Gay Barefield – Living The Zen Chick Life

Gay Barefield has been a busy person for much of her life. She was once in upper management in a software development firm faced with pressures of deadlines, finding clients, and a never empty in-box. Gay knew something needed to change and the sooner the better. She made a fateful decision to give up the corporate life, go back to school (while still working), start her own business, and move to a farm in the Green Creek area. She’s never looked back.
 
The farm is a certainly more than a hobby farm but the work brings her great joy. Gay and her husband enjoy taking care of their two horses, a donkey, and a couple of dogs. They also raise a lot of their own food and get most of the rest from local growers at the farmer’s market. And all of that was part of the “slowing down” Gay knew must happen.
 
The farm life is just part of the path Gay took in moving from corporate life to a life less stressful. And in the process she’s learned a lot and is now helping others find their path or trail to a simpler life. In fact, she calls herself a “Life Journey Trailblazer” and Zen Chick is her “company” name. But now the company is just Gay and is far removed from the big business rat race. 

Gay is a big believer in eating dessert first. Translation, “Do the reward first and then go back and do the other.” Too many people work, work, and work only to find themselves out of time when it’s time to have fun. Gay goes on to make the point to make time now for things that are important. 
 
Zen Chick is Gay’s slow-down “business.” She maintains a website with regular blog posts filled with advice. She also holds local workshops and has people local and around the world connected to her via the web. She enjoys helping people find ways to put more enjoyment in their lives by living a simpler lifestyle. The tagline on Gay’s website (www.ZenChick.com) is: Slow Down, Simplify, Love Your Life.” She’s living proof that this works.
 
Of course she says you can’t just shirk your duties, but you might need to reassess priorities so that you can enjoy your life.  Gay says people need to learn to say, “no.” You can’t do everything all the time. During our interview I saw that she had a bit of blue color in her hair and even I knew it wasn’t from old age! “Life is short, do what you want to do,” she says and adding a bit of spice to her hair is just an example.

​Gay had this revelation one day while working in corporate America. She decided it was time to chunk that and do something new much to the amazement of her co-workers and bewilderment of her bosses. She enrolled in a program in chiropractic medicine but switched direction and decided to train as a massage therapist. This, she thought, could be her new pathway. A few months later she entered a massage therapy program, graduated, even served on an advisory board to help develop a licensure program for South Carolina. And now 26 years later she’s still running her own successful center in Spartanburg called “The Healing Touch.” Gay spends four days a week there and the other days she can be found on her farm and helping others learn that it’s okay to make a change even late in life. 
 
Gay Barefield speaks from the heart. “Every day is a process in learning. Some days are scattered and complicated. But I have come a long way from being OCD in my 20s, very driven and changing careers in my 30s, still driven in my 40s, but settling into my new career. And now in my 60s, settling into my life – simplifying more and more!”
 
We can all learn from Gay. It’s time to slow down, simplify, and love your life.

More to know
Gay can be reached at [email protected].

Phone is 864-680-1604.

Her massage therapy business, “The Healing Touch,” is open Tuesday through Friday. Check out the Zen Chick website at: www.ZenChick.com.

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