Blessing, soul family. This is Jewels with Cosmic Consciousness, Coding The New Human For The New Earth. I am so excited about our guests today. Shelli Varela. Shelli is a firefighter and a life hacker. I’m going to have her just tell us a little bit about how she came into being a firefighter and what her story is beyond that. And then meeting right into the special person that she is today and how she’s sharing this gift from her experience. Welcome Shelli.
Thank you so much for having me. It’s a blessing to be here and be sharing with all of your amazing family.
Thank you. I’m just so excited for everyone to hear your story. I mean, really it’s your life journey, it sounds like.
Yeah. And I feel like I’m a walking tapestry of what is possible. I call it the combination of roots and wings. So very roots, very practical, tactical, hands-on kind of get it done. But then wings are like, there is something, the connection to something divine and the greater, and really just kind of what becomes possible when you get truly, truly, truly in flow. And just sort of the dichotomy of those two seemingly unrelated things to most people. But my story starts actually as a bully child, getting beaten and berated in the playground. And we moved a couple of times and I couldn’t understand, why is it always me that the kids don’t like? It’s like the common denominator is always me. And so, as a young child, they made that mean something and it was heavy and it was hurty and it was scary.
But I always say too, though, not all gifts come wrapped in a bow. And for me, what that looked like is that tiny, afraid, introverted child developed this incredible imagination. And it was such that I didn’t just picture myself somewhere. I would feel like I was in that other place. I know now that I actually was. But what would happen was I used that as a coping mechanism and essentially a survival mechanism. But when I got a little bit older that introverted child turned into what the world labeled an artist. And I did special effects makeup and writing and painting. And growing up, I’m thinking, Oh, I am an artist. So as I’m finishing high school, I’m thinking, “Man, what do I want to do with my life?” And every time I looked in the lane of artistry, it’s like, well, maybe I could do this. Or maybe I could do that. It felt incongruent. And I didn’t know what that was about, but the harder I tried to make it fit, the more anxious I would feel.
And then one day at the end of high school, I had a chance meeting with a family friend. He was going through a horrible time in life and he was fighting for custody of his little girl. Every second weekend I would come and I would hang out with him and try and keep them talking. And the one thing he could talk about forever was his career as a firefighter. And I was like, “What? You get to save people’s lives.” I was just enthralled with, not that you have to do this, but this is what you get to do. So long story short, I would have never known otherwise that I had a natural mechanical aptitude because the world told me I am an artist. I thought that was my label.
What I now know, though, is I wasn’t Shelli, the artist. I was Shelli who likes art, which means I could be Shelli who likes firefighting or skydiving or mountaintop sitting, whatever. Anyways, I pursued my interest in listening to his stories and they turned into lessons. And one day I corrected him in detail and he said, “Why don’t you just apply?” And this is 30 years ago. There’s no girls. I’m 108 pounds. I’m working as a manicurist. I’m not big enough, brave enough, smart enough, strong enough. There are literally no girls in firefighting. He says this to me. But at this point, he’s the person that I love and respect and revere and has just the paramount of integrity. And I knew he wouldn’t lie to me. And I said, “Look at me. This is ridiculous.” And he says, “There’s going to be a girl one day. Why wouldn’t it be you?”
I love that.
And there was something about that that just seared my soul. The truth is palpable. Right? And when you hear it, you just embody it. And I drove around for the rest of the day. And I don’t remember much of the day, but I do remember lying in my bed, looking up at my white stippled ceiling, and I said three words that literally changed my entire life. And those words were, “why not me?” And when I heard myself say them, it was like the flip of the switch. And in that moment, it didn’t matter what it costs in blood, sweat, money, time or tears. I was going to become a firefighter. What I was doing intuitively, was tapping into the divine, was tapping into my knowing, was really kind of the idea that the truth is so quiet. And the only way you can hear it is to tune out all of the other noise. Cause the truth never gets louder.
And what I didn’t realize I was doing, as that young girl, was really tapping into, is this true? And it was like an extra, yes. And so, I transformed my body from that 108 pound manicurist. I built the entire physical in my backyard. There was blood and sweat and tears and all of the things. And I had to learn all of the things I didn’t know. And 1,162 days later after tapping into the divine daily, I got the phone call, welcoming me aboard as my city’s first female firefighter.
Just chills to the bone. I just love that story. And I know that everybody listening is feeling the frequency of your words. And everyone’s saying, “I want to experience that.” I want to go more into that. We’re going to take a really quick break. But before we do Shelli, tell everyone how they can learn more about you.
Absolutely. I am online everywhere at Shelli Varela. That’s Shelli Varela, and my website is yesuniversity.com.
I love that. yesuniversity.com. And for those of you that are driving, this will all be in the show notes as well. So we’re going to take a quick break and we’ll be right back.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
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