Meet Anna Peck

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

Anna, sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

Oh gosh, I feel like my journey with mental health started has a kid and I didn’t even fully comprehend that until adulthood. Being born with a genetic disorder and having multiple surgeries since birth and still having surgeries now in my thirties while trying to balance life and motherhood and diving head first into the world of small business, not having a clue about what I’m doing.

In my school years, I was the girl who was always absent due to surgeries or doctors appointments and specialists. So that made school a bit tougher cause I was always playing catch up but I knew failing was never an option, not saying I never made bad grades cause there were some classes I did have to go to summer school for or take an extra night class to get the better grades and I feel like that’s always been my attitude is regardless I’m always gonna get what needs to be done, done. I may just need that extra time or do it how it works for me and learning by trial and error.

Fast forward to July 2022 when my 2nd husband was killed in a motorcycle wreck, my world crumbled and I had to rebuild my life, not only for me but for my daughter who was 9 at this time. I did shut down for awhile, it was a very rough time I went thru during those last few months of the that year, my husband had unexpectedly passed, my mom had major back surgery and was living with me at this point to heal and recover. In November of 22, my brother was in a coma and we did not know what the outcome was gonna be and at that time it didn’t look good. To this day my memory from those months are very vague because I feel like I was just surviving and I was told that I was mentally still in shock from the trauma of everything happening. I closed up my business and pretty much became a hermit and stayed home alot and worked on healing myself and getting my daughter through her own grief she was experiencing.

It’s been a little over 2 years since and while I am in a much better place now then what I was then. I rebranded and just kinda hit the ground running. I’m still healing and processing things and Im also grieving but this time differently because my dad is in his final days with hospice due to lung disease. And it’s been a long a sad process to go through, I have experienced these 2 deaths within the past 2 years and neither one is easy to cope with, while my late husband’s death was instant and it was like a bomb blew up in my lap, my dad’s has been a year long slow and debilitating. So that has been a whole other mental health rollercoaster that I am still on.

There are days I don’t know how I’m gonna do it and there are still days I have when I don’t think I can do it. And that’s just when I try to take some time for myself, have a good cry, give to it god and go to sleep and start a new day and know that there has to be a reason to go through the trials and lows in life to prepare you and appreciate the better days to come.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My name is Anna and I am the owner of Created Haven. I make customized floral wreaths and various signs, door hangers as well as floral arrangements. I am a mom, a widow and a small business owner, I live in the panhandle of Florida with my 11 year old daughter and my fiancee who just proposed a few weeks ago.
All my creations are handmade by me and I am a one woman business at this time. So very small and still learning. One of the many things I love about being a creative is that when I’m going thru something, I can go to what I call my “wreath room” and put on some music and just create, turn the frustration and and the hurt into something beautiful and positive.

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?

I feel having surgeries so young taught me to just push thru the pain because there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. So that’s kinda what is I always go back to is that yes there are bad & dark times, but I would have to believe there’s always gonna be something better waiting on the other side of that. So I would say perseverance has got me where I am as well as being just a bit stubborn if Im honest.

The best advice I can give is surround yourself with people who truly love you and will support you, even on days your not very loveable. Have friends that will protect your name when your not in the room and also friends or loved ones that will call you out on your own bs when your not making a good decision.
Because we are all human, nobody is perfect. And just be open to knowledge and critism, but also stand your ground and know your truth and know your worth! Nobody can do that for you.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’m always looking to collaborate and grow. I used to think I knew it all at one point then life humbled me and I learned that I don’t know it all. Do I know alot? Yes, but there is always room for improvement I believe.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://createdhaven.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/createdhaven
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/createdhaven
• Other: https://linktr.ee/createdhaven

Image Credits

http://www.cindymills.com

Professional Photo (Headshot Photo)

Cindy Mills Photography