The sun was bright, as usual, for a Phoenix morning in early November. It was a day meant for many, but few graced their way to ‘The Fully Present Conference’ at GCU. The conference venue was decked and prepped by the amazing Women in Business team clad in elegant clothing. The team had poured effort into the making and planning of this event, and this morning signified their hard work and dreams coming to life.
The morning started with the keynote speaker, Maia Mae Huff, who shared her relatable and inspiring story of struggling in school and finding the one thing to pick up and keep going. Soon, the room was brewing with hope and determination as all the young women got the opportunity to choose among four speakers: Nicole Rose, Anila Joy, Dana Drew Shaw, and Sharon Kaselonis, all of whom are well-rounded, admirable, and very motivational women. The topics discussed ranged from work-life balance to embracing yourself in a diverse community.
In the practice of rest, Salad and Go and Chewk’s Cookies catered for the event. Following the lunch break, a panel hosted by Abigail Gage, the president of the Women in Business organization, opened up discussions about women in the workforce. Theresa Conti and Andrea L. Donaldson discussed the interesting topic and answered numerous questions, which created a very engaging atmosphere among the various women in attendance.
By the time the conference was done, a number of things were evident: connections had been made, dreams had been created, some dreams rekindled, and most importantly, a lot of learning happened that day. Below are some of the major takeaways from my notes during the conference.
How can you embrace yourself?
First and foremost, to bring our dreams to life, we need to accept ourselves as we are before making any changes for improvement. It is easy to give up when life gets hard, and even when you want to get up, it is harder because of the mess you may have put yourself into. I learned that we can start by finding or changing one thing at a time, which is all it takes.
What are your priorities?
One thing was very clear during the conference: knowing what your priorities are makes it easy to know what to prioritize. This can look different for everyone, especially since many students are pursuing different majors and come from different backgrounds as well. Some of the priorities for young women mentioned were rest, academics, family and friends, health, and yourself. I concluded from this that knowing my priorities will help me find balance in my daily life, and this balance will seamlessly flow into my other priorities.
What do you struggle with?
Additionally, it is important to discover and actively be aware of what your struggles look like and where your weaknesses lie. I learned that it is best to run towards your mistakes because they can infect your strengths if they are not well managed. This understanding hit home because I tend to nurture my strengths and forget about my weaknesses. However, knowing my weaknesses can help me learn how to achieve the balance we talked about and embrace myself without blaming myself for making mistakes.