The Heart AF Podcast: Real Talk For Healing, Hope & Authentic Living

Welcome to The Heart AF Podcast with host Chelsea VanBuskirk—wife, mom of three, and recovering mother-hustler. This show is about refusing to let hard seasons harden our hearts. Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. Each week, expect honest stories, practical tools, and conversations with healers and women who’ve walked through grief, betrayal, burnout, messy parenting and marriage—and found joy again. We’ll unpack self-s...

In this week's episode, join me as we take a look at Disney Pixar's movie Elemental and uncover one of the profound life lessons it has to offer.

Watching this enchanting animation, I was able unravel the damaging truths about the relentless pursuit of people-pleasing.

I explore how we often poison our own lives by suppressing our dreams and needs in the name of making others happy. It's time to realize that we are perfectly create...

In this emotionally poignant episode, we delve into a deeply personal journey of grief and self-discovery that ultimately leads to a profound shift in perspective.

I had a heart-wrenching moment of grief about my dad that became the catalyst for a transformative realization about not only my relationship with him, but the other relationships in my life. 

Let's go on a transformative journey of empathy and compassion, as we learn ho...

I get personal in this episode, sharing some of my own moments of self-discovery that have led me through the transformative power of letting our ego thoughts burn down.

We tend to identify and value ourselves based on our relationships, our jobs, or our assets. But the truth is all these things can be lost or taken away from us.

And when any of these things happen it can be quite the gut punch and leave us wondering who we really ...

Welcome to another enlightening episode of The Heart AF Podcast Episode 34- Let Them.

In this episode, I discuss the profound practice of letting go of judgment, and instead, choosing to rise above negativity when faced with the words and actions of others. We live in a world filled with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, it's all too easy to fall into the trap of judgment.

We often form opinions about others based...

32. In this episode I talk about how going through life looking through the lens of fear heightens our insecurities and negatively affects our lives by increasing our personal suffering.

BUT, we do have the power and ability to change our perspective, and in this episode I share some tips on how to get back to looking at life through the lens of love. When we go through those hard painful moments it can be very difficult to pull ou...

It happens to all of us, times in our life when a fierce storm comes out of nowhere and knocks us off our feet. 

We can get swept away, struggling to keep our head above water to breathe. 

It happened to me recently. And it was ROUGH. For awhile.

These storms, as painful as they can be, do serve a purpose though.

Let's talk about it in this comeback episode on the Heart AF Podcast. 

I give you some brief insights and ah-ha's from m...

Attitude is literally everything. Our attitude creates our experience and our thoughts create our reality.

In this week’s Heart AF episode I dive into the importance of our energetic frequencies and what it means to be high vibe. And why it's important we want to work at raising our frequencies to be more ‘high vibe.’

This month me and my friend Stef Layton have put together an April Challe...

This week's Spring inspired episode is all about planting seeds of intention in order to watch yourself bloom into this new season. 

This season is a time for renewal, to feel re-energized for what's possible for you.

The increased warmth and sunshine provides the energy and hope to believe in ourselves in what's possible. 

Believe in you, and affirm your mind with this Spring Mindset Affirmations PDF that you can download for your...

I am still shocked at the unbelievable power our minds have in and over our lives. 

Our minds can seriously change our reality and how we experience our external world. 

I share with you some recent experiences in my own life where I literally changed my external experiences by changing my mindset.

It changed the progress I was making in my weight loss journey, and it changed an important relationship in my life.

This stuff is MAGI...

Such a special heart filled episode with guest Erica Marie! ❤️ Erica Marie is an Uplifter, Speaker, and Success Coach. Her expertise in business & life success coaching, along with her passion for mental, physical, and spiritual wellness, has helped countless individuals achieve a more fulfilling, balanced, purposeful, and mindful life. You can find  this special lady on instagram here.

In this episode Erica Marie shares a bit ...

We all experience moments of insecurity, feeling small, or not quite as good, maybe feeling we don't belong, or aren't good enough.

This week's episode is about some recent experiences of mine where I have felt this way. 

And what I recently learned that has shifted my perspective, and I hope it helps shift yours too. 

I spoke about a beautiful image I had recently seen online, and I found it. It was actually a photograph of a scul...

The things that often break us are the things that actually make us strong. 

When we are in the midst of pain, heartbreak, or tough moments in life it can be so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Nature is a good reminder that there are seasons and cycles to life, and that life itself continues. The sun continues to rise and shine EVERY SINGLE DAY! Without fail. Even if there are clouds overhead, or its raining or sno...

Heart AF Episode 24! 

Have you ever felt stuck or frozen in your progress because of a mistake you made? Got too emotional, didn't follow your plan like you wanted? 

Self guilt can be a really nasty block for us. Preventing us from growing and moving forward to reach our goals. It prevents us from being open to manifesting and seeing miracles. 

Guilt is a very heavy and low vibrational energy. 

You have to pick yourself up and move...

HAF Episode 23 has take a step back and reflect where we are going with our life in the goals we have for ourselves. Are we in alignment with what really brings us joy? 

I bring up the book the Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware

Which are:

• "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."
• "I wish I hadn't worked so...

This Episode is POWERFUL. 

So many things came flowing out that are so important. I real gut check to see if we are really recognizing and acknowledging our true divinity, our true power to create. 

How we can get sucked into feeling like we are never enough, always needing to improve and change ourselves to feel validated and worthy.

Really sit with this message and tell me how it makes you feel? Are you like me always feeling the...

This years mantra is remembering the bad ass bitch within! When things get hard, we have to remember that bad bitch part that's still inside us, and tap into that power to pull ourselves up and keep moving forward.

The first episode of the year is all about those new resolutions, goals and intentions for this new year. I see you out here working on yourself, and I am proud! Don't lose hope, keep fighting and remember your strength!

Sometimes people hurt you, and sometimes you never get an apology. Which can make you feel pretty small.

But you are NOT small. 

Just because someone doesn't recognize your brilliance, your worth, and your divinity, doesn't mean you have to start questioning those pieces of you.

It's time to get your mind right and REMEMBER WHO THE F*CK YOU ARE (See Post)

And come back to knowing your worth, your brilliance, and your divinity!

In t...