Meet Crystal Steers | Life Change Facilitator for Healing and Happiness

We had the good fortune of connecting with Crystal Steers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Crystal, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind my success and the success of my business has been my authenticity. I am a human who fails regularly. I’m someone who changes and grows daily in my life and showing people that I am not perfect (because none of us are) helps me to connect on a human level with everyone. We live in a world right now that puts a large focus on how we should have everything figured out and know exactly what we want in life. The truth of the world we live though is that most of us don’t have all the answers and finding them can be a long and messy road. Showing that as part of my journey and my growth has helped me connect to people because they see that we are all struggling to find our happy places. We are all figuring out life and what we want so it feels far less isolating when you see other people are in the same place as you.

More than anything else people now want to feel connected to each other through similar beliefs, struggles, passions or even life events. My business is based on the belief that everyone can lead a happy and healthy life no matter who they are or what situation they find themselves. Finding what that means to you as an individual can be hard because the idea we have of happiness is always changing so we have to be willing to allow it to evolve as we do. That’s what I’ve done with my business, it evolves as my idea of happiness does.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What’s interesting about this question is even six years into my business, I’m still not exactly sure how to categorize what I do and that’s part of the fun for me. Chasing Happiness has given me the ability to start a monthly book club, have a weekly podcast, do one to one coaching with people, teach people about self-care and psychology, talk about mental health awareness and education as well as sit down and talk to people about their stories and their journeys, while getting to know other entrepreneurs and learn about other amazing businesses that are having an impact on this world.

It has not been an easy journey. When I started this business my whole life had been disrupted and uprooted. At times I would say it’s been more than a challenge. Even with that I wouldn’t change a minute of it. What I do ultimately is help people and that sets my soul on fire. Being able to wake up every day and do something a little different keeps my life exciting.

The fact that I have had to bootstrap this business while working a job to pay my bills just proved to me that this was what I wanted to do with my life. While the idea of the business is always growing and changing and expanding, the concept of Chasing Happiness was always to try and help as many people as possible live the best, happiest life they could. Every day I feel like I’m accomplishing that through the different aspects of my business.

I have had to overcome my own self doubt, my own lack of business knowledge, as well as financial challenges and legal challenges in order to get to where I am now. Those challenges however, have not only helped my business, they’ve helped me personally to understand a little bit better why I love what I do and how it helps other people. So I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. There are no bad days here, there are simply a few less than ideal days along the journey.

I think the most important thing for people to remember when faced with any challenge is sometimes it’s not a matter of you figuring it out by yourself, sometimes it’s a matter of being strong enough to ask the people around you for help so that you don’t have to do it all alone. I’ve learned so much from the people who I surround myself with because I have chosen to surround myself with people who are also entrepreneurs, who are smarter than I am, who challenge me to grow and try every day. Having that kind of a support system is essential in order to run a business and maintain your mental health. You can’t know what you don’t know. So having people around you to help you see those things you don’t know so you can learn and move forward is important.

Ultimately when people think about Chasing Happiness I want them to think of a company that encourages everyone to chase their dreams, to live the best life that they possibly can based on their own definitions of happiness and to do what makes them happy because they deserve it and are worth it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a huge fan of history so of course at the very top of my list would be….

Houston Museum of Natural Science
Holocaust Museum Houston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Because I am a firm believer that if we learn from our history we can create a better world. I also just think it’s fun to look back at how far we have come in our evolution as a species. Humanity is wonderfully creative and kind if we allow ourselves to be. I also think that if we don’t talk more about our history we will forget the lessons of the past and be people who repeat them in the future.

I’m also someone who values time in nature. There’s an amazing thing that happens to our bodies when we disconnect from technology and reconnect with the earth, so any natural parks would of course have to be on my list. For me at the very top of the list to spend some time outside if I was going to be in the area, I would go to Big Bend National Park. I’ve heard some amazing things about it and I love any excuse to get outside and touch the trees.

Living in the Niagara region I also know the importance of learning about your area and what can be grown and harvested where you live so I of course would add in stops of all the local breweries and wineries in the area. I’ve heard great things about Sable gate and The Nice Winery. You can learn a lot about the city you’re in by talking to local chefs and eating local food so half of the trip would be tasting our way around the city. I love BBQ so The Pit Room would be where we start and I like to asks the locals I meet while traveling where they eat. I’ve found this is how you find the best places that no one knows about. So rather than having a list of all of the places I would hate to try the local food, I would start with The Pit Room and then ask locals and let them guide me to the best places to eat.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of years thinking about this idea of who all had an impact on me to bring me to where I am in life now and the more I think about it the more the list grows because the truth is if we are willing to take the time to sit down and really look at all the impactful people on our lives there are dozens.

My business wouldn’t exist without the friends who told me I could do anything. Without the support of my family who at times doesn’t understand exactly what I do or why I do it and they are supportive anyway. I wouldn’t be able to say I have been podcasting for six years without my friend and business mentor who told me to just do it and see what happened. My business wouldn’t still be succeeding and growing if not for clients who trust me to help them through challenges. I couldn’t run my business successfully without help from other entrepreneurs who I’ve met along the way.

The list can go on and on so rather than give you a list of hundreds of names I’ll say this, every person who we meet on our journey teaches us something about ourselves that helps us find our purpose and path in life. So I am grateful to each and every person who I’ve met, interacted with and grown to know over my 40 years because they have all helped me succeed and get to where I am today.

Website: https://www.chasinghappiness.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chasinghappiness.ca/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-chasing-happiness-empire/?viewAsMember=true

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chasinghappinessdotca

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHNRCrnFYhkkT75DoWSgLSA

Image Credits
All photos are mine and where taken by me or created by me.