Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Celaena László

Celaena László shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Celaena, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: When was the last time you felt true joy?
The last time I felt true joy was on September 5th of 2025. It was the day of my first judo class. I have wanting to learn judo since I had started martial arts in 2023 but my coach back then refused to teach us throws (which made me sad), so getting to finally do judo and learn how to throw people was pure bliss for me. Everything felt so natural, even though I hadn’t thrown anyone before. I think a part of why judo is also pure bliss for me is because I’m doing it solely because I love it, not because I want it to be part of my future career as a therapist, like jiujitsu will be.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi everyone. My name is Selene but I go by Celaena. I’m 28 years old and finishing up my masters in counselling psychology with plans to be come a substance use and addiction counsellor and specialises in trauma informed therapy. I have been doing martial arts for two years now and I am also going to be bringing jiujitsu to my practice as a therapist. It’s called trauma informed jiujitsu and it’s the coolest thing ever.

Outside of school and martial arts, I have been working hard to make videos for my chronic illness TikTok. I post what life is like with my disabilities, what being a disabled athlete on an able bodied team is like and overall how I navigate my life. I primarily talk about Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and (GP). Occasionally, I will make posts about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). Hyperadrenergic Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (HyperPOTS), Epilepsy and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). My body has a lot of terms and conditions I did not sign up for. If anyone wants to see what I’ve been up to on there, my username is @chronicallycombatready.

I think the really cool but also slightly insane thing I do is doing judo and jiujitsu, two very physical martial arts, while having all those health conditions, CRPS in particular. It’s a wild thing to say I do those sports while having legs that feel like a live wire 24/7. I say that I’d rather do what I love and be in pain than be in pain and not do what I love at all.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Okay so this is where the psychology/therapist person in me comes out. I think what breaks bonds between people is miscommunication and what can restore them is communication. I see it happen all the time where people fight over something and it is because there was some miscommunication along the way. In romantic relationships, not communicating with your partner is what can lead to things like having an affair.

Here’s an example of this from my own life. So in 2023, I befriended my first martial arts coach, let’s call her Emily. Our friendship was great in the beginning but a couple months after we became friends we started to have constant miscommunications between each other. For example, she’s very introverted and well…I am not. I’m not an extrovert by any means but I am not as introverted as she is. We hung out a few times at Starbucks and then one day she completely cut off us hanging out in a rather rude way. She later told me that she “hates people and doesn’t hang out.” Had she told me that from the get go, I would not have reached out to her asking to hang out as often as I did. I would have left her alone unless she initiated a conversation. But she didn’t, which was so wrong on her part and that miscommunication was one of the catalysts for our friendship crashing and burning the way it did.
She and I both believe that if something was misunderstood, communicate it. Tell me in a way I’ll understand and that’s all I tried to do but ultimately it failed.
We haven’t spoken in over a year and I miss her a lot. I don’t expect us to ever be friends again but I do believe that if she would let me communicate with her, as we both agreed is important in any kind of relationship, something could be restored. Maybe just to the point that if I were to see her in town, I would be able to at least say hi, and not spiral into a panic attack because either I saw her or she saw me. Us avoiding each other is also a very sad miscommunication.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
One of the defining wounds of my life actually comes from my friendship with Emily. I wanted to be her friend really badly and so I did whatever she told me to do. Early in our friendship, maybe in Sept of 2023, she had send me this meme of “I need low maintenance friends” and told me that “this is what she requires of her friends.” So I decided I had to become that, to be worthy of her. I did what every actress does. I leaned in. I played the part. I dimmed all the best part of myself. I became quiet, I only spoke when spoken to and rarely ever smiled or showed emotion. I tried to blend into the background. In doing all of that, I had convinced myself that what I was growing was “maturity” “adaptability” “self awareness.” But it wasn’t. It was erasure. When our friendship ended for good, I didn’t know how to “turn off” who I had become around her. I then realised that I had been “playing a character” and that I had erased myself.

The defining wounds of all this was not 90% of the damage came from her, but it’s the 10% that came from me, the part that agreed I had to disappear, that hurts the most. I have spent the past year trying to unlearn everything I had done when we were friends, and find myself again.

I can’t say I’ve healed these wounds yet. It’s a long process that isn’t linear. All I can really say is that I pray for her and that I “hope you find it. Whatever it is out there that you were missing here.”

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I think the project I’m fully committed to is wanting to get my black belt in both jiujitsu and judo. I know getting both will take 10+ years and I am okay with that. Both martial arts are very intense with a great risk for injury so we all need to learn how to do the moves safely for both ourselves and our training partners. I loved ballet enough growing up to commit 15 years of my life doing it (ages 5-20). I don’t see why committing my life to martial arts will be any different. I am very aware of my body and health issues so I know that if I have to pause, I will, but I will return.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
Nothing I do was what I was “told” to do. No one told me I had to keep doing ballet for as long as I did, go to college or even get a masters degree. I mean, I do need a masters degree to be a therapist but no one told me to start my program when I did. Everything I have ever done in my life regarding my education and career are things I *wanted* to do. My parents only ever encouraged me in doing the things I loved to do. They never once forced me to do something I didn’t want to do. Quite the opposite actually. During my teen years, mum took on a brief job at my dance studio at the secretary so I could take unlimited classes and she was the one to take me to all my dance competitions, rehearsals in the city when I danced pre-professionally. My mum still works today so we can pay for my masters degree.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Growingincreation.blogspot.com
• Instagram: chronicallycombatready
• Other: TikTok @chronicallycombatready