Magic.. On the Road – Part 1

If you read my previous post, you saw that I was stressing out over leaving my children and going to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. You’ll be happy to know, I did it! I survived leaving my kids for the first time. Sure, the night before I left I cried a river full of ugly tears.. but we’ll keep that between us. What matters is that I came away from this not regretting a single thing. My children got to have two amazing days of fun with their daddy and I got to experience the most amazing opportunity with a room full of women I will never forget. The Disney Social Media Moms Celebration On-The-Road was more than I could have imagined.

If you’ve ever been to a Disney park, you know that Disney doesn’t fail at delivering magic. This event stayed true to that, not necessarily in a “Disney Magic” sort of way.. (though, they did provide that too!!)  this magic was different. The energy alone resonated throughout the hotel lobby before the conference had even started. Picture the smile on your child’s face when you first spot the gates at Disneyland. That look was plastered on the faces of each and every woman waiting for those doors to open. Okay.. maybe it was more that look, accompanied by a little sleep deprivation and a deep need of coffee.

Registration opened. We each obtained our lanyard with name tag and our gift bag.. and immediately went to socializing. This is a social media event, after all. Even the shy and reserved moms were chatting up a storm with the women around them. Several of us had been communicating on a Facebook group for a few weeks prior to the event, so we set out to find one another. I already feel a connection to so many of these women. We entered the room, interacted more.. then we took our seats to experience the most amazing ride. It is Disney, after all.

The 6-ish hours I experienced at this event are going to take more than one post to share with you. Even then, I likely won’t even get to touch on everything. However, in this post I am going to focus on the keynote speaker, Mindee Doney. (You all may know her as “The genius creator of Boogie Wipes!”) While the entire event had a profound impact on me.. the time she was standing on that stage resonated with me the most.. and if you look at twitter (#DisneySMMoms) you will see I am not alone.

I struggle to put into words the impact she had on that room and I’m a blogger.. words should not be hard to come by! From the moment she was introduced, she had engaged the room. Her energy, her emotion. All of it came through so clearly. She began by talking to us about what most of us knew of her.. Boogie Wipes. What mom hasn’t heard of Boogie Wipes? My household even has several of those little “Boogs” stuffed booger creatures floating around. She explained how she came about creating the amazing product and led us on her journey. She took us through the highs.. and ultimately the low. More than the journey of business.. she spoke to us about motherhood. How the two areas of life played with one another. Or, perhaps how they battled one another? To say she was honest doesn’t even explain it. She didn’t sugar coat anything. She didn’t hide anything, either. I’m almost certain that the honesty and transparency is what hooked us all. Her message was loud and it was clear. Embrace, Empower and Accept. I can say those words over and over in my head and hear her declare them so passionately.

• To embrace you and what you do
  Accept your responsibilities
  Rock your talents
  Believe in the big picture

• Empower yourself and empower others. HELP is not a 4-letter-word
  Know when to say no
  Nurture what resets you
  Ask for help.. specifically and honestly
  Believe in your village.. their way works too

• To expect life will go on
  Cherish the highs, be in the lows
  Set regular goals according to your chapter
  Choose a pace that balances needs versus wants

She ended her presentation with as much energy as she started with. Her message will continue to inspire us all. In fact, this post has taken me days to write because she showed me that I can walk away from work. Work can wait. “Know when you can walk away from it. Don’t go back to it. It will be okay.”  The schedule I put in place today sets the expectations for the schedule I live tomorrow.. a year from now.. five years from now. “Start as you mean to go. If you don’t want to be working the way you’re working in 5 years.. you don’t need to be working that way right now. The way that you work. The attitude that you work with, should be the same.”