connect to my heart.
This time was a massive recalibration to my previous life. I was chasing the fairy dust of success, and the acquisition of more “things” for social currency. I wasn’t aware of the shallowness of those desires until I was in the hospital and felt like every breath was a fight to get air into my lungs. The chipped nail polish on my toes felt like a silly thing to notice when I could no longer feel them. The wheelchair became this bitter meeting place of reality and longing for my life before the disease.
My recovery took years. It was long and it was suffering. It was a search and discovery mission to restore my body to its previous health. That is when I learned about nutrition, emotional health, and spiritual health. It is when I learned what the practice of those things looked like in my daily life.
Every square on my Instagram is the manifestation of those practices. They are the recalibration. They are this reflection of slower and more intentional living through nutrition, wellness, and connection. And they are hopefully an inspiration for others to bravely choose to live and love well. The squares and words are to teach the importance of connection and the priority of relationships, not just with your people but with yourself. They are to teach that every inch of property owned in your heart allows for greater expansion to see and accept others.
And it’s been through this space that my own heart has been able to articulate that time in my life.
So that’s how it started. It was through many years of trial and being forged in fire. It was a random mistake. A meaningful encouragement. And a curiosity to see if I could do it.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has and hasn’t. It has been smooth because I have taken a slower pace in the online world. I have really been intentional to take pressure off of myself in terms of performance. Looking a certain way, being a certain way, dressing a certain way, making content a certain way are all things that I think lurk in the background for a lot of women. Buying into that is such a disservice to yourself. So I do what I can, and what I can do, I put 100 percent into it while being authentic to who I am.
It HAS been hard to show up consistently in a space and be vulnerable. It has been hard to let people see behind the veil and into my internal world. Fear has tried to hold me back in so many areas of my life, and the only way that I know to conquer it is to walk through the doors anyways. Sometimes that is through gritted teeth, tears, and uncertainty but I take the step anyways. That is the advice that I would give someone just coming into the blogging and writing world-when you are scared, take the steps anyways. One by one, small or large, just put one foot in front of the other. Be you. Don’t try to be any one else. The world needs your heart, your voice, and your gifts as well. And it is okay if everyone doesn’t like you. It is important that you like you. It is important that the work that you are putting into your platform is reflective of that.
Tell us more about what you do.
I write and blog about connection and nurture that has been inspired by raising my own children. I think mothers hold a unique role in shaping a child’s heart. The intentional moments to take them in and the act of actually enjoying them create strong relational foundations of love and trust. Because of my experience with Guillain-Barre Syndrome I don’t take a single second for granted. I know this time is passing and that it has to be cherished. I almost didn’t get to live the life that I have now. So I try to encourage women to see outside the current snapshot in hardship and hold hope in their hearts. I try to create a space that harnesses the essence of womanhood, that beyond the cool products and things, is a world of us longing for purpose and deeper connection. It is because nurturing is so instinctual we can nurture each other through these tiny squares and words.
I believe that wellness is multidimensional. I believe that health encompasses the care for our physical needs, spiritual needs, and soul needs ( mind, will, and emotions). I write about my own journey within some of these layers and practically share things that are part of living this way.
There is an epic speech by Jimmy Valvano. It was 1993, at the ESPY’s, he was dying and said, “I’ve got one last thing: I urge all of you, all of you to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought. To get your emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day.”
I watched that speech when I was in a wheelchair, and it moved me then and it moves me today.
And I try to live this way and provide that same experience through my platform and my blog. I hope that people laugh, that they think, and that I will be safe space for any tears.
It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others.
Books that got me started were Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller, The Motivation Manifesto by Brendon Burchard, and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.
For writing, I did a writing retreat with Nina Heart from Writing from the Top, that was life-changing. She has such a heart for creative coaching and encouraging the creative heart. Any of her content would fuel a writer into finding their voice and being free from perfectionism.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.michalgrappe.com
- Email: mrgrappe@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michalgrappe/
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
