Meet Christina Lynn McKelvy | Writer, blogger, consultant, and therapist.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christina Lynn McKelvy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina Lynn, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Self-care has become a focus in my life and is something I am always trying to improve on. My day job is working as a therapist. With this, I have come to realize that I cannot be a “helper” and try and have space to assist people with their needs if I am not taking care of myself. This is why I started my blog: https://selfscience.org. Here I write about several self-care skills that I tried. This helped me practice what I preached. When I make room for my hobbies and my creative activities, I feel happier and more fulfilled. I continue to make sure that I have space not just for hobbies, but also for friends, family, and health.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am the owner of Colibri Counseling & Consulting, PLLC in Prescott (online and consulting AZ-wide). Being in private practice has allowed me the flexibility to explore my creative sides such as focusing more on writing and photography. I realized that I have several stories I want to share about my life, and my parents, along with fictional characters who can teach a life lesson. There is no better medium to communicate stories than the written word. I do struggle with some forms of writing, but I take those as hard lessons and learn from them, and move forward. With photography, I really started to focus on this as a hobby, but also have a couple of paid gigs lined up. There is something about seeing the world through the camera lens. Photography has also helped my writing by gaining a perspective or picturing my story.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

Road trip!

First, I would take them to Lux off Central. Get a nice big thing of coffee. Then we would head out of the city!
We would drive up to Sedona and Cottonwood, enjoy the wineries (best-kept secret for AZ), and stay the night. The next morning, we would drive back through the White Mountains, stopping in Flagstaff and Winslow. Then stay the night in a cabin in PineTop-Lakeside (a different perspective of AZ). Finally, we make our way back to Phoenix through Globe by way of the 60.

We close the week by staying a night or two again in Phoenix having them choose some of the many awesome restaurants and coffee shops.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I could not do any of this without my spouse. He has been my encourager and cheerleader. Also, when I write, I think of my late mother. She was a writer and had goals of someday writing a book. I hope to be able to tell her story someday.

Website: https://linktr.ee/christinalynn33

Instagram: writer_christinalynn