Meet Mariah Cheaib

We recently connected with Mariah Cheaib and have shared our conversation below.

Mariah, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.

I feel like there are two sides to this question.

Practically speaking, I definitely have seen improvement in my energy levels since burning out. When I had initially crashed, I wasn’t able to do anything that people were suggesting to feel better and rejuvenated. It wasn’t something that could go away with a vacation or spending time on my hobbies. I didn’t have energy for any of that. I was completely drained in every single aspect of my life (mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, etc.) I was crying every day. I couldn’t read, I couldn’t do calligraphy, I couldn’t go for a walk, etc. I would sleep 12-14 hours every night and take naps during the day. I was insanely exhausted. It took me about 6 months until I felt ready to try to focus on rebuilding my energy. During one of my therapy sessions, my therapist had mentioned the 7 types of rest to me. So, I went and did research to try and find some of the tools that could help me. I spent a week trying to implement some of them (like journaling, deep breathing, exercise, etc.) and by the end of that week I felt more tired than when I first started haha. I remember crying and thinking “What in the world am I going to do? How am I going to get better?” Since I was frustrated, I forgot about all of the different types of rest and just did whatever I wanted in the following weeks. At the time I was in college taking online courses, so I turned off my alarms and let my body rise and fall as it pleased. If I wanted to have chips for dinner, I’d eat chips for dinner haha. If I wanted to watch TV all day, I did just that.

It wasn’t these specific things that helped. It was the act of taking restrictions off of myself that helped me slowly but surely see changes in my energy. As I had more energy, I was able to go do a bit more of the things I loved to do. It then became a positive cycle that reinforced itself without me having to actively think about it.

Beneath the surface of it all, I don’t know if I can necessarily say I’ve overcome burnout. I don’t know if it’s necessarily something you can overcome in the way we usually approach overcoming. Like, “Here’s an obstacle or a hurdle– once I jump over it or go through it, I’ll be over it and have conquered it.” Burning out has been so much deeper and more complex than that. It’s been extremely revealing. Rather than looking at it as something to “tackle”, I had to observe everything it uncovered from within the inner depths of my being. It made me realize how much I suppressed and shut down anything that my body and heart felt throughout my entire life. It uncovered a lot of inner turmoil that I hadn’t realized I was holding onto all my life. It uncovered the parts of myself that needed to be nurtured.

I realized that the typical approach and mindset I took to growing and overcoming, wouldn’t work in this case. I had always envisioned a finish line for dealing with inner growth and an ideal self, but being in a state of exhaustion, I couldn’t keep pushing on. That idea of there being a finish line led me to depression. I couldn’t keep treating the inside of myself as a battlefield. And I couldn’t keep trying to fix and untangle all of my problems. So, I had to stop striving in that sense.

My mindset and perspective towards life and the idea of growth and striving completely shifted. Yes, I still grow and change, but it’s something that has to naturally happen and unfold. It’s not something that I can constantly work towards. I can’t physically handle constantly trying to figure things out anymore. So, I’ve spent the past few years patiently and quietly observing whatever arises whenever it arises, reconnecting with myself without any end goal in mind, and trying my best to live from almost an instinctual place.

All in all, I know I am not the same as I was then. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. It’s like I started from scratch. But all of the new things that have bloomed in my life since then have given me hope. 🙂

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Hi, I’m Mariah. I am a luxury calligrapher and engraver based in Clearwater, Florida. I offer personalized calligraphy and engraving services for luxury brands to help make their client experience more personal. So, you can find me either at live brand events creating custom gifts for guests there on the spot, or at home creating special details for a thoughtfully curated gifting experience. This can look like personalizing a brand’s new product on-site for a recent product launch or creating custom place cards for an intimate dinner party. These are just a couple examples, but the possibilities are truly endless.

I launched my business Inked Intuition about a year and a half ago, and I still can’t believe I actually did it! This creative endeavor was one that uniquely and unexpectedly unraveled right before me. Prior to starting my business, I was at a point in my life where I was reflecting on the parts of myself that had been tucked away and hidden for many years, and these reflections made me realize the idea of starting a calligraphy business that I had thought about years ago would actually help me rebuild trust with myself and remind me that God has given me everything within that I need. The way everything came together felt organic and like something my soul needed. That inner guidance and intuition is what shapes my business and my creative process.

I feel it’s this intuitive process that allows me to create and write in a way that encapsulates the unique spirit of a brand’s specific project and helps communicate the story they’d like to tell. That’s really what this work is about— helping brands have a memorable conversation with their audience that goes beyond small talk, while also letting their brand’s personality and defining characteristics shine. I am very excited to learn more about the stories behind the brands that will come my way this next year and to work on the new projects that will help support their business and audience. 🙂

As of right now, I am currently working on updating my website! I’m so excited for this update! I feel like the content I’m creating for my website shows the essence of my business more clearly. It’s feeling more focused and cohesive. I’m really taking my time and making sure it’s done in a way that feels true to my heart and will resonate with others.

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

Both intuition and the concept of Inscendence have had a big impact on my life over the past few years.

Intuition is a quality that has been a guiding light in my calligraphy practice and has spilled over into other areas of my life. Looking back on a lot of my work, both in calligraphy and other hobbies, my best came from when I turned off my brain and let myself create. It was important that I gave myself the time alone to just actually do what I was trying to do rather than judge every single step I was making as I was creating.

A quote I have on my website bio from Mr. Chin-fa Cheng from the University of Cologne says that “through a quick and non-thinking writing process, it is possible for the writer to reach the deepest source of the heart, from there all creative energy gushes forth.” Intuitive creation allows the unspoken and unseen parts of ourselves to reveal themselves onto a canvas, guide us in movement when dancing or in melody and phrasing when singing. We just have to give ourselves the chance to create and allow it to flow.

The concept of Inscendence is about diving deeper into all of creation. Delving deeper into ourselves, nature, art, the world, etc. Rather than transcending (rising above) and separating our spirit from the world, we go deeper into the heart and core of the world.

I guess I sometimes think of it as:

Living from an instinctual place— coming back into the body and heart.
Creating from an instinctual place— turning off the mind and creating from the body and heart.
Experiencing life, others, and nature in their instinctual state or place.

It’s like having to go into the dark. The dark can be seen as something to avoid at all costs. Something that is dangerous. It can definitely be scary, but what ends up revealing itself to us becomes like stars in the night sky.

Just like the bulk of an iceberg submerged underwater or the roots of a tree, there’s so much beneath the surface that makes up the human experience. The things you can’t necessarily see but the things you can feel. The underlying energy that permeates all of creation. To be able to feel deeply and experience life fully in this way is a gift.

So, the way we typically develop and improve on things might not be the most fitting tool to approach these areas. You might find what you’re looking for when you stop searching.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

I recently found a quote in my phone that I saved almost 10 years ago by John Wooden, and he said, “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can.”

This was something that I seriously struggled with growing up. I constantly felt like I needed to overcome my “weaknesses” and that if I leaned into the things that I was naturally good at, it was somehow “cheating” since I didn’t have to work hard in order to succeed at them. So despite feeling anxious, I constantly tried to improve and strengthen areas I wasn’t strong in, in order for my successes to feel real.

I always hear “get comfortable with being uncomfortable” but do we really have to? Sometimes I think it’s just unnecessary pressure. A lot of the pressure I had put on myself was connected to the fact that I measured my value in how well I did things. I eventually learned that when you can separate your value from the things that you do, you can focus more on the joy of what you do. That genuine love and interest you have in whatever you do, whether you’re naturally inclined for that thing or not, will guide you in your practice.

Rather than fighting your nature, work with it. Those innate and inherent qualities of ourselves that we initially felt might have held us captive are actually the things that will set us free when we can accept and embrace them deeply. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to freely embrace and lean into our innate design.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.inkedintuition.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkedintuitioncalligraphy/