Canadian entrepreneur Chrissie Gialisis catches us up on horseback riding and her small business Butterfly.Bali.Creativity, which was inspired by her horse. She also addressed the significance of mental health.
“For now, I haven’t been able to ride my horse Bali for quite some time due to a back injury that happened before the holidays that I am now slowly recovering from,” she said.
“I would be lying if I said the thought of me not being able to ride again didn’t cross my mind but Bali and my family are my motivation to not to give up and I will ride again when the time comes,” she added.
Gialisis continued, “I had to put my small business on pause since a lot has happened in the past year, both good and bad. My intentions are still to bring Butterfly.Bali.Creativity stronger than it is with future plans to expand the name of my brand into event and wedding planning business. I want to make Bali proud of everything she’s helped me accomplish with her friendship and eventually write a book about our story.”
On the importance of mental health these days, she said, “I think that nowadays mental health isn’t taken into account as it should. People don’t understand the struggles that some of us have to go through every day. I’m going to be quite honest with you, people making fun of someone’s mental health weights on a person and makes recovery very challenging.”
“I think that the rise of social media has made it both easy and difficult,” she noted.
She also shared some of the ways she copes with her mental health. “It’s great to find motivational quotes and speeches, finding inspiration to get better , but you also have the part when an individual would stare at their screen and feel envious of others and compare themselves, not seeing the good things that they themselves have,” she said.
On her latest endeavors, she said, “These days I would bring Bali at the park where there’s so much grass as you can see in some of my reels on Instagram, she loves her grass and of course her apples. I would just look at her and put some loud music and just think, recharge my mental health.”
“When an anxiety attack appears I take the time to breathe, I think about Bali and I in the field spending time together, it’s the most powerful thing that helps me overcome my anxiety,” she said.
Gialisis revealed that she will be going to Greece this year. “Yes, my boyfriend and I will be going to Karpathos this year. It will be the first time for my boyfriend to go to Greece, I’m really excited to introduce him to my family. He has been a great supporter from the beginning a great person, big hearted, kind and I know my Yia Yia Is really excited to meet him as well every time we FaceTime with her she is always happy to see both of us she always has a huge smile on her face and waves into the camera, it’s been a very long time that I haven’t seen my Yia Yia I can’t wait to see her and the rest of my family.”
“I love Greece even though it’s been a long time since 2001 I still remember how beautiful it is and especially more beautiful when family is there and gatherings, the food, the music, and it feels like a second home,” she added.
On the best advice that she has ever been given, she responded, “Recently, there was a rumor that started around my work calling me ‘the Walking Dead’ because I walked crooked and I would walk slow due to my back injury again people don’t know what you go through what an injury like that does to you, mentally, physically and they think its ok to start a rumor like that just for their own benefit of fun and honestly I didn’t take that lightly and I was given two advices that stayed with me: It’s just a bunch of flies they will keep coming but you keep going, keep living they are not worth it, you are stronger than you think.”
“My grandfather use to say, ‘Never stop smiling… it’s healthy and keeps you strong… it’s like a fruit it keeps you healthy and strong’.”
Gialisis remarked, “I had an opportunity to be a manager in a grocery store to a point that I was taken advantage of and that it was affecting my mental health and decided to think about my health than a job position that it wasn’t for me anymore and pursue in something that I love that is good for me.”
“I would have to add to those that need this reminder your health is your number one priority, your life is an adventure, ride it like there’s no tomorrow , don’t let anyone make you feel guilty or discourage you because you are riding your best life you are showing them the meaning of riding your life to the fullest with the freedom of being yourself,” she concluded.
For more information on Butterfly.Bali.Creavity, follow its Instagram page.
