5 Lessons for Turning Life’s Challenges into Creative Growth

What happens when life as you know it falls apart, and you’re forced to reinvent yourself while juggling major responsibilities?

In the latest episode of Gathering Voices, we sit down with Kel Cadet-Lyons, Founder and Creative Director of R-KI-TEKT, who shares how she continues to build her identity and creative brand amidst civil unrest, uncertainty, and emotional exhaustion. Her story is raw, real, and packed with wisdom for anyone navigating life transitions.

Here are the five key takeaways you will want to carry with you:

1. Identity Isn’t Lost, It’s Transformed

"I felt all out of sorts. I felt like I was seven different people in one body and then I had to add a mother to that role and I didn’t really know what I was doing."

Motherhood often forces us to re-examine who we are. Through the chaos and self-discovery, Kel realized that identity does not vanish, it evolves. By blending old and new parts of herself, she built something stronger and authentic.

2. Start with What You Have

When everything feels scarce, time, resources, even energy, the temptation is to wait until life feels perfect to start creating.

"Even in accordance to the theme of rebuilding and building yourself, you kind of have to use what you have when you don’t have much."

 Kel used what was already in her hands, scraps like recycled leather, vintage prize ribbons, fragments of ideas, and even leftover emotional resilience. She shows that creativity thrives in constraints, proving that you don’t need perfect conditions to start.

3. Your Brand Can Heal You

Launching her indie brand was about survival, not going viral. The process helped Kel process postpartum emotions and societal stress, transforming her brand into a healing outlet.

"Through making these goods, my brand became my safe space, a mirror, and a medicine."

4. Show Up as You Are, Mess and All

There is a misconception that success starts after the hard part is over. But this conversation challenges that narrative. Kel showed up during her hardest season, grieving, exhausted, and uncertain. 

"We don’t know what we’re doing, and that’s fine. But understand that you’re offering a bit of happiness in a time that’s very, very dark."

That honesty created deeper connections with her audience and community. Perfect is not relatable, showing up is.

5. Community Is the Real Anchor

Resilience does not happen in isolation.

"The growth that you’re looking for is within the community and ecosystems around you. The people who are right next to you during your hardest and darkest times are your pit crew."

Supportive relationships, both online and in person, became Kel’s scaffolding for growth. Community provides perspective, encouragement, and the reminder that you don’t have to do it alone.

Final Thoughts

This episode is not just about one woman’s story, it is about the universal truth that rebuilding is rarely neat or linear. It is messy, human, and deeply creative.

If you are navigating your own season of change, whether as a mother, a maker, or simply a person in transition, this conversation will remind you, you already have what you need, and you do not have to do it alone.

🎧 Listen to the full episode now on Spotify or YouTube and be inspired to show up exactly as you are.