I spent this weekend in Austin, Texas where I gave a keynote address to thousands (gulp!) of girls who were attending the Girls Empowerment Network conference and then taught a Dove Self-Esteem Project workshop in three different break-out sessions. The theme for the conference was Ignite Her Power and after spending a day with these delightful girls and their mentors and parents, I feel so fortunate to report that my power was ignited, too—and I had this really incredible lesson about self-care from a 5th grader, too.
During my first workshop, a sweet group of 5th grade classmates joined me. As we worked our way through the activities, I was so touched by how sweet, earnest, and innocent they were. For our closing activity, each girl was asked to draw a picture of herself doing something that she loved to do and then, in our closing circle, she would share her drawing, what she loved to do, why she loved it, and how it was a celebration of who she is and her body.
Stephanie drew a darling picture of herself sleeping and when she shared, she said that what she loved about sleeping was that it gave her the energy to go do all the other things she loved when she woke up. She said, “I think sleep is kinda like charging your phone battery. Your phone is a way that you can do a lot of fun things but the battery gets worn down. If you let it wear completely down, then you can’t do anything fun with it and it takes forever to charge. But if you keep it charged, then you can keep going back and doing that thing you love.”
Um. Is the modern day metaphor for put your oxygen mask on first before helping others or what? And Stephanie doesn’t even have her own phone, she was just sorting around in her mind how to describe why sleep mattered and came up with this spot on metaphor—one that personally encapsulated Ignite Her Power.
A busy time of year is upon us and we’ll all be tempted to push ourselves to get it all done. If we aren’t careful, that might mean we’re running on little sleep and nourishment (actual food and water nourishment and soul nourishment, too). If we do that, we’ll find ourselves worn out and resenting rather than enjoying the season.
So follow Stephanie’s advice and take good care of yourself, dear ones. Your energy is a precious but finite resource.
