Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michelle Sabado. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Michelle , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I’ve become resilient because of my life experiences.
As an overachieving high school and college student, I thought my life would go exactly the way I planned it. No one teaches you that growing up is all about learning how to navigate the highs and lows of life. The turning point in my life was when my mother and grandfather passed away the same year I graduated from college with my nursing degree.
I’ve learned that life doesn’t go according to plan, and grief changes you. It closes some doors and opens others, but you’re never the same afterward.
I’ll be turning 30 this year and since that year of grief when I was 22, I have been learning how to heal throughout my 20s.
When I was 26, I was very depressed after getting my heart broken. I couldn’t find any meaning in my life. That was the lowest point of my life. I went to therapy. I quit my job and tried to pursue my dream of becoming a tennis professional. I stayed off social media and took the time to discover myself and process all I had been through. This period of healing was the most peaceful time in my life. I became completely in tune with my emotions, needs, and desires by listening to myself before anyone else.
I didn’t become a tennis professional – but I’m glad I gave myself the chance. It’s a disappointing pill to swallow some days, but I have faith that everything happens for a reason.
When I was 28, my best friend passed away unexpectedly. It affected me greatly and I was so depressed. After several months of grieving, I decided to go back to work as a nurse, but in a new city where I didn’t know anyone. I also decided to return to school for my master’s degree in nursing. I knew that my best friend would have wanted me to keep living my life and seeking out new adventures.
Last year, I decided to become a travel nurse. I never had any desire to do it before, but losing so many people has taught me that life is short, and I should do the things I enjoy – meeting new people and seeing new places. I’ve had wonderful experiences in my 20s, despite the grief I have endured. I’ve experienced other losses as well, and sometimes grief comes when I least expect it, but the older I get the better I can cope with it.
Maintaining good mental health is a difficult journey, but I know I’m not alone. There are many resources for anyone who’s grieving. So many people have helped me since I started speaking about my grief journey, and I speak about my mental health journey on my social media to help as many people as I can. Life is beautiful and terrible at the same time, but life is still a gift, and we should treasure it every moment of every day.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
First and foremost, I’m a Registered Nurse. I’ve been a nurse for 8 years. My parents were nurses, and I’m so proud to have followed in their footsteps.
I’m an influencer / content creator in my free time. I’m pursuing my master’s in nursing informatics full-time as well, so it’s been difficult balancing my hobbies and responsibilities. I was also a travel nurse for the past year, so how I managed to create so much content last year is a wonder to me!
I started a part-time nursing job closer to home this year so I can dedicate more time to finishing my degree. I’m also hoping to work on my content creation more so I can do that full-time one day.
My Instagram account is @zerowastesunflower. I am also on TikTok @zerowastesunflower and my substack URL is michelledana.substack.com. My Instagram account is where I have the most reach. It was solely a sustainability account when I started it 6 years ago. It’s evolved into an account where I talk about sustainable swaps, small businesses, slow fashion, clean beauty, and mental health and wellness. I also create user-generated content (UGC) as a side job.
I never could have imagined my account would become the platform it is today! I have a great mix of followers who are old classmates, nursing coworkers, ecowarriors, and followers I’ve never interacted with. I’m so proud of the community I’ve built. I was initially terrified of being bullied on social media, but everyone has been so kind and understanding. I’ve asked for support several times on social media when I was struggling, and people were so responsive and kind.
I am honored to have a platform where I can use my voice to influence others to live more sustainably, ethically, and authentically. I also love being able to post my poetry on my account and receive feedback from others on how it has helped them.
I am very excited about my account this year! I’m hosting giveaways and planning to design merchandise and start a podcast! Hopefully, I will finally publish my first collection of poetry. It’s been a dream of mine for almost a decade. Lastly, I hope to grow my TikTok following and write more insightful blog posts.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Eager to learn
A quality that has been impactful on my journey is being eager to learn. I started my sustainability account to share my eco-friendly swaps with others. I was inspired to share my tips after learning so much from other eco-influencers. As society adopts more sustainable habits, we are all becoming knowledgeable of the basics – such as forgoing plastic bags and plastic water bottles and practicing conscious consumption. I believe everyone in the sustainability niche has their unique eco-friendly habits we can all learn from each other – so that one day, society can be as sustainable as possible.
Navigating the ever-changing social media algorithm has been difficult over the years. Learning how to shoot reels was such a learning curve for me! I’m very excited to grow this year because I’ll have more free time to learn about the algorithm, trends, SEO, and the other ins and outs of content creation.
2. Perseverance
Another quality that has helped me on my journey is perseverance. Maintaining a steady engagement rate is no easy feat. It’s difficult to balance my responsibilities while managing this account. People ask me all the time how I balance everything. I prioritize the best I can, and I ask for help when I need it.
There are about 200 people that I engage with as consistently as I can on Instagram. Sometimes, people take breaks, especially on the weekends, summer breaks, or holidays, and engagement goes down. It’s important to stay consistent if you can manage it and stay true to your brand. There are some seasons when brands are not offering collaborations or paid collaborations due to budget limitations. Sometimes brand deals fall through as well. I used to get so disappointed when that happened, but new brand deals come to you when you least expect it. The phrases “keep going” and “brighter days ahead” mean so much to me and inspire me to persevere through adversity. Life has so many surprises in store if you just keep going.
3. Kindness
Lastly, kindness has been a cornerstone of my journey. I have encountered so much kindness and formed so many genuine connections through my social media accounts. People have helped me whenever I was experiencing anxiety, stress, grief, and depression. Surprisingly, people have expressed their gratitude for my honesty about my mental health struggles on my social media. People have also come to me for advice. I am honored to be trusted by people I’ve never even met in person. I think what people most appreciate about my account is the realness of it. I’m very transparent about the things I am going through, both the highs and the lows.
Sometimes I worry people will think I am asking for pity, but I’ve never received a response like that. People genuinely want to help me, and I try to give the same kindness to everyone I meet.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
My biggest area of growth in the past year has been self-love. I have struggled to love myself my whole life. If I wasn’t achieving a goal I had set or if someone in my life rejected me, I was so hard on myself.
After going to therapy and finding my faith again, I’ve learned that when things don’t work out, it’s life’s way of redirecting you onto the right path.
Last year, my therapist asked me to list good things about myself. I told her I would do it, but I asked her if I had to believe in the list. She laughed and said no. I didn’t think I would believe in the things I wrote on my list, but soon enough, I began to realize my self-worth. I realized I didn’t need anyone’s approval to add meaning to my life. I am a beautiful, kind person who is worthy of good things.
Life may not always work out the way I want it to, but I’m where I’m meant to be.
One of my favorite quotes is “Love is my gift to the world. I fill myself with love, and I send that love out into the world.”
My favorite poem ever is “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott. I have loved this poem for the past 10 years and it has brought me so much comfort throughout the years.
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread, Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
Contact Info:
- Website: michelledana.substack.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zerowastesunflower/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551918397058
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellesabado/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@zerowastesunflower
