This week I’m chatting with a beautiful guest who is a singer/songwriter, a motivational speaker, a mother of three special needs children, and an advocate for finding your sunshine regardless of your circumstances. Introducing Karaleigh Garrison!

Karaleigh has a decade of experience overcoming unfathomable obstacles, thriving in chaos, and pursuing her passions when the world deemed it impossible. She preaches that anything is possible when you retrain your brain to seek sunshine.

After kick-starting her adulthood in college, Karaleigh quickly became engaged and married, entered motherhood at twenty years old, moved between various states, completed her degree twelve years later, and was eventually forced to face not only her husband’s disability, but also Autism Spectrum Disorder in all three of her children.

Managing vast differences between her children’s diagnoses alongside her husband’s co-occurring ailments, Karaleigh found herself moving through much of her stressors independently, as her husband was not physically capable of assisting her. She noted that it was her persistence and determination that moved her through all of the trials and tribulations, but it was no damn walk in the park.

So how did Karaleigh seek sunshine on her hardest days, even when it felt damn near impossible?

As she has always been creative, Karaleigh noted that when times were especially daunting she would pour her heart and soul into projects for distraction, peace, and beauty in her world. These projects brought Karaleigh a sense of accomplishment, control in an area of her life, and ultimately gave her her power back. 

“when you’re feeling powerless in your life, you need some way to find the power in your life. you have it somewhere – in some way – and when you can execute it and do something about it, that’s how you change your life. You start being powerful.”

Karaleigh found a channel to pour all of her love, pain, and beauty into, despite the chaos of navigating her marriage, completing tasks on her own, and raising three uniquely different children. She intuitively knew that she could use her creativity to move through her emotions and seek her own sunshine. 

“When you have something you’re passionate about, don’t let it fall by the wayside. It’s part of you, and you can’t let that important part of you disappear.”

Even in times where we lose sight of what our passions are, Karaleigh reminds us that we can rediscover them. We can tune into what we enjoyed doing when we were kids and what came naturally. Go back to what your childhood self wanted. Try those things again. Try new things. Do it all for the enjoyment. 

“If our only value is in producing something that's worth money, that is so detrimental to our health. Allow yourself just to be happy. That has to be step one – you're allowed to just be happy.”

In just 33 years of life, Karaleigh has lived through muddy and sticky decades, but has never lost sight of her playfulness and joy. She continues to encourage her kids, those around her, and all of us to create our own sunshine regardless of our circumstances. 

Connect with Karaleigh!

Website: karaleighgarrison.com

Podcast: Seeking Sunshine

YouTube: Karaleigh Garrison

Facebook: @karaleighgarrisonmusic 

TikTok: @karaleighgarrisonmusic

Take care of yourselves and therefore each other!

xo, brooke jean