Meet Tisa Zellers

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tisa Zellers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tisa, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I would say I’ve been gifted a deep well of patience and resilience. However, I know now that it wasn’t simply a gift—and I haven’t often looked at it that way. The blessing of resilience has come from a deeply flawed journey. It’s the result of growth and learning that took many years and continues to unfold.

Resilience is like a muscle. You develop it through trial and error—by making mistakes and learning from consequences. When I look back on my younger self, I see someone very capable, but also impatient, eager to get ahead without always being willing to put in the hard work required. That girl would walk through the death of her first spouse at 25, and an ugly divorce at 45. It was all part of the journey to awakening.

We all know that you can’t be afraid of hard work if you want to reap the rewards of a successful business and a fulfilling life. The path looks different for everyone. The universe brings each of us different trials to refine us, to teach us gratitude and perseverance. My particular journey seems to be one of birth, growth, death, and rebirth. Through these cycles, I’ve learned that material possessions come and go, that staying true to yourself is of utmost importance, and that you must not live to please others.

My journey began in earnest when I became a young mom. After having two kids in three years, I was out of shape and eager to regain my pre-pregnancy stamina and fitness. Before having children, I’d worked with horses and stayed fit through daily barn chores and riding. To get back in shape, I asked my parents for a jogging stroller and started taking long walks with the babies. Those walks eventually turned into runs. The weight started coming off, and my fitness quickly improved.

My favorite thing was running barefoot on the golf course at night. I even started entering 5K races—and won a few! But then my knees began acting up, and a physical therapist recommended adding weight training to my routine. That advice revolutionized the way I approached health and fitness.

During this time, I noticed that something deeper was changing. Exercise didn’t just benefit my physical health—it transformed my mental health as well. I became more resilient in the face of anxiety, stress, and sadness. I started to feel unbelievably good. So good, in fact, that I wanted it to be a permanent part of my life—a daily practice, not just an occasional habit. Some things that others found in church, I started finding in the gym.

As my fitness journey progressed, I entered what I can only describe as a deep, dark night of the soul. My psyche was shifting in ways I didn’t fully understand, causing great cognitive dissonance. My consciousness was awakening. When we “level up” in life, those around us often don’t understand what we’re going through—and they may not be on the same journey. One of the consequences of my growth was a disconnection from significant relationships. I outgrew people who had once been central to my life. It was a frightening and uncertain time, during which I shed the old version of myself and completely remodeled my life.

I’m still in the middle of that journey. But now, I carry the knowledge that I am a reality creator. I know that I have the ability to succeed at whatever I set my mind to. If everything were to burn down tomorrow, I could rise and rebuild a new life from the ashes.

Through this journey of resilience, I’ve become someone I—and others—can rely on. From that resilience, I’ve built a deep well of integrity, a life without shame, and the ability to stay true to who I am.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Professionally, I am a business owner and designer, creating luxury floral arrangements for weddings and events—with the support of my incredible team. It truly is a dream job, and I’m deeply grateful for it every single day.

Recently, we transitioned my sole proprietorship into an S corporation, which has given me the opportunity to dive into high-level business management and continue growing as a leader. One of the most rewarding aspects of our work is being present for life’s most meaningful moments and helping people express their love through color, light, and the beauty of nature.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three most impactful qualities I’ve developed on my journey are perseverance, optimism, and curiosity.

Perseverance in the face of hardship is essential for success. Life, relationships, health, children, and business—each will throw curveballs. Building the muscle of resilience and persistence is necessary to accomplish anything meaningful.

When hard times knock you down and you’ve pushed through to your limit, that’s when optimism becomes vital. For reasons I can’t always explain, I’ve always believed I’d make it—not just survive, but thrive. I trust myself and the universe to bring good things into my life. I know that my perspective is the deciding factor in whether something will succeed or fail. So I do everything I can to hold onto my optimism, to protect my joy, and to keep fun and lightness in my life. Fight for your joy!

Finally, curiosity will take you far. We are only as capable as the limits of our imagination. So stretch yours. Ask questions. Challenge assumptions. slaughter sacred cows. Open your mind. Be willing to consider perspectives that differ from your own.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

As a younger woman, I often felt anxious and overwhelmed. Our culture is set up in a way that constantly creates stress and pressure. Over time, the most valuable skill I’ve developed to help quiet that overwhelm has been meditation.

I was first introduced to meditation in yoga class, and at the time, it felt like a very physical experience. Initially, I was hesitant to sit still and meditate—I’ve always been a physically active person, and stillness didn’t come naturally to me. But during the pandemic, when we were all confined to our homes and surrounded by uncertainty, I finally learned how to sit still and quiet my mind.

We tend to identify so closely with our thoughts that we often mistake them for facts. Through meditation, I came to understand just how restless the mind can be—like a monkey, constantly jumping from one thought to the next. Learning to calm those wild, chaotic thoughts has been transformative. It’s a practice I continue to rely on, and it has made a profound difference in how I experience life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Sagelovesflowers.com
• Instagram: @sagefineflowers

Image Credits

Monica Jones
Samikathryn
EPhotography
Jessa Maria