This week stretched me thinner than I’ve ever been, mind, body, and faith. I’ve battled the dark thoughts that rise like waves, shown up empty, and still kept walking the path. Under the full moon, I reread two pages that have carried me through my recovery, Page 417 on acceptance and Page 63’s Third Step Prayer. One asks me to stop fighting what is, the other to hand over what will be. Together they form the spiral between fear and trust — the space where I keep turning toward the light.

On my very first birthday in recovery, I stood in the woods with my dog and felt utterly lost. I told myself I didn’t want my birthday to be a big deal, but the truth was I didn’t know how to hold celebration.

This year, I turned forty, and I took a similar photo. Same woods, same dog, but a very different woman. What once felt like an image of uncertainty now feels like a portrait of arrival. Because I am not lost anymore. I have arrived, with love, with purpose, and with light I’m finally willing to carry.

I’m standing at the edge of my dream with lease signing just days away. One threshold is already a yes, but two remain uncertain, the town and the funding. It’s terrifying and humbling, a razor’s edge between holding it all in my hands and watching it slip away, reminding me of the surrender I first learned in early sobriety.

This past week I found myself living in two arenas at once, one filled with the grit and grace of Regionals, the other with the quiet patience of waiting while a business proposal was considered. Both experiences revealed the same truth: that the micro moments of discipline, presence, and surrender always echo into the macro vision we are building. Each stride, each pause, each act of trust becomes part of the larger spiral of legacy.

I share what it feels like to build Thrivewell in uncertain times, crossing stones that shift beneath me, living the spiral of growth, and realizing at the end of the rainbow that I am the treasure. This is my journey of resilience, renewal, and becoming the Phoenix, Trailblazer, and Dreamer.

Thrivewell is more than a wellness project, it is a living story unfolding in chapters. Kelley has always seen the vision in full, much like a finished painting, and then worked backwards to trace the path that brings it to life. That vision is the Thrivewell Estate, a sanctuary of healing, recovery, and community. Along the way, the dream takes form through the Thrivewell Hub, a preview storefront offering transformation experiences, and the Thrivewell Chronicles, a growing body of writing including Past Life Love and letters from the founder.

Kelley’s journey reflects the heart of Thrivewell: that anything is possible when you do the work and believe in magic. From guided journals and visionary storytelling to immersive community spaces, every branch of Thrivewell is connected to the same root, the creation of a sacred place where people can restore, grow, and thrive.

Thrivewell Hub is the first storefront branch of Thrivewell Estate, located in the heart of Northbridge, MA. More than a wellness space, the Hub is designed as a community gathering place offering our signature Pathway Pods™, immersive, guided experiences in meditation, journaling, sound, and ritual. Each pod reflects one of twelve archetypes, inviting guests to pause, reset, and reconnect.

With an ambitious opening planned for January 2026, Thrivewell Hub will serve as both a preview and a catalyst for the larger vision of Thrivewell Estate, a sanctuary rooted in recovery, healing, and conscious community. Here, you’ll find transformation woven into design, storytelling, and shared experience.

It has been thirty days since I turned in my resignation, and in that time I’ve been reflecting on the anchors that carried me through both my darkest seasons and into this new beginning. In this letter, I share how presence has shaped my path, how small moments can ripple into lasting transformation, and how Thrivewell Estate is beginning to reveal itself in a quiet preview, a space where stillness, healing, and joy can take root.

The signs have been here all along, in the sky, in the stories, in the quiet moments that make me stop and breathe as if the air itself has shifted. I see now this is only the beginning, hiding in plain sight.

While the civil suit runs its course, I’m turning back to my book. Past Life Love poured out of me so quickly the first draft is already written. Now it’s time to fine tune, edit, and publish, the first of a trilogy about awakening, becoming, and return.

In the span of three days, I stood in the flarelight of my grandfather’s memory, stepped into an aligned meeting on the Lions Gate Portal, and reflected under the Sturgeon Full Moon. Each moment cracked something open in me, revealing not only where I come from, but the way my mind and vision are wired to build Thrivewell Estate.

From my grandfather’s twenty seconds of light in a dark trench, to my own twenty seconds that began my recovery, to the conversations that reminded me why I’m here, I’ve crossed thresholds I can’t uncross. I’ve found the courage to stand in the fullness of what I see, and the clarity to bring it into the world layer by layer.

This journey isn’t just mine. We all have flarelight moments, bursts of hope in the dark, that carry us forward. Thrivewell Estate is my way of turning those moments into a place where others can find theirs.

On a warm summer evening at a local water lantern festival, something extraordinary happened. Surrounded by glowing lights, sacred symbols, and community stories, I received a message that connected me directly to the living descendant of Chester Whitin Lasell, the man who built the original manor at the heart of Thrivewell Estate. What followed was a profound moment of synchronicity, lineage, and healing. In this Founder’s Letter, I share the story of that night, the stolen plaque, and the ancestral threads now weaving through my own journey.

The past 72 hours cracked me open. A book, a Selkie myth, a landowner’s text, red-tailed hawks circling, a builder’s email at the exact moment I sat in the library learning about the land’s past. Everything speaking at once. I didn’t spiral. I rooted. I acted. And as I walked through a war memorial park surrounded by history, I saw it clearly: I’m not just building Thrivewell. This vision is building me.

I know how big this vision is. I know the odds are steep. But the odds were steep before, when I had a 2% chance of ever getting sober. And yet here I am. Still rising. Still building. Still believing. Thrivewell isn’t just a dream. It’s alive in me. And now, I’m taking the next step with everything I’ve got: securing the land. Just the land. Just the beginning. One step can change everything.

On July 25, the Day Out of Time in the Mayan calendar, I stepped fully into my role as Founder of Thrivewell Estate. I didn’t plan for this to be the day. But somehow, the universe did. After weeks of reflection, transition, and quiet unraveling, I’m here. Fully. Authentically. No more half-versions. No more split energy. I’ve crossed the threshold.

The days leading up to this moment were tender and filled with feeling, anxiety, excitement, grief, gratitude. I expected clarity to come with ease, but I forgot that even the right path can stir resistance. Still, I chose to sit in it. To breathe through it. And to return to the place that’s always brought me home: writing.

As I organize my office and settle into this new rhythm, I’m not rushing. I’m honoring the pause between what was and what’s becoming. And I can say with certainty, this is where I’m meant to be. Thrivewell has lived in my soul for years. Now, it lives in the world.

Today, I submitted my resignation. Not out of fear, but out of truth. I’ve straddled two lives before, and I know what happens when I stop pretending and choose alignment instead. I’ve done it once. I’m doing it again. This time, for Thrivewell.

It’s the last day of vacation, and I can feel the shift, not just in the calendar, but in my spirit. I came here carrying more than I realized. And somewhere between the woods and the waves, I found exactly what I didn’t know I needed: calm, clarity, and the quiet kind of validation that wraps itself around your soul and says, keep going, you’re on the right path. I’m not returning the same person who left. And I won’t pretend the road ahead isn’t big. But I’m stepping forward with confidence. With steadiness. And with a deeper trust in who I am becoming.

Something shifted this week. Not just in the momentum of permits, calls, and milestones, but in me. I felt it while driving, running errands for vacation, when a red-tailed hawk flew so close to my window I could feel its presence. A wave of peace washed over me: You made it. You’ve passed through the threshold. And in that moment, I believed it.

Now, I rest. The ocean is calling, and I’m heading into a sacred pause to let it all settle. To listen. To dream the next part forward.

There’s something sacred about moments that ask you to show up fully as yourself, no mask, just presence. On the night I stood before the town hall to share my vision for Thrivewell, I wasn’t just seeking approval; I was offering purpose. The building’s history echoed through its walls, connecting me to a lineage I now carry forward. With trembling knees and an open heart, I spoke my truth, and the planning board invited me to the next step. What followed was a powerful reminder: when you show up fully, you open doors not just for yourself, but for others to follow.

As this letter goes live, I’m standing before the planning board, ten minutes to speak a vision years in the making. Zoning has been the quiet battle behind it all, but tonight we stand at the threshold. This is more than approval. It’s the chance to root something sacred into the land, with truth, clarity, and unshakable trust in what’s meant to be.

What I thought would be a push-through week has become a pass-through week. The path I was bracing for… quietly cleared itself.
This wasn’t coincidence. This was grace. This was guidance. This was the work of something bigger than me, and I’m walking with it now