Good Neighbor Podcast for the Greater Chattanooga Region
Connecting Business Friends to Local Neighbors!
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Good Neighbor Podcast for the Greater Chattanooga Region
Lauren Ray on The Haven at Serenity Cove: Unplugging, Self-Care, and Mental Wellness
Imagine finding a serene getaway where you can truly disconnect from the hustle and bustle of daily life. That's exactly what you'll experience at The Haven at Serenity Cove, run by Lauren Ray and her husband Issayah. Nestled near Fall Creek Falls in Pikeville, this tranquil retreat features a tiny house surrounded by four acres of nature near a charming Mennonite community. On the Good Neighbor Podcast, Lauren shares her vision of helping people unplug and recharge in a tech-free environment. With amenities like a hot tub, outdoor shower, and spacious patio, the Haven offers the perfect setting to rest and reconnect with yourself and nature.
We also dig deep into the essential topic of self-care, as Lauren opens up about her personal battle with severe anxiety and depression. She recounts how a 30-day break from work, along with juice fasting and counseling, helped her find a balance between work and rest. This episode explores the Rays' shared passion for mental health, this secluded tiny house, and travel. From the absence of TVs to encourage relaxation (although there is wifi at The Haven for those who have a need to stay somewhat connected) to hobbies like hiking and camping, you'll hear about the joys of exploring new places and the importance of pursuing wellness. Join us for heartfelt insights and practical advice on achieving peace and finding your own sanctuary.
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This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2:Hello good neighbors, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast brought to you by the Friends and Neighbors Group of the Greater Chattanooga Area. Thank you for being with us today. You know the purpose of the Good Neighbor podcast is to bring an awareness to local residents about. You know the locally owned and or operated businesses that are in our area. You know whether they're in your little neighborhood or they're across town or maybe they're in a neighboring community somewhere in the Chattanooga region. We want to highlight these locally owned businesses because you know the local businesses are the backbone of our communities and they still need our support.
Speaker 2:If you're tired of going to places where big box type places where you're not getting any good customer service people aren't smiling Thank you for coming, those type of things then go to a local-owned store.
Speaker 2:Go deal with somebody who's locally owned. They depend on you to come in and do business with them. I think you'll be surprised what different type of atmosphere that you'll experience. And every once in a while we have somebody that like a guest we have today that what they do is not necessarily right in the local area, but it's something all the local people need to know about, because we all need to rest every once in a while, right, and sometimes we don't have time to run to the Smoky Mountains, sometimes we don't have time to go to the beach because they're not real close by and we need to know about places that we can make these quick getaways. And today I'm going to introduce you to one of our neighbors, ms Lauren Ray, and she is with the Haven at Serenity Cove and I think we're all going to be interested to hear more about this place. So, lauren, welcome to the podcast today. Thank you for being here with us.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're excited to hear all about what you have to offer, but before we get started, I would like to give you the opportunity, if you'd like to, to share a little bit about, maybe, yourself and your family, and just a little bit about your background.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'd love to. So. Like you said, my name is Lauren, my husband is Isaiah, and we've been married for almost two years and very happily married, and my family is all from Chattanooga, His family's all from the area as well, so I'm definitely a local grew up here, yeah, and I've just always been kind of a little entrepreneur, even when I was a kid. I always loved having businesses. So, yeah, that's a little intro to me.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right. Well, and now I want to ask you about the Haven at Serenity Cove. I had the opportunity to look at your website before we got on, but a lot of people listening. This might be the first time they've ever heard of it, so tell us all about it.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'd love to. So you know, in today's world, as I'm sure you can relate, so many of us are stressed out, burnt out. Always on our phone, there's always chaos. Always on our phone. There's always chaos, always things to do. We're just so busy just on a treadmill.
Speaker 3:And our haven at Serenity Cove is just all about bringing you a place where you can rest. You know, reset, recharge, just feel like your best self again. Because I know, personally, when I get under that much pressure and stress, I just don't feel well. And the idea behind the Haven is to get out in nature. You know, unplug, not be on our phones all the time. Just rest, relax, recharge, connect to ourselves and reconnect to others as well. So yeah, we're basically an airbnb with a mission. Um, you could say we have one tiny house that's brand new. We just finished building it, um, at the end of july, um, and it's on four acres, um, kind of in a meadow in pikeville. It's very close to fall creek falls, if you've heard of that oh yes yeah, so I love Fall Creek Falls.
Speaker 3:We're about six to seven miles from the entrance, yeah, yeah, so very close. It does take at least a 20 minute drive, just because it's gravel roads, to get there from our place. I guess, depending on how fast you want to drive on the gravel road, it's how long it'll take you. Um, but yeah, it's um really was designed just to be all about rest. From the color scheme I was very intentional about, you know, choosing calming colors like greens, um, and choosing furniture that just invites you to relax. So, yeah, it's super secluded, super secluded.
Speaker 3:We border a Mennonite community and it's kind of a destination in and of itself. It has like 25 little shops where you can get produce, yeah, baked goods, jams and jellies. They have woodworking shops, quilt shops, so that's a neat place A lot of people like to visit when they come out to stay shops. So that's a neat place A lot of people like to visit when they come out to stay yeah yeah, it's the Brockdale Mennonite community, so that's a neat thing to do.
Speaker 3:Also, just at the house we have a hot tub, we have outdoor shower. The patios, I believe, actually have more square footage than the house because, we really wanted to promote being outside, so those same reasons.
Speaker 3:We have a lot of glass, lots of huge windows, we have a 12 foot sliding glass door just to really make you feel close to nature, and all of that is just serving towards your rest, you know? So, yeah, we have that. We have a lot of restful hobby supplies. You can come out, you can do some artwork, try a new hobby, just things that aren't on your phone, aren't screen time, but are helping you unwind. We have a telescope. The stars out there are just incredible because we're so far from city lights, essential oil diffuser.
Speaker 3:We don't have a TV, just going along with the unplugged theme. So we do have Wi-Fi, though we have fiber optics way out there, if you can believe it. So, I know it's not possible for everyone to totally unplug, even if we'd like to. So for those who do need to stay connected, we do have that option. So yeah, that's, that's a little about us. Our goal was just to make a place where it is hard to feel stressed out.
Speaker 2:Well, I saw on the website. I saw a picture of a hammock chair.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, yes, that's my favorite.
Speaker 2:That's like, oh yes, I could just see myself back in that hammock chair taking a nap out there in the breeze, you know.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I love that. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Lauren, it sounds like a very magical place and what I saw on the website looked like a magical place. It's very secluded. I mean, a lot of times we go places and we stay in tiny homes and there's either four or five in a row stacked right against each other and so you don't really have privacy. But the pictures I saw showed just complete privacy. Am I right about?
Speaker 3:that? Yes, absolutely. I think that's. One of our most special features is that you truly are secluded.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's nice to know that you're that close to Fall Creek Falls as you can go enjoy that. But I didn't know about this Mennonite Village. That's awesome because you know that's a lot of people really enjoy especially buying produce there, you know, knowing that they don't use chemicals and stuff like that and you can buy fresh produce, that's really nice. I might take a trip out there just to go see that that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yes, I think you'd love it. It's definitely a little hidden gem.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, tell me about your journey You're talking about. You know how, when you were even just a young girl, you liked having businesses. So how did you go from that entrepreneurial spirit to deciding to own the Serenity I'm sorry, the Haven. I apologize, the Haven.
Speaker 3:Oh, no problem. Yes, absolutely so. Yeah, like you said, I've always had a little business. As long as I can remember, even when I was six years old, I was always trying to come up with little ideas, so I guess that's always been a part of me, and I've also always loved tiny houses. I just think they're the coolest things. But yeah, so the past five years I have been a real estate agent, which can be a super rewarding job. It can also be a very exhausting job because you're often working 80 hours a week.
Speaker 3:You don't get weekends, you't get vacations. You're, you're always on the clock.
Speaker 3:You know to serve people well, um, which is awesome, but if you're not also taking care of yourself, your own mind and body, you can get burnt out very quickly, and that is where I found myself a couple years ago, um, maybe two, three years ago, um, I was, know, just in my early 20s but having significant health challenges that were keeping me even bedridden in some days I was having just very severe anxiety, just all the classic burnout symptoms, which also leads to depression. So I just was really not in a good place mentally or physically. So I just really hit rock bottom with that and realized I have got to do something. So I took 30 days off, did a full reset, um, you know, did like some juice fats, I did some counseling, really trying to tackle these issues.
Speaker 3:Um, and through that experience I, you know, started results. I was having better mental health, better physical health. Again, I still went back into real estate, but I now had tools and a good foundation of learning how to balance that better working and resting. So that, really that experience for me just made me very passionate about rest for people who just want to work all the time, like me, and so rest and then also mental health. So that experience, combined with now being passionate about rest, mental health and tiny houses and entrepreneurship, that just all combined um, and this vision was really just gradually born, um, over the next several months after that well, that's a very common thing that people we hear nowadays, and I've experienced it as well, you know burnout where you spend so much time working that you don't.
Speaker 2:You don't take care of yourself, like you said, mentally and physically. So, yeah, and it's great. It's great to know what I really liked about when I saw. You know it's not a very far drive there to the to this place, so if you just want to get away for a weekend, you know, it's. It's a quick drive there and you can rest and relax and not be far back home.
Speaker 2:You know, sometimes, sometimes I have taken, you know, little quick trips to go relax, but by the time I drove all the way back home I was tired again to go relax, but by the time I drove all the way back home I was tired again. Yeah, I feel that, wow, or I got there and there was so much to do that I wore myself out doing and seeing, and then I come back home just as tired as I was, you know.
Speaker 1:So I really liked the way it looked.
Speaker 2:It was just so secluded and beautiful and I could just be there, take a book with me, relax. You know, so secluded and beautiful and I could just be there, take a book with me, relax, you know. Uh, just you know what. And, like you said, the fact you have wi-fi is great because you got parents that need to be in connection with wherever their kids are. Something would happen, you know so there's things like that.
Speaker 2:So it's really. That's nice, but the fact you're not having a tv. If somebody's just dying to watch a show, they can take their laptop or their tablet with them, right, and then watch the show yes, for sure oh man. Oh well, you know. So outside of the business I laugh at a lot of realtors. When I talk to realtors I tell them I said you're like a mother. You know a mother's work is never done, that's what it is for a realtor.
Speaker 2:Her work's never done. But what do you and isaiah do for fun when you're, when you're not working, and he's not working?
Speaker 3:oh well, we love to travel. Um, that's probably our number one hobby that we both love to do together okay um, especially other countries. That's kind of a big thing, um, and I'm also about to hit seeing all 50 states. That's been our big goal. So oh wow cool yeah, so traveling, hiking, camping. I also um play piano, so that's a big pastime for me as well oh, wow, great.
Speaker 2:What type of music are you more talented in?
Speaker 3:um, I would say definitely. I grew up playing a lot of Christian music, um, so that's still what I play mostly.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 3:I've done some classical, but definitely mostly Christian music.
Speaker 2:Okay yeah, I grew up playing in church myself, so oh, that's great, I love it. Yeah, so, and you're talking about, what you do for fun is traveling. So what's your? What's the favorite place you've ever been?
Speaker 3:Oh, probably. We went on a cruise that stopped in the Bahamas, dominican Republic, grand Turk and Puerto Rico. That was an amazing experience. I would say that whole trip seeing all those island countries was my favorite.
Speaker 2:All right, that sounds like fun.
Speaker 3:Yes, it was, I loved it.
Speaker 2:And you know, lauren, one of the questions I was going to ask you was have you, have you ever, you know, experienced any challenges or, or you know, difficulties that you can say made you stronger? But I guess you kind of already shared that with us, with what you just shared about going through that burnout and that depression. You know, depression can be a very difficult thing and, yeah, I think you did the right thing. You sought counseling. Uh, you know, I grew up, I grew up in a, in a, in an age where people, if you, if you got depression, people just said you know, suck it up buttercup and you know, get over it and you know, today I can see where that would have benefited a lot.
Speaker 2:If nothing else, have a life coach, somebody who can just coach you. Not necessarily not to say nobody ever needs to see a psychiatrist, but sometimes it's not that quite severe. You just need somebody to help you set goals, help you get back on target.
Speaker 2:So you know whether it be a professional help like a psychiatrist, psychologist, or whether it just be a life coach. I could see where that would have benefited me so much down through the years if I had known to do that. You know so. So kudos to you for putting yourself first at and taking care of yourself so you can. You can make sure you can take care of everything else you need to. You know. So thank you for sharing that with us a while ago. I know sometimes it's not easy to share things like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, for sure, I'm just. I just hope that it can encourage someone else that you know you're a valuable person and you deserve to rest, like to the person who's always giving.
Speaker 2:You deserve a break now. You know, and people that are able to. I interviewed a lady up in Cleveland Ms Glendora Condon is her name and that lady is fascinating. I mean she's so fascinating and she, that's what she does. She helps people and shout out to Ms Glendora, but but she, she's just fascinating and I would recommend anybody to see her to talk to Ms Glendora. But she, she's just fascinating and I would recommend anybody to see her to talk to her. I mean she's just great. But to help people get back on track, you know, help get to your emotional state, she, she comes from a lot of experience. She had a lot of difficulties herself, you know. So she can relate.
Speaker 2:But tell me this so she can relate, but tell me this if there was one thing that you wish our listeners knew about, lauren Ray, and I'm talking about the heart of your business now.
Speaker 1:Lauren.
Speaker 2:Ray and the Haven at Serenity Cove, and even your real estate business. What's the name of your real estate?
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Realty Center.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, so we'll just give. We'll give a plug for that too, while we're on here, How's that Great. If you need a realtor, lauren Ray's available right. So so if there was one thing you could say about the heart and you wish everybody knew about the heart of Lauren Ray and everything that she does, and, and, but they wouldn't know this unless you share it with them and you'd like to shout it loud and proud here today on Good Never Podcast, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I would just love to say that if you're struggling with any kind of anxiety, any kind of stress, anything at all, and even if you're having a great day today and not struggling, you know you matter, we care about you. That is the heart of our business, is that everyone is valuable, that everyone deserves to just be cared for and to rest, and I think that is really the core of who I am personally and then who we are as a business is you are valuable, you matter and we would love to take care of you for a weekend can, so that it sounds beautiful, because, wow, I mean I, I everybody needs to know that they matter.
Speaker 2:Sometimes in life, things happen and we feel like we don't matter. I've been there, I've been there many times and where we feel like we don't matter. But we do matter and and that's what these places like you have, the Haven at Serenity Cove just get away, unwind, get out of the. I call it getting my head out of it for a little while.
Speaker 1:I need to get my head out of it.
Speaker 2:And but I'm thankful for that you have places, we have places that we can go, and yours being one of them, and, laura, I want you to take a moment and uh share with our audience about how that people can find out more, whether online or offline, how they can contact you, just just the different methods that they could get more information.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely so. Our main website is thehavenatserenitycovecom. That's where you can book a stay. I am working on several pages where you can find a lot more information about us, also about some of our partners that will come out to the site and do massages, things like that, so that's a great resource to find more about us. Also, I have been running an Instagram account, which several people from Chattanooga follow, that has showcased the journey, and that Instagram handle is thehavenat serenitycove. So you'll find a lot on there, a lot of reels and photos, just so you can kind of see the journey. So those are the main places you can find us. You can also book our little place on Airbnb as well.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, well, great, great. So if you want to see pictures, if anyone wants to see more information there's some beautiful pictures on there. You can see how private and how secluded it is. Just go to that website, thehavenatserenitycovecom. And you can see how private, how secluded it is.
Speaker 2:Just go to that website, havenatserenitycovecom and you can see all about it or Instagram I'm sure you have those pictures there too and then the contact information is on there the calendar, to book everything, or you can go to Airbnb, like she said. Either one, but, lauren, it has been a pleasure having you on the podcast with us today. Uh, thank you for sharing all with us about the haven and sharing your journey, uh, your life story, and as well as the, the encouragement to us that you know we all matter, but, but we all need to take care of ourself. I think that's the message I hear from you today. We all need to take care of ourselves. If I I think that's the message I hear from you today we all need to take care of ourselves. If I don't take care of myself, who's going to?
Speaker 3:Right right.
Speaker 2:So it's been a great message today. Thank you for being with us, lauren, it's been a wonderful pleasure.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I've so enjoyed talking to you today.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. And to all the good neighbors out there who have been listening to Lauren talk about the Haven at Serenity Cove you know, I know that it's probably sounded just as beautiful to you as it does to me. Go see those pictures, go look at it. And after listening to Lauren, I know that she hopes that you'll take a moment to check it out and book a weekend and come by and see them and take advantage of all they have to offer. And you know, and I'd like to thank all you listeners out there for taking time out of your day to visit with us at the Good Neighbor podcast and always remember to support the locally owned and operated businesses in our area. They need your support and they'll provide the things that you need. So, at that, my name is Scott Howell. Again, I'm with the Friends and Neighbors Group. Everyone, go out and make this a remarkable day.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPClevelandcom. That's GNPClevelandcom, or call 423-380-1984. Thank you.
