Wellness Inspired Podcast

Beauty That Can Hold Your Chaos: A New Way to See Wellness

• Sheri Davidson • Episode 88

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In this episode, I dive into the intersection of beauty, self-worth, and real-life wellness.

As a former designer turned acupuncturist and wellness coach, I’ve learned that perfectionism can make both beauty and wellness fragile. For years, I chased flawless spaces, routines, and results — until I realized something deeper: beauty that can’t hold your chaos isn’t beauty. It’s a cage.

In this conversation, I unpack what that means — how design taught me about control, chaos, and self-trust, and why real wellness isn’t about picture-perfect routines or golden-hour matcha moments.

💬 In this episode, I share:

  • Why perfectionism makes beauty (and wellness) fragile
  • How design taught me about control, chaos, and self-trust
  • What “beauty that can’t hold your chaos” really means
  • How to build a wellness practice that’s flexible, honest, and sustainable

⠀✨ This is a grounded, heart-opening reflection on what it means to love beauty without letting it define your worth.

“ beauty that can’t hold your chaos isn’t beauty. It’s a cage."– Sheri Davidson


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Sheri:

Welcome back to another episode of the Wellness Inspired Podcast, a place where you can find inspiration, motivation, and empowerment in the pursuit of a wellness lifestyle. I'm your host, Sherry Davidson. I'm a wellness coach, acupuncturist, trailrunner, and former interior designer in Houston, Texas. And I am deeply passionate about health and well-being. And as always, I'm here with my co-host Finn. And if you're new to the podcast, Vin is my Terrier Mix Rescue dog trailrunner and loyal companion. He is also a therapy dog and greeter at Element 5 Acupuncture and Wellness. In today's episode, I want to talk about what happens when wellness meets design and how to love beauty without letting it define your worth. Like I said, I'm a former interior designer, turned acupuncturist and wellness coach. And I want to share the hard truth I learned after years of chasing flawless spaces, routines, and results. And I want to start this episode with a quote Beauty that can't hold your chaos isn't beauty. It's a cage. Think about that. Over time, I realize how often we mistake aesthetics for self-worth. How easily we believe that wellness has to look perfect to count. But true wellness isn't about golden hour matcha or picture perfect routines. It's about showing up honestly even when life gets messy. So if you've ever felt like your wellness has to look good to be good, this conversation will help you reclaim that kind of beauty that actually nourishes you. So settle in because I think you're really going to love this one. I love beautiful things, beautiful spaces, beautiful food, beautiful moments. Beauty inspires me. It always has. Before acupuncture and wellness coaching, I was an interior designer, and somewhere along the way, I had to learn something uncomfortable. We've confused beauty with self-worth. And it's costing us our peace, our confidence, and sometimes even our joy. So in today's episode, I want to talk about what happens when wellness meets design and how to love beauty without letting it define your worth. When I worked in design, I learned to see details, the perfect symmetry, the textures, the colors that make a space feel alive. And when I became a wellness coach and acupuncturist, I had to unlearn some of that perfection. Because wellness doesn't come with clean lines and perfect palettes. In fact, most days it looks more like cold coffee, good intentions, and trying again tomorrow. Who can relate to that? But somewhere along the way, many of us started treating beauty like a report card, as if our lives only count when they looked apart. If our smoothie bowl doesn't look like it belongs in Eating Well magazine, we've somehow felled at wellness. But here's the truth wellness, it's not a photo shoot. It's what happens between the photos. I had to consciously separate my love of beautiful things from my sense of whether I'm doing life right. And I'll be honest, it's hard. Especially when we live in a world where everything is curated. I had to learn to see beauty in the unmade bed, the dog hair on the floor, the dinner that looks, well, let's just say looks a little rustic. It took me a while to realize that beauty isn't lost in those moments. It's hiding inside of them. I didn't reject beauty. I expanded it. Because beauty that only lives in perfection is fragile. It's fragile because it depends on control, on everything looking right before we can feel right. But life doesn't work that way. Real beauty, the kind that nourishes us, is flexible. It can hold the mess, the noise, the chaos. That's the kind of beauty that lasts. If you listened to my last episode, Nell Dit, What Failure Can Teach Us About Real Wellness, you already know where I'm going with this. And if you haven't, you should. I really enjoyed, enjoyed doing that episode. So if you haven't listened to it, just it's just one back. If you're not familiar with the show, or if you haven't listened to the last episode, it's a chaotic, heartwarming baking show where everyday people try to recreate fancy desserts and the results are gloriously not good. And yet they still laugh, they still celebrate, and they still say, nailed it. And that's the energy I want for wellness. Because real wellness isn't found in the perfect morning routine or the color-coordinated supplement drawer. It's the small imperfect choices that add up over time. The morning you skip yoga, but you take a deep breath before a hard conversation. The night you eat cereal for dinner because you're tired, but you still show up tomorrow. The moment you catch yourself spiraling and you choose kindness instead, that counts. All of it counts. Picture this. I'm 25, working on a design project, surrounded by takeout boxes, fabric swatches, and empty coffee cups. It's 11 p.m. And I'm tweaking the lighting for the fourth time because it still doesn't look perfect. I remember looking around and thinking, if someone saw this mess, they'd never believe how beautiful this space will be. But that's how it works, right? You don't get beautiful moments without the chaos that builds it. And somewhere along the way, I realized something I'll never forget. Beauty that can't hold your chaos isn't beauty. It's a cage. Because what I was chasing back then wasn't beauty. It was control. And control can't nourish you. Only honesty can. So fast forward, and I see this in wellness all the time. Clients tell me they stop trying because their mills don't look like the ones they see online. They they just can't do this. They start comparing their reality to someone else's highlight reel. And it becomes a reason not to show up at all. And I get it, I totally get it. Because I used to live in that mindset where beauty and worth felt like the same thing. But wellness doesn't happen because it looks good. It happens because you keep coming back again and again through the messy, unfiltered practice of showing up. It's the same as design. The late nights, the sketches that never made it, the takeout containers no one saw in the photo. And it's the same as endurance running. Crossing the finish line is beautiful, but the real growth happens in the training miles. In the early mornings, you didn't want to run. The hard days, you showed up anyway. That's what builds beauty. It's the practice that makes the photo. The showing up that makes it count. Here's what I know now. I didn't have to choose between my designer self and my wellness coach self. I integrated them. Because beauty and wellness aren't opposites. They can coexist. One fuels the other. But the kind of beauty I believe in now, it's the lived-in beauty, honest beauty. The kind that includes wrinkles, laughter lines, messy buns, and half-burnt toasts that somehow still taste good. When beauty becomes something you live and not something you perform, it becomes nourishing. It's not about being perfect, it's about being present. So if your wellness today looks a little uneven, if it feels off script, if it's giving nailed it energy, celebrate it. You're showing up. You're learning to trust yourself. And that's the foundation of sustainable wellness. Self-trust isn't built in perfect conditions, it's built in the spaces between knowing and doing where real life happens. So I'll leave you with this question. What's one beautifully imperfect wellness moment you've had lately? Something that didn't look like much, but quietly kept you going. Okay. Well, I think this is a good place to wrap it up. We'll wrap it up on a reflection. If you want to share your message with me, your reflection, um, you can message me on Instagram. Um I have two accounts. Uh, one is at wellness underscore inspired. And then there's also at wellness inspired underscore podcast. You can also use the hashtag wellness inspired. Love to hear your story. But until next time, keep showing up for yourself and all your beautiful, honest, imperfections. Thanks for tuning in to the wellness inspired podcast. Stay curious and stay kind. And keep finding beauty even in the mess. Please join the wellness inspired community. Go to the wellness inspired podcast.com to sign up. I'll put the link to the website in the show notes so you can click and join. Also, there's a Facebook community at the Wellness Inspired, and you can follow me on Instagram at wellness underscoreinspired. If you're in the Houston area or just visiting and interested in our services, acupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping, zinchiatsu, or dry needling therapy, contact us. You can find out more on our website at element5om.com. That's element5thenumber5om.com. And again, I'll put the link in the show notes. If you're interested in health and wellness coaching, we can connect in the clinic or on Zoom. Reach out to us and we'll get you on the schedule. And as always, I would love to hear your feedback. I am dedicated to bringing you great content that is inspiring and informative with an artsy fun edgy spin. Thank you so much for listening. We'll meet here again next time. And remember, never stop exploring, learning, loving, and being you. Bye.