Meet Charles Freeland of Revel Craft Life Coaching

Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Freeland

Hi Charles, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been an outlier. Even as a small child, The things adults thought were so important just didn’t hold meaning for me. Most of my first thirty years felt like I was wearing a mask, trying to fulfill everyone else’s goals. I spent a lot of my life struggling to fulfill other people’s ideas of what was important while also trying to pursue the things I felt were important. And the results were what you would expect – I wasn’t happy or fulfilled and I wasn’t successful in any meaningful way.

When I finally decided to embrace my own ideals, to let go of the things I felt were not important, and pursue those I chose instead, my life dramatically changed for the better. And I began to have a positive impact on those around me in ways I never would have predicted.

The more I saw the good I could do in people’s lives, the more important it became for me to make it my job. It became my vocation. Once that happened, there was no turning back.

I’ve been a business owner and a single father, and I’ve been homeless, too. I’ve seen lots of struggles and successes in life from a lot of different perspectives and had the good fortune to meet people from all walks of life and all over the world. My unique life has given me an understanding of people and what really matters that is often clouded by today’s media-saturated world with its confusing and contradictory messages.

I’ve found that I’m able to help people cut through all that and uncover their own core, which brings them greater joy and fulfillment in their everyday lives. How could anyone not want to do that?

When working with clients I usually see two main sticking points. The first is a lack of life skills. So many people, regardless of how smart they are or how well educated, have never been taught essential skills needed in today’s world. One of the biggest is boundary setting. If you can’t effectively set boundaries in your life, stress and anxiety are almost guaranteed. Learning those kinds of skills can be life-changing.

The second is a lack of meaning or purpose. We are taught that we must accumulate possessions, money, and status to feel good about ourselves and to identify with what we do, not who we are. This is why so many people feel stuck in life like they are on a treadmill going nowhere – the things they don’t have genuine meaning to them.

It takes a lot of digging and self-realization to figure out what truly resonates in a meaningful way for you. But once you do, and learn to integrate it into your life, everything becomes easier and better.

Working in the service industry in Georgia, a state that didn’t close, I saw firsthand how unhappy many people really were and how far they were willing to go in their attempts to fill the void they could not. My whole relationship with my job changed. My whole relationship with the world changed.

Bartending during the pandemic was the most challenging year of my professional life, I saw so much pain and anger and felt so much desperation from people. And I saw how it was an amplified version of what I had felt most of my life. People were willing to travel cross country, spend thousands of dollars, and risk their lives to avoid the emotional pain of simply being still with themselves.

The Pandemic brought out the worst in a lot of people, and I was front row for a lot of it. But the anger and abuse came from a place of fear and disillusionment. Fortunately, I had already begun making transformational changes in my own life a few years earlier, and I saw how I could make a difference.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. I unexpectedly became a father at 20, and a single father 3 years later. Having a child so young, without having any highly valued skills or degrees meant sacrificing a lot of my goals at that age. I spent years struggling to make ends meet and eventually build a business that allowed me to buy a house and lead a “normal” life.

But the Great Recession hit the construction industry hardest, and that forced me to close my business. My house was foreclosed on and all my savings were wiped out. I had to start over from nothing at 38 years old. The job market was tight, and worse, I didn’t have a degree or skills that anyone wanted. I moved from job to job for several years, barely getting by. I was back to where I’d been 20 years earlier.

But all those challenges are exactly what informs me as a coach. I’ve had bad relationships, family difficulties, and business challenges. I’ve experienced so many different things in my life that I can relate to and empathize with much of what my clients are dealing with.

We’ve been impressed with Revel Craft Life Coaching, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Revel Craft is dedicated to helping people live more joyful and fulfilling lives.

So many people spend years driven to succeed only to wake up and discover they aren’t happy. That they don’t like their career, that they don’t relate to the people around them, that life just doesn’t feel right. And they don’t know what they did wrong or how to fix it.

It’s so common that many people are beginning to assume that being unhappy is just how life is supposed to be! But it’s not!

Much of the depression and anxiety people struggle with today is a direct result of confusion between who they are and what they want versus who they are told they should be and what they are told they should want. My mission is to help untangle that mess and support them in discovering what it means to truly be fulfilled.

Many of my clients are looking for more fulfillment in business and career, whether it’s changing careers or growing their businesses. But inevitably, the work we do ripples through their whole life. Their relationships and romances improve. Their sense of self and confidence skyrocket. Many of them even improve their health without having to make huge efforts.

What I do is not therapy. It’s action-based. To succeed in my program, you have to do the work. And results come quickly.

The most fulfilling thing about my work is seeing the rapid and radical changes in people’s lives. I’ve seen careers go from dead-ends to fast-track in weeks. I watched entrepreneurs turn failing businesses around after changing how they think. I’ve seen people in unhappy relationships start over and find love. All because they became clear on what was important to them, and had the courage and support to embrace it.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
It’s easy to talk about physical and financial risks. They are easy to point to. I’ve taken financial risks and lost, many times. I’ve taken physical risks, like skydiving and motorcycle riding. But the biggest risk for anyone is social risk. We are all terrified of being different, and of what people will think if we disagree with what’s popular or expected. People will put their lives on the line to avoid seeming uncool. People will be cruel and harmful to avoid being laughed at.

But what I’ve found is that the people we all like the most of the most authentic people, the ones who live in true alignment with their own values and beliefs. Those people are the ones who light up a room, whose energy is like gravity attracting everyone around them. They don’t worry about what other people think, because they are clear on what is important and right for them.

The fear we feel of being laughed at or made fun of, or excluded is what keeps us from becoming the very person who other people admire and want to be around.

It is critical that we all take risks – to unlock who we are meant to be, we must risk not being who others think we are. We must be willing to be uncomfortable emotionally to have the lives we really want and deserve.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.revelcraftlifecoaching.com
• Instagram: @revelcraft
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RevelCraftLC
• Youtube: @revelcraftlifecoaching