Ground Down Before You Grow: A Beekeeper's Case for Balance

Fifty thousand bees, a honey house, and the devices that connect her to the rest of the world — we spent an afternoon with Sierra at her hives.

As a social media manager, a business owner, and a content creator, being online is her job. So what does digital wellness look like for someone whose work depends on being plugged in

"To me, digital wellness means balance. I love that I can share the story of the bees, reach a lot of people, document things, and make memories. But I also think it's important to unplug, ground down, and make sure that if everything were to disappear tomorrow, I'd have built a world I feel happy living in."

How she got here

What started as a way to get over her fears turned into a way of life.

She got stung by hornets as a kid, assumed bees were the same thing, and spent years afraid of getting stung again.

"Beekeeping was definitely exposure therapy," she said. "But it's taught me to carry that into the rest of my life, trying to get over my fears."

What happens at the hive

Now, the bees are her escape on days when she is feeling stressed or overwhelmed. Whether she is opening the hive for her routine inspections or just sitting in the area to draw, the hum and the environment she has created provide a calming space for her to decompress.

"There are days where I'll leave my phone in the honey house, go out and tend to the bees, and just remember why I started"

But her phone also helps her document what she sees in the hive, capture photos and videos, and make sure she remembers the moments she spends with her bees.

For her, time at the hive is just as much about tending to the bees as it is to her own mental health. It fuels her inspiration and allows her to feel more grounded before she has to tap back into her digital space.

Building your own honey house

You don't need bees. You need something that asks for nothing but your presence — a run, an instrument, a garden, a workbench. The specifics matter less than actually showing up and allowing yourself to unplug. 

That's the idea behind BodyGuardz's mission to protect wellbeing in a connected world. Sierra’s not trying to disappear from her phone. She’s trying to be the one who decides when she picks it back up. Sierra found that with a hive. What’s yours?