SO WHAT! My Self-Care Lesson From Steve Harvey #ddaDisney
I was invited to an all-expense paid trip to Orlando courtesy of Disney to attend the Disney Dreamer Academy event in exchange for my coverage. No other compensation was provided. All views, opinions, thoughts and ideas shared on my post are completely my own.
During the month of March, I decided to celebrate International Women’s Month by focusing on self-care. The dictionary describes self-care as the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health and while that is an incredibly accurate definition it doesn’t really say anything. Self-care can take many different forms and be different things for different people. For some people, their morning Starbucks run is a sort of self-care, while for others monitoring their blood sugar levels for their diabetes is self-care. Ultimately, self-care boils down to taking care of your mind, body, and spirit through your actions. It ensures that you have what you need to live your best life – healthy, whole, free, happy, and sane!
I had an opportunity to attend Disney Dreamers Academy. “Disney Dreamers Academy is a power-packed, 4-day event held annually at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, in which 100 select high school students, ages 13-19, are inspired to dream big and get a jump-start on making those dreams come true.”
During the commencement, Steve Harvey shared a powerful word, one that inspire an ah-ha moment for me as I got a self-care lesson I badly needed. Prior to him coming to deliver his message, a few of the Dreamers received awards and internships. So, during Steve’s commencement message, he started off by talking to the Dreamers that did not receive an award. And he basically said, “to those of you that did not receive an award, my message to you is SO WHAT!”
Sounds harsh, but it was so on point. To paraphrase his message, he was basically saying just because you did not receive an award has no bearing on your value, potential, or greatness. And sometimes in life, we have to look at the things we did not get – even if we wanted them, or felt we deserved them and say SO WHAT!
The Self-Care Lesson Sinks In
As I sat on the plane reflecting on my takeaways at Disney Dreamers Academy, the first thing that hit me was I need to adopt the SO WHAT attitude in my life a little more as a way to self-care. I was so inspired that I wrote down my five SO WHATS during the flight.
· SO, WHAT you’ve been trying to lose weight for over a year and it’s harder than you thought, keep trying – it took you years to put the weight on.
· SO, WHAT it’s taking you longer to grow your blog and make it profitable, you are making money and success doesn’t happen overnight.
· SO, WHAT you were born as a product of rape, you are greater than what you were born into so don’t let it hinder you from soaring.
· SO, WHAT you didn’t get the support from those you thought would be there, there’s a whole other group of people cheering you on!
· SO, WHAT you didn’t get recognized by that brand to be part of that campaign, sometimes a no is a blessing in disguise.
You see, self-care is being able to say SO WHAT! I’m telling you, I have not felt this free is such a long time. I tend to care too much about what people think and letting go of those concerns has made such a difference in my mental capacity. This self-care lesson is one that is going to stick with me and I’ll be incorporating it into my life every day.
What do you need to say SO WHAT to today? What are you so concerned about that it is taking a negative toll of your wellbeing and overall self-care routine? Please comment below and share this someone who needs to say SO WHAT to a few things in their life.
[latoyia]