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SIMPLE + TRUE

by Grace Theisen

Simple + True EP available now on iTunes and Spotify.

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These last few weeks I have been diving deep into taking my chronic pain seriously and daily doing meditations and journaling to re-train my brain to learn how to shut off my pain pathways. Sounds crazy right? I thought so too. Because I have been in the medical system for 6 years and have had 2 major back surgeries (I am 27 years old) and taken all the pain meds and guess what? I’m STILL in pain. The same pain that I had 6 years ago. But after researching and being introduced to a new way of thinking... I realize now it’s not crazy talk... it’s SCIENCE. - Our bodies can handle a lot of things but sometimes we let our anxiety and stress get so out of control... that our brain starts to create pain in our body. REAL pain... that hurts like MOTHER EFFING HELL. And I know I am not the only one who suffers from chronic pain, migraines, auto-immune diseases... etc. - Here’s the thing though... we want quick solutions. We want the pill to make it go away, the remedy that takes the least amount of work when in fact... it’s just the opposite. Our bodies are AMAZING. They can do SO MUCH... and can HEAL from injuries so quickly... but they can also latch onto fear just as easily and in turn create pain in our body. - Healing yourself naturally is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I am daily having to retrain my brain to tell it that it is SAFE and tell my pain it doesn’t need to be there anymore as I can now emotionally handle my anxiety/problems. It takes discipline, hard work, journaling, working out, doing activity that I still fear and a LOT of emotions come out.... some days I feel SO ANGRY I want to punch a wall. But it’s all part of the process...of working through ALL the emotions we have suppressed for a LIFETIME. - If you any type of chronic ANYTHING... I would first say.. your pain is REAL. You aren’t making it up. But there IS a solution. And I am tagging the resources that have saved me life. - My pain is not gone yet... but I now have a REAL hope that one day it will be. I am now surfing and doing things I NEVER thought I would be able to do and when pain shows up... instead of thinking, “this is my forever” I now say, “This is just my today.” ❤️
Two years ago today I was getting my second major back surgery... and today? I woke up at 5am to surf. Something I NEVER imagined myself doing 2 years ago...or ever. - As I went through my photos today of the last two years, I cried so many tears of joy, grief and sadness. By all that has been gained and all the has been lost. It has been the MOST trying two years of my life to date but I can honestly look back and say.... it took an entire community, a lot of patience, rest, counseling, moving to a different country and LOVE to bring me through to who I am today. - Pain has taught me that nothing in life comes easy-NOTHING-and the most beautiful things are the ones we have to fight tooth and nail for. Life is MESSY, complicated, H A R D, but also SO DANG beautiful. But WE get to determine how we let our circumstances shape us... not the other way around. - Two years ago, on this day, I never wanted to leave the hospital bed. I never wanted to get off the pain meds or do the hard work I know that was required of me to heal.... and I can look back on all of these pictures, on the community that surrounded me, on my MUSIC, shows and studio time that got me through-even while still in a back-brace-and now see that I wouldn’t change a thing about my story. I have learned how to have tough skin and an even softer heat. Back pain has taught me to stay smiling, no matter the circumstance. Because on some days, it’s all we have left. - GUYS. DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE. I am here to tell you LIFE IS SO WORTH the living and if your laying in your bed wondering how the *%#! am I going to KEEP ON going on?! I am here to tell you.... you’re not alone. EVER. I get it. I really do. I can STILL feel like that. But pain-experiencing and feeling pain-is actually so beautiful because it reminds us we are ALIVE. We are HUMAN-living, breathing and feeling BEINGS. And that, that is a gift never to be taken for granted. I know that now. - And thank you to ALL my friends and family who have gotten me through these last 2 years. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you all. ❤️
When you record voice memos in a bathroom because bathrooms have the BEST acoustics and then you send them to @hanshm91 and he just “whips up” these little videos with them while in the middle of nowhere Joshua Tree. 😱 - SANTA TERESA: PLAYING SOME NEIL YOUNG AND NEW ORIGINALS TONIGHT AT @tipsy.cr. Come on OUT!!!! 7:30-9:30! - PS: the second song is a new one I wrote for @shakacostarica and your amazing yoga classes, @neomi.may! I promise I will test it out next week! 🤗 - #costarica #tipsywinebar #singersongwriter #newmusic #joshuatree #santateresa #shakacostarica #nashville
I have been getting way more serious about my mental health and combating pain these days... mainly because I am so tired of feeling shitty. I am tired of feeling sorry for myself and I am tired of being a victim to my pain. If you have chronic pain/illness these are a few things I cannot recommend enough: 1. The @curablehealth app and doing IT DAILY. 2. Being selfish with your healing-making it your number ONE priority no matter what life has to offer. If that’s going to yoga, taking 20 minutes to meditate, work out, eat better... we begin to FEEL BAD because we let ourselves feel bad. I truly believe that now. (If you don’t believe me.. watch the HEAL documentary on @netflix.) When my body starts to hurt, it’s probably because I haven’t moved off the couch or feed it well or gotten enough sleep. We HAVE to STOP MAKING excuses and claim our health back. Speaking to the choir on this one. Is it easier to pop a pain med then take an hour to meditate, free write and move my body? DUH. But that isn’t the long term solution. We have to fight hard for long term solutions... ones that have lasting positive effects. 3. Follow @ruthielindsey. This mama has been my saving grace since moving to Nashville 4 years ago. She is light, love, speaks honesty and from the heart but also pushes me CONSTANTLY to re-frame my mindset about pain... that healing IS FOR ME and I don’t HAVE to suffer. I don’t have to be a victim to my circumstances. 4. Set boundaries. Holy moly I cannot harp on this one ENOUGH. I am the people pleaser of all people pleasers but GUYS. That gets you NO WHERE in life... other than burnt out, in un-healthy relationships and anxious/stressed beyond measure. For me, moving to Costa Rica was the beginning of getting myself out of the dark hole I was in and learning to take my life back. 5. FIND POSITIVE/SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY WHO WILL CALL YOU OUT when you need to be pushed and hold you when you need to cry. 6. Lastly, as @frankieballard once told me, “you only have to be sober TODAY.” (In regards to weaning off pain meds.) Take it a day at a time. Live your life TODAY and just for today. Be gentle with yourself and shower your body in grace upon grace. ❤️
I came to Costa Rica not having many answers and a LOT of questions. I felt fragile in my faith walk and wasn’t even sure what I believed anymore and decided to come into this trip pursuing nothing. I let go of my expectations and others of me to “pray, journal, read my Bible” and decided for once in my life i was just going to LIVE. To exist and be present and not try to seek out God or Jesus or answers and see where I landed. To be honest, I didn’t even bring my Bible with me here. I was burnt out from American church, by Christians saying one thing and doing another (including myself) and needed a break. - I have listened to podcast after podcast about others losing their faith and finding it again and some just losing it all together. I kept wondering, “But if I was raised in a different home across the world... would I believe all of this?” I still have no idea. - I wish I could say over the last 4 months I I have had this CRAZY clarity and feel 100% CERTAIN in my beliefs but I don’t. I have met people here who believe in all kinds of things but the underlying belief that I CAN say I know now is that EVERYONE is searching for love and light in their life. And EVERYONE has the right to find it in their own way. I know many of you Christians reading this are probably thinking, “Oh here she goes... off the deep end.” And I would ask you to stop and check yourself and your thoughts. If God is LOVE and we were ALL created from God.. then we all have the ability to LOVE and BE LOVE. He has to have his hands in EVERYTHING because we ALL come from Him. - I can count on my hand the number of times I have prayed here but I cannot count the number of times I have cried and celebrated and felt DEEP joy with others humans who exude more love and light than I have ever known in my life... humans who wouldnt call themselves “religious or Christians.” And I think there is something to be learned from that no matter what you believe. God said the MOST important commandment is to “love yourself and love others.” We all want to feel accepted and known and loved. And if for you, that is church... then do that. (Continued in comments.)
I have never felt more alive or myself then when I am at this beach, in this water or watching these sunsets. Just so dang THANKFUL for this place that has given me back so much. Mi corazón está en Costa Rica. ❤️ - #nofilterneeded - 📷: @hanshm91 - #playahermosa #costarica #sunsetsurf #shakabeachretreat
It has taken me 27 years to FINALLY be comfortable in my own skin and if I am being honest it’s still a daily practice (and lots of counseling) to wake up and tell myself, “You are worthy to exist here and take up space. Your opinions matter. Your music matters. Your VOICE matters.” - So to all my women out there, whatever race, ethnicity, age, size, hair color, eye color or shape you are... I want to remind you that YOU MATTER. Don’t wait 27 years and a LOT of sleepless nights and endless people pleasing for you to realize YOUR PRESENCE ON THIS EARTH IS NEEDED. YOU, WHO YOU ARE TODAY, IS PURE PERFECTION. - In a still very patriarchal world that daily sends us mixed messages about being strong, but not TOO strong; being kind but not TOO kind; being opinionated but not TOO opinionated... (the list goes on) can we band together as sisters and continue to push back and say: “THANK YOU BUT NO. You do not get to tell us how to live or determine for us what is strength and success is. That is something we get to decide for ourselves.” - In 2019, can we-as women-lean into each other more instead of tearing each other down with our opinions on how we think someone else’s life, parenting, job, etc.. should look? Can we instead focus that energy on ourselves in doing our best to set an example for the younger generation of women that sometimes being strong means asking for help and setting boundaries for ourselves and taking time to rest is actually a non-negotiable?? That our weight and size doesn’t actually determine anything?? And can we PLEASE STOP SAYING SORRY FOR THINGS WE DON’T NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR?! (Speaking to the choir on this one...🤦🏻‍♀️) - So here’s all the badass women in my life and throughout history that have taken the road less traveled so that women around the world are starting to be taken more seriously. Here’s to committing to daily do our part to continue this legacy so that my 5 nieces and all the little women worldwide can make even further progress than we did. - “NO ONE can make you feel inferior without your consent.” -Eleanor Roosevelt - #internationalwomensday
Dear 2018 Grace, Sweet child. You will make it through these dark nights. The suicidal thoughts. The never ending anxiety. The cloud of depression that never leaves. The detox of heavy pain meds. I know it feels like your life is ending but I promise there is ALWAYS a silver lining. To every story-no matter how dark or hard the days seem in the moment. - You see, my love, you will get a call from a dear friend and you will go to Hawaii on a whim and meet a wonderful girl and she will tell you about this magical place called @shakacostarica and that you should apply to work there. You will then pick up surfing and decide on a whim to apply for the job and get it. You will pack up your suitcase, your anxiety and your fears and travel across the world to live in the jungle for the next 6 months. - It is there you will learn to L I V E again. You will go from barely being able to carry a surf board to surfing for hours at a time. You will slowly see your body transform and be able to withhold doing hours of activity a day versus laying in bed watching Netflix. You will no longer wake up to anxiety and depression knocking at your door but instead to howler monkeys and birds chirping. You will walk around BAREFOOT. Yes BAREFOOT (crazy coming from a girl who slept in socks 365 days of the year for her entire LIFE) and your hair will grow long and unruly and makeup will never be touched and you will choose comfort over style and embrace sweaty-ness over cleanliness. - You will learn that the ONLY thing in life that makes you come alive like nothing else is the act of giving yourself to others-in conversation, in serving dinners, in doing dishes and in playing music-and you will realize this whole time you’ve being doing life backwards. You have been DOING before BEING. Growing before being grounded. You will see that life really is THAT simple and Love really IS the only thing holding all of our broken, weary souls together. You will fall back in love with yourself again and not even care about all the silly flaws and mistakes you have made anymore. - So my love, I urge you to keep going. Put one weary step in front of the next. I promise, it will all be worth it. ❤️
Three months ago, I came to Costa Rica with two carry ons, a broken and fragile heart, an anxious mind, a body wrecked in pain and nausea from almost two years of Percocet and Oxycotin and in utter need for drastic change. When I was about to leave Michigan, my mom said to me: “My only prayer for you is that you go and find the confident and courageous warrior I have always known you to be.” And of course I sobbed because I knew with every bone in my body... she was right. I lost myself, my confidence and a lot of relationships in 2018. I knew I needed drastic change of scenery, of people, of a job and lifestyle to pull me out of my quickly sinking ship. - I’ll be totally honest... I was scared shitless to live in another country, much-less the LITERAL jungle where the closest hospital is 6 hours away and REAL LIVING SCORPIONS AND MASSIVE SPIDERS co-exist in your living spaces. I hadn’t shared a room since sophomore year of COLLEGE and am the most anxious traveler known to man. (Just ask @matthewbienz and all the millions questions I asked him before coming about every worst case scenario that could happen.. 🤦🏻‍♀️) But my biggest fear? I would not be able to do this job because of chronic pain. I hadn’t WORKED since April and was terrified of my body’s ability to cooperate or be on a schedule. - But you know what I have learned over the last three months? Place any broken human in an environment soaked with life, love, ENERGY, nature, light, grace, community and compassion and watch them grow. I came into this with zero expectations for myself and this experience and decided to just let NATURE run its course... maybe for the first time in my life. And I can whole-heartedly say, I am changed. From the inside out. My hardened heart has slowly softened and expanded without my forcing it one way or the other or trying to believe “this or that.” I let go of other people’s expectations about what my life “should” look like at this stage and decided to just spend my time here EXISTING. And boy, let me tell you, the moment we let GO is the very moment we BECOME. And what greater gift is there than that. ❤️

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Finding beauty in pain, through creating art, in pursuit of redemption. 

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